Brian Alpert...

Flying the Eclipse 500 VLJ

About Me

I am an Aerospace Engineer with a minor in Mathematics at the University of Michigan. I grew up in Livonia, Michigan and graduated from Stevenson High School in 2004. I knew I wanted to be an aerospace engineer since my junior year of high school, but looking back, there was never any question this is what I have always been interested in. When I got to college, I got involved within my department and with clubs and started looking for internship and co-op opportunities. After a couple years of disappointment and “thank you, come back next year” job fairs, I got an internship with Eclipse Aviation in Albuquerque, NM as a Flight Test Engineer. It was great to get some actual job experience, and it helped me when looking for co-ops in the future.

Touring the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility; inside a mockup of the Space Shuttle flight deck

How I Landed This Amazing Job and You Can, Too!

NASA doesn’t visit the University of Michigan on recruiting trips (yet), and I had never heard of the co-op program until the summer before my junior year of college. Good start right? When I came across this website, I started reading other co-ops biographies, just like you’re doing right now. I found a couple people I could really relate to and asked them some questions via email. I got the contact information of the co-op coordinator and then there was no turning back. I must have called and emailed the coordinator 15 times that summer. When it was clear no one from NASA was coming to U of M that fall, I offered to drive anywhere I could to meet with someone from the co-op office. Thankfully, I got a phone interview and didn’t have to drive all over the country. At the conclusion of my phone interview, I was told the co-op office was hiring one third the number of new co-ops as usual. Not the best news, but I kept emailing them. Finally, I got the call saying that a co-op spot had opened up for me. All the work had paid off!

Making rapid prototype models to present at a design review meeting

Co-op Work

This summer I'll develop a test plan and procedures, design a test setup, and conduct extensive ground-testing using the Hand-Held LIDAR (HHL) to quantify its performance through the ISS Node 2 hatch window and applicability to the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) approach and docking operations. I'll also be doing research on laser characteristics and past HHL performance to support my testing.

On my first co-op tour, I worked in the Biomechanical Projects Branch of the Engineering Division. I worked on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) for the International Space Station (ISS). The ARED allows a crew to engage in over 30 exercises on-board the ISS by simulating the use of free weights. The co-op was great because I got experience into many aspects of engineering including design, structural analysis, and testing. In a couple years, when ARED is launched, something I helped design will be utilized by astronauts on the ISS everyday!

Co-op Fun

Getting ready to go SKYDIVING!!!

Besides all the cool things you get to work on as a co-op, you get to meet a lot of interesting people and take tours around the space center. I’ve met people like Gene Kranz and Chris Kraft, as well as tour different places like the shuttle simulator, Mission Control, and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (the huge pool astronauts train in). One thing I am really looking forward to is watching the movie Apollo 13 in Historic Mission Control where events actually took place!
One of the advantages of being a co-op is that when you leave work, you don’t have any homework to do. That leaves free time to do whatever you want for fun. I’m playing on recreational football, softball, basketball, volleyball, and soccer leagues as well as learning to play the guitar and doing once-in-a-lifetime things like skydiving! This spring I took a trip with other co-ops to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and this summer I drove to Kennedy Space Center for the STS-117 Shuttle launch!
If you want to get involved with the space program and you want to work for NASA, there is no better way than through the JSC Co-op Program! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at brian.k.alpert@nasa.gov or bkalps@umich.edu. Good luck, maybe I’ll be seeing you here next year!

GO BLUE!