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Student Trainee (Engineering) - NASA Pathways Intern

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Goddard Space Flight Center
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is in NASA's Pathways Intern Program.

The Engineering and Technology Directorate is seeking engineering interns to implement all phases of the product life cycle for flight and ground system hardware.

The Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate is seeking engineering interns for the prevention and quality control of performance problems of flight and ground system hardware.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
03/18/2019 to 03/25/2019
Salary
$33,172 to - $68,036 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 4 - 11
Location
29 vacancies in the following location:
Greenbelt, MD
29 vacancies
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Travel may be required for training or other work-related duties
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Internships
Work schedule
Multiple Schedules
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
11
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Announcement number
GS19I0004
Control number
527439400

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Individuals who are enrolled students or accepted for enrollment on at least a half-time basis in accredited institutions

Duties

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  • As an Engineering Intern, you will work under the guidance of and assist engineering professionals in progressively responsible engineering duties in one or more of the following disciplines.
  • Electrical - provide end-to-end electrical engineering capabilities, enabling science observations from space, utilizing instruments, sub-orbital platforms, and observatories.
  • Electrical - implement flight and ground electrical/electronic systems in support of programs and projects.
  • Electrical - formulate, develop and verify electrical/electronic systems, subsystems, and components.
  • Instrument Systems and Technology - full life cycle of flight instrument development providing engineering in the areas of optics, cryogenics and fluids, detector systems, lasers and electro-optics, and microwave instruments.
  • Instrument Technologies - includes optical subsystems, detectors, cryogenic coolers and lasers to complete instruments such as hyper-spectral imagers, high spectral resolution spectrometers, atmospheric sounders, microwave radiometers and LIDAR.
  • Mechanical - develop mechanical and thermal systems capabilities and technology to design, analyze, fabricate, assemble, integrate, verify and validate scientific instruments and support platforms for ground-based, suborbital, and orbital missions.
  • Mechanical - includes materials, structural analysis, mechanical design, thermal, electromechanical, contamination/coatings, manufacturing, and environmental testing and integration for both flight hardware development.
  • Quality - plan and implement a systematic approach in the prevention and quality control of performance problems in the design, fabrication, test, and launch preparation of flight and ground system hardware elements.
  • Quality - develop quality control policies and procedures; provide inspection of electronic and mechanical assemblies to the NASA/industry workmanship standards; assist with any internal/audits and assessments
  • Quality - provide trending/statistical analysis for supply chain quality risk management; ensure proper quality controls, inspection methods, standard operator procedures, and quality tools are used to verify products at all phases.
  • Software - provide engineering of software and information systems throughout all phases (formulation through on-orbit operations) of NASA programs and projects.
  • Software - develop flight, ground, and science data software for spacecraft monitoring, control, on-orbit performance management and operations.
  • Software - provide spacecraft data processing and analysis, and information management; and science data analysis and management.
  • Software - develop reusable flight and ground architectures and frameworks to reduce mission cost, decrease development time, minimize customer risk, and increase the scientific value of information products.
  • Software - provide software systems engineering, secure environments, and the software product development life-cycle to ensure the delivery of reliable software and information systems solutions.
  • Systems Engineering - provide end-to-end mission systems engineering and guidance, navigation, and control capabilities and technology development to conceive, design, analyze, implement, verify and validate on-orbit.
  • Systems Engineering - support advanced scientific instruments and support platforms for ground-based, suborbital, and orbital science and exploration missions.
  • Systems Engineering - support includes attitude and orbit determination and control, spacecraft propulsion, trajectory design, mission architecture.
  • Systems Engineering - provide mission systems engineering for in-house flight hardware development and oversight for out-of-house developed instruments and missions.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U. S. citizen or national
  • Enrolled/accepted in an accredited educational institution
  • Pursuing a degree
  • Maintain enrollment at least half time as defined by the institution
  • Have and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.9 on a 4.0 scale

Qualifications

Starting GS grade levels are determined by education level:

GS-4: Completion of 1 academic year of post-high school study. (1 academic year is the equivalent of 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours.) GS-4 starting salary: $15.89 per hour

GS-5: Completion of 2 academic years of post-high school study leading to a bachelor's or higher degree. (2 academic years is the equivalent of 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours.) GS-5 starting salary: $17.78 per hour

