IV&V Facility Educational Outreach to Fairmont State College and West Virginia University

Coop students,(lft to rt) Kacie Reynolds, Phillip Merritt, Aaron Wilson, Wesley Deadrick, and Brian Kesecker.

The NASA independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility was established as part of an agency-wide strategy to provide the highest achievable levels of safety and cost-effectiveness for mission critical software. The IV&V Facility was founded under the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance as a direct result of recommendations made by the National Research Council (NRC) and the Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident.

The IV&V Facility Educational Outreach focuses on providing opportunities to participate in internship programs. These internships increase student understanding of scientific processes through direct experience under the guidance of computer scientist, engineers who serve as mentors.

This academic year the IV&V facility has employed several co-ops (Cooperative Education Program) from Fairmont State College and West Virginia University (WVU).

Phillip Merritt, a senior at Fairmont State College who will soon start graduate school for his masters degree in software engineering, has enjoyed his learning experience at the IV&V NASA Facility. Merritt began as in intern and developed the Shuttle International Space Station (ISS) Docking Simulator. It is a 3D simulation that consists of the launch of the space shuttle, the orbiter making the V-Bar (Velocity Vectory Axis) approach to the ISS and the actual docking simulation. The simulator allows the user to take control of the orbiter through the use of keyboard or joystick. The simulator program is currently being used as an educational tool to draw the younger generation interest to NASA and Space Science.

Upon converting to a co-op in October, Merritt has been working to develop math models related to gravity, the Equations of Motion (EOM), the Clohessy-Wiltshire Equations and other equations that can be used with several projects in a simulation environment. In addition, he has the responsibility of expanding the capabilities of the docking simulator to having it operate on multiple computers but controlled from a central location. This would allow the different computers to show various views of the docking process during the same simulation.

Merritt has been working with fellow co-op Aaron Wilson and says, "Working with Aaron has taught me a lot about working in a team…I believe that through our teamwork we have accomplished things that neither of us could have accomplished on our own." Additionally, Merritt says, "Several of the items that I have learned through these assignments have also benefited me in my school work. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with NASA, it has helped me in many ways."

Fellow Co-op Aaron Wilson is working towards his masters degree at West Virginia University in software engineering and has been working with Phillip Merritt on the development of the ISS docking simulator program. Wilson has provided support and analysis for the SWIFT project, developed and maintained the Facility's Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASA) tool repository and tools web page and is the eRoom team coordinator and WebEX host for SWIFT.

Wilson feels that, "Some of my contributions provide a potential for improvement in our tool management system and some will lead our facility into a new way of performing IV&V through simulation." Wilson adds, "Working at the IV&V Facility is a great honor for me and most of all working for NASA has been a dream come true."

Wes Deadrick is another co-op working at the IV&V Facility and is currently working towards his masters degree in software engineering at West Virginia University.

Among many other responsibilities, Deadrick has been assisting with managing and tracking research grants, contracts and cooperative agreements and says, "Working on these assignments has provided me with an invaluable experience and an increasing set of both technical and interpersonal skills. The co-op program is an excellent program that allows students to further their education while at the same time gaining valuable work experience in their field of study."

Brian Kesecker, a senior student at Fairmont State College has improved the IV&V Facility's web sites by having them all meet the Section 508, Rehabilitation Act compliance, in addition to developing tools that will track changes to the web sites. Kesecker has the responsibility of developing and maintaining the IV&V web sites and is currently working on improving the ISO 9001 procedures, processes and documents by rewriting the ISO Quality Manual. Kesecker has benefited and received his thrive to excel from his mentors and co-workers John Griggs, Cynthia Calhoun and Greg Blaney. Kescecker says, "The co-op program has been the most rewarding experience I have had in my life."

Kaci Reynolds is currently an accounting co-op for the Facility with a bachelors degree in accounting and is a senior M.I.S. major at WVU. Reynolds entered the co-op program in June 2002 after being an intern within the Facility for two years. She is now responsibile for tracking 533M monthly costs, generating purchase requests and maintaining the facility project financial spreadsheets. Reynolds says, "This keeps me very busy. I believe that the experiences that I am gaining here will help me in the future."

Nelson (Ned) H. Keeler, Director of NASA IV&V Facility says he is "very impressed with our co-op program," and feels that the program is a good example of how NASA is "inspiring the next generation of explorers."