McNeese Student Interns for NASA 

McNeese State University student Carly Davis’ summer internship took her to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.  

Davis, a senior chemistry major from Kinder, spent her summer working with the Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program that supports the NASA Europa Clipper mission. 

She worked in the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas with a geochemist and attended a conference at the JPL in California.  

“I was able to learn how geochemistry is important in studying the solar system,” Davis explained. “Aspects like ocean habitability, the formation and active geological features are all areas geochemistry is needed.” 

The Europa Clipper spacecraft will launch in early October 2024 and travel for six years to reach Jupiter’s moon Europa. Davis said the goal of the program is to get young scientists interested so when it reaches Europa there are scientists already interested in the data.  

“I hope to continue research in astrochemistry in graduate school and hopefully finish in time to study Europa,” she said. 

According to NASA, the Europa Clipper mission’s objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition and to characterize its geology. The exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the potential for habitable worlds beyond Earth. 

During her JPL visit, Davis took a tour and met with scientists and engineers. She also learned about the process for creating proposals for NASA.  

“I learned the steps and how much information is needed before a project even begins,” she said. 

Davis chose McNeese because she received a scholarship that made it affordable. She loved math and chemistry in high school and majoring in chemistry was an easy choice. Reading scientific papers for her lab classes prepared her to read materials during her internship, which helped her learn quicker on the job. 

“I’m applying to graduate schools in December in the field of astrochemistry and organic chemistry,” Davis said. “I fell in love with chemistry at McNeese and there are so many fields I want to learn more about in the future!” 

This was her first internship and she applied on a whim. Her advice to other students is to find opportunities that interest them online, at the Career Expo or Internship Soiree and go for it!  

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