JPL Student Internship Application
I developed the skills needed to confidently apply for a JPL Spacecraft & Robotic Technologies internship because I am a helper. Across the country at KSC about twelve years ago, I heard the news that the Shuttle program was coming to a close. However, the kind tour guide also told this ten-year-old that the first people on Mars had already been born. I exclaimed, "I don't wanna go, I hate heights!" My mother chucked and added, "If you can't go, you can help them go!" She hung a poster of Robonaut in my room, and I was hooked. I set my path to be the best helper I can be, especially through robotic development.
Through high school and university, I've positioned myself in leadership and individually contributing roles where I can help the most. Progressing through a small robotics team, machine shop, formula student team, manufacturing plant, robotic tooling company, and national lab, I have learned the process of creating technical drawings, fabricating, assembling, and verifying quality.
My internships at ATI Industrial Automation allowed me to collaborate with a community that is making a significant impact on the Earth (and Mars on Perseverance) through manufacturing robotics products. In the design verification lab and the robotic applications development group, I created pre-production test plans, ran experiments, conducted analysis, and presented results. I am proud to have contributed to the safety of pre-production sample evaluation through the creation of a material handling fixture. My undergraduate (summa) honors research controlling and measuring the pose of an ATI F/T sensor on a 6DOF robot was difficult at times and overwhelmingly beneficial to my progress in this field.
At Sandia National Labs, I am using these methods to evaluate single sensors through to full systems in a physical security context. Designing hardware for long-duration and high-cycle-rate robotic testing of human interface devices has been a significant and rewarding challenge. The individuals of Sandia have succeeded in their field because their breadth of engineering and interpersonal insight creates greatness. I am now starting to see my breadth of experience bearing fruits personally and in design projects.
The most recent of these fruits is my website and design showcase www.iterable.design. I built this site to more easily display my engineering progression in today’s online world, and because it was hard to do. I learned how to shrink my ideas into a meaningful presentation with real consequences if I fail. Many of my projects use data analysis, Python, SOLIDWORKS, AutoCAD, MATLAB, and other digital designing tools which help me share passionately. The most fulfilling projects have been those that bring others joy.
As a graduate researcher in the Nonlinear Control and Robotics group, honors undergraduate with a thesis on robotic sensing and kinematics, project engineer of a robotic 3D printer student group, and with instructional roles in Aerospace Design and Mechanical Design capstone courses, I have developed a passion for academic, rigorous, and technical communication of the engineering design process.
I have had a habit of climbing to the top of the University of Florida’s campus to see any launch that I can, even making a small camera cantilever to hang off the building for a better view! Broadening my academic experience by pursuing a master's in mechanical engineering at UF has been a rewarding experience. I am ready to continue my journey through robotic development this spring at JPL.
I appreciate your consideration,
Joseph Hill
View my design showcase online at www.iterable.design/jpl