GS-6: Completion of 3 academic years of post-high school study leading to a bachelor's or higher degree. (3 academic years is the equivalent of 90 semester hours or 135 quarter hours.) GS-6 starting salary: $19.82 per hour

GS-7: Completion of 4 academic years of study (or all the requirements) for a bachelor's degree and accepted into a master's program. GS-7 starting salary: $22.03 per hour

GS-9: Completion of 1 academic year of master's level education or acceptance into a Doctoral program. GS-9 starting salary: $26.94 per hour

GS-11: Completion of 1 year of doctorate-level study. GS-11 starting salary: $32.60 per hour

NOTE: An academic year of Master's level education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 academic year of full-time study. This determination is made based on normal course loads for a full year of study in the graduate program. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours will be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended.

Education

To be eligible for this position, you must be pursuing a degree in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life sciences, computer science, or other field of science at an accredited educational institution. Degrees in engineering technology are not qualifying for this position. Engineering degrees must be from a college or university school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum. To find out if a degree meets this requirement, go to ABET.

The following major(s) are preferred:

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Astronomy
  • Biology/Microbiology
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Chemistry
  • Communications Engineering
  • Computer Engineering
  • Computer Science
  • Cryogenic Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Electro-Optics Mathematics
  • Electronics Engineering
  • Engineering Sciences
  • General Engineering
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Materials Engineering
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechatronics/Robotics Engineering
  • Metallurgical Engineering
  • Metallurgy
  • Nuclear Engineering
  • Optical Engineering
  • Optical Physics
  • Optical Sciences
  • Optics
  • Opto-Mechanical Engineering
  • Photonics
  • Physics
  • Software Engineering
  • Systems Engineering

Additional information

Interns may be promoted to higher grades based on the amount of education completed and acceptable performance. However, promotions are not guaranteed.

You will be expected to comply with Center Pathway policies which are:

1. Maintain at least a half-time course load as defined by your educational institution
2. Maintain a GPA of 2.9 or above on a 4.0 scale;
3. Adhere to an established work schedule;
4. Participate in Agency training classes or programs;
5. Successfully perform your assigned duties; and
6. Observe all workplace rules.

You will serve a trial period for the duration of the Intern appointment.

Interns may be considered for conversion to a term or permanent appointment within 120 days of completing degree requirements provided they:

  • Successfully completed an academic course of study with a grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.9 (on a 4.0 scale);
  • Complete a minimum of 640 hours of work experience before completing degree requirements;
  • Meet the qualification requirements for the position to which they are converted; and
  • Maintain acceptable performance.
Eligibility for conversion does not guarantee that NASA will offer conversion.

At NASA, term appointments last from one to six years. If an Intern is converted to a term appointment, they may later be converted to a permanent appointment without competing.

The Intern may be converted to an Engineering position with promotion potential to the GS-13 level.

You will be considered for the highest grade for which you qualify.

You must meet eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

You must have at least one year remaining in your studies before completing your degree requirements. (NOTE: One year must include consecutive Fall and Spring semesters). The expected completion date that you enter in the NASA Supplemental Questionnaire will be used in making this determination, and applicants who indicate a date prior to May 2020 will be found ineligible.

You must be available to begin work no earlier than the PREFERRED START DATE of August 19, 2019. Later start dates may be considered on a case-by-case basis for compelling hardships, but no later than January 21, 2020.

LIMITED EXCEPTIONS TO PREFERRED START DATE: The preferred start date is August 19, 2019. Limited exceptions to the preferred start date may be considered for compelling hardships, but must be requested in writing within 5 working days after receiving the job offer from the Pathways Program Office. The Pathways Program Manager may consider such requests on a case-by-case basis and will render a final decision as soon as possible after receipt.

The payment of relocation expenses is not authorized.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume and your answers to NASA-specific questions to ensure that you meet eligibility requirements and minimum qualifications. Your answers to the NASA-specific questions supplement your resume. Please be sure that your answers and your resume are accurate, as NASA is not authorized to alter them. If the information in your resume differs from your answers to the questions, we will use your answers to the questions to determine your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position.

If you meet the eligibility requirements and minimum qualifications, you will be further evaluated based on the preferred majors listed under 'Education.'

Veterans' preference applies in the hiring process. In order to receive preference in hiring, you must clearly identify your claim for veterans' preference when you apply. Veteran's preference will only be granted based on what is supported by the documentation you provide. For more information about Veterans' Preference, please visit this link.

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