February 20, 2012
Peter Schulte, a senior aerospace engineering major, received the Student of the Year Award from the Cooperative Education and Internship Association (CEIA).
The national award seeks to recognize an outstanding student enrolled in a four-year or five-year degree program who has participated in the Cooperative Education program, which allows students to take time off from school to complete internships at engineering companies during multiple semesters.
Schulte was encouraged to apply for the award by Cockrell School of Engineering Career Assistance Center co-op coordinator Christina Peppas. After applying, his application was selected by the UT committee to represent the school in the national competition. He was then selected to receive the award by the national committee.
Schulte is currently on his third co-op term with Jacobs Technology at Johnson Space Center.
He spent his first two terms working on the Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) analysis team. CPAS is currently conducting flight tests to develop the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft. These parachutes will ultimately be used to help bring astronauts safely back into earth after their missions. The CPAS simulation & analysis team maintains flight simulations to provide predictions for the development of flight test vehicles and techniques. As a co-op, Peter performed tasks to upgrade these simulations and conducted analysis of test vehicle trajectories, dynamics, and parachute performance.
Schulte’s work with parachute simulation methods was published in a technical paper he wrote for the 21st American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference and Seminar in Dublin, Ireland in May 2011. In addition, he received three individual achievement awards from NASA and a group award from AIAA.
Schulte first learned about the co-op program when he participated in an educational program at NASA during the summer after his junior year of high school.
“The first time I heard about the co-op program was during my junior year of high school through High School Aerospace Scholars,” Schulte said. “After completing a semester of online coursework, I spent a week at NASA doing tours and creating a mission to Mars along with 40 other high school juniors. We also worked on some competitive projects like building rockets. It taught me a lot. I heard about the co-op that summer and decided I wanted to do it.”
Schulte believes that his co-op experience has complemented his coursework at UT.
“Working as a co-op and intern at NASA has helped me see the relevance of the coursework I’m taking at UT,” Schulte said. “Some of the courses I took as soon as I got back from my co-op were directly related to what I was doing at Jacobs.”
In addition, Schulte acknowledges the benefits of doing a co-op for his future career.
“A co-op is designed as a multiple month interview,” Schulte said. “If you do a good job and enjoy your work, it’s very likely you’ll be offered a full time job after you graduate. I would love to go back and work with the group I did a co-op with last year.”
After finishing his final rotation this May, Schulte will come back to UT and complete his last two semesters of coursework before graduating in May 2013.
Schulte will travel to the CEIA Conference in Chicago this April to receive a $500 award and a plaque.
View more photos of Peter Schulte's NASA co-op experience.
