NASA internships now open to all nationalities studying in UAE universities

Priority will be given to qualified UAE nationals, however for 2013 mission team internships at NASA, all eligible students who meet the competitive selection criteria will be considered for the limited position openings.

Requirements to be considered include official application form, minimum GPA of 3.0, official University letter of reference, personal essay, CV, copy of national passport, and university transcript. Application deadline for 15-week fall internships that run September 2 to Dec. 13 is June 1 and inquiry should be directed to NASAintern@ayvf.org

All foreign students interning at NASA must be financially sponsored and corporations interested in supporting young talent and a branding opportunity in perpetuity are encouraged to contact AYVF for details on joining the premier group of benefactors that include Mubadala Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Mubadala ICT/Yahsat, Boeing Int'l Corp, the Euro-American Space Education Investment Corp., and Carnegie Ventures.

Syrus Bishop, Advisor to the UAE NASA program in Washington, D.C. explains, "To date 100% of the 16 noteworthy NASA Fellows have been UAE nationals, however due to challenges in obtaining funding for Emirati interns, the application pool is being broadened."

Types of mission work undertaken by the UAE interns at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California have included remote sensing, phone/small sats, lunar planetary science, wind-turbines use in avionics, space shuttle gray water recycling and life support infrastructure, green building sustainability systems, and more.

Lisa LaBonte, CEO of Arab Youth Venture Foundation comments, "International cooperation has always been vital in all aspects of space exploration, research, and commercial space (transport and tourism). Thus opening up the program to include young talent of all nations will facilitate greater exchange while strengthening a robust pipeline of human capital to serve key growth sectors."

The NASA-AYVF innovative partnership program was the first agreement of its kind and signed in 2009 between the UAE's Arab Youth Venture Foundation and USA's National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The immersive program welcomes only the most elite UAE university engineering students and is currently the only official agreement for NASA internships in the Middle East.