AIM FOR THE STARS: NASA Program a Boon to Hartnell Science Students

By Claudia Melendez Salinas, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

All she wanted to do was learn how to fix her car.

Angelica Meza, a graduate of North Salinas High School, was driving a 1998 KIA Sophia that was giving her problems when she began taking mechanics classes at Hartnell College. She was always interested in taking things apart to see how they work, and the class was a perfect excuse to explore engines and other mechanical devices.

During a course on starters and alternators, an instructor who knew of her love for airplanes told Meza, "You know, this alternator is not much different than one in a plane."

"I made up my mind then I would learn how airplanes work," said Meza, who is completing her second internship at the Naval Postgraduate School — this year at the rocket laboratory. "I really enjoy what I do now."

Twenty-three Hartnell College students received internships this summer to research institutions on the Central Coast, such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Fremont Peak Observatory, and the Center for Adaptive Optics. School officials credit this to a grant from NASA about three years ago to improve their science curriculum.

NASA has taken notice. The agency gave Hartnell a second grant and in July awarded the community college its Curriculum Improvement Partnership Award of Excellence for 2007. The award recognizes its work to enhance science education to better serve Latino and other underrepresented students in the sciences.

"Having a community college receive the outstanding award in the nation is an amazing feat," said interim president Phoebe Helm. "You’re competing with top-notch science universities in this kind of endeavor."

Meza, who will begin her major in aerospace engineering at Cal Poly Pomona in the fall, said her internships — she has another one with Fremont Peak Observatory — opened an unexpected window into the world of sciences.

"A lot of people don’t understand that in Monterey County we have an excellent supply of engineers, scientists and mentors," she said. "It’s really great; you work at a level with graduate students. It all started with one teacher putting out a good recommendation for me."

Oscar Casillas also gets to play with cool scientific toys. Casillas, an intern with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, has been researching methane hydrates — iced blocks of gas at great depths — and how decomposing chemical weapons dumped into the ocean after World War II are interacting with them.

"We’re going to try and publish this work," Casillas said, referring to discoveries he and his mentors made this summer.

Casillas, 29, is a late-comer to the world of academia.

He attended Hartnell for awhile right after high school at North County High, but his parents encouraged him to work — and work hard.

"I finally figured out that working hard isn’t the way to do it," he said. "First thing is to go to school, and then work hard."

Four years ago, he went back to school part time. After juggling school and work for a year, he decided to quit his job as food clerk, sell his house, and go back to school full time. At first his family wasn’t supportive, but now they understand what he’s doing and support him completely.

"It’s the best thing I’ve done," he said.

Casillas will continue with his undergraduate studies in chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley in the fall. Next year, he may return to MBARI as a research assistant.

Through their internships, Meza and Casillas are getting a taste of the kind of work they will have to do when they go to graduate school, they said.

"I’m an undergrad, but I’ve learned from this internship what it takes," to get a Ph.D., Meza said.

Claudia Melendez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or cmelendez@montereyherald.com.