Research Institute At OSU Teams With Boeing To Create Native American Student Internship Tied To NASA

The Unmanned Systems Research Institute at Oklahoma State University has partnered with Boeing to create a Native American student-focused internship, tied to a NASA project.

The partnership will fund an internship for a Native American high school student to work at the institute.

“The goal is to bring students in as high school interns and give them a full, immersive, real-world, hands-on experience,” said USRI director Dr. Jamey Jacob

OSU says the internship will focus primarily on a project nicknamed the Titan Flyer, which is based on NASA's goal of flying a craft around Saturn's moon.

“That gives them a problem to solve,” Jacob said. “It gives them a creative space to work in since they don’t know what they don’t know. They can come up with some crazy ideas to see what they can do.”

Boeing has committed $1.3 million to support Indigenous communities across the United States and Oklahoma State University will receive $60,000 in grants, which will be primarily aimed toward underrepresented students, focusing on the Native American community. However, the grant is open to all students.

The internship goes through the summer but is still open throughout the year.