UA Little Rock graduate student gains out-of-this-world experience at NASA

November 17-23, 2025

By Justin Bates

Hannah Jones, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at UA Little Rock, spent her summer interning at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, gaining hands-on experience that brought her closer to her dream of a career in aerospace engineering.

Jones, a Benton native who is set to graduate in May 2027, worked in the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate as a systems safety intern. Her primary role involved reviewing risk management processes and conducting a gap analysis to ensure Stennis Space Center’s documentation aligned with updated agency-wide requirements.

“The report I created ended up being 31 pages long, detailing updates and processes for risk management at Stennis Space Center,” Jones said. “My favorite part was interviewing representatives from each organization and seeing how they each handle different types of risks, from rocket propulsion testing to audits.”

Beyond her project, Jones toured historic facilities, including the Apollo-era B-complex test stands, and the Michoud Assembly Center, where they assemble large pieces of rockets and is also a popular site for movie filming. 

She also visited the Marshall Space Flight Center, where she met astronaut Charlie Duke, the 10th man on the moon, and toured the International Space Station payload operations center. She even witnessed a live RS-25 rocket engine test for the Artemis mission that will return Americans to the moon.

“The RS-25 rocket engine is what will take us back to the moon as part of the Artemis mission,” Jones said. “The test was so loud and strong that you could feel it. It was one of the coolest experiences ever.”

For Jones, interning at NASA was the realization of a childhood dream.

“In middle school, I used to read NASA articles during lunch,” she said. “It was always a dream to work here, an end goal for my future career. Now it feels less like an end goal and more like a steppingstone toward what’s next in the aerospace industry.”

Jones secured the internship through the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium’s Workforce Development Award, which supports Arkansas students pursuing aerospace-related opportunities. She hopes for the chance to intern with NASA again in the future.

Back at UA Little Rock, Jones continues her research with Dr. Shweta Dabetwar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, in the Materials Intelligence and Prognostics Laboratory, where she studies damage detection in composite materials using artificial intelligence. She is also involved in the Aerospace Club, where she leads STEM outreach activities, from model rocketry to the mobile planetarium, and Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.

“This internship gave me a whole new perspective on risk management and safety in engineering,” Jones said. “It’s exciting to think about how these experiences will prepare me for the future.”  

Photo Caption:

Hannah Jones