My
name is Shoshana Schlauderaff and I am a senior animation major. During the
summer of 2018 I was an astrophysics animation intern at NASA Goddard SpaceFlight Center. I have always had a passion for science, so in my Junior year at
MICA I decided to take a 2D Animation and Science class that has a built-in
partnership with NASA. The class gave me the perfect opportunity to combine
this passion along with my animation skills, and I was lucky for this to turn
into an internship offer once the course was finished. During my time at NASA
Goddard I completed animations for the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. These
animations were used for social media and press releases, as well as for
educational opportunities. During my last five weeks I worked on a minute and a
half long animation explaining how one of Fermi’s instruments called the
Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor operates and retrieves data that is in turn used for
science. This project was definitely my most successful piece and it felt
amazing to be able to present this to scientists at the facility and to explain
my process. As an artist, working with scientists has been completely foreign
and yet so thrilling. The workplace environment was definitely something I
enjoyed thoroughly and hope to be able to engage with again in the future. I
was especially fond of my mentor, an astrophysicist at the facility, who was a
constant source of encouragement and scientific knowledge. The amount of
planning and care that goes into NASA’s process for hosting interns is
extremely incredible and hospitable.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center focuses on science and engineering, as well as communication that connects these pillars to the public. This summer I had the honor of working as a part of the Fermi communications team where I learned a lot about astrophysics and how to communicate things visually to NASA’s audience. The biggest thing that I learned was definitely the amount of energy and care that goes into providing scientific discoveries and knowledge to the public. I didn’t expect to enjoy this part of the job as much as I did, and it was really such a fun challenge. I was surprised by how much freedom the Fermi team gave me when creating content and by how quickly they decided to trust and rely on me. I definitely gained skills not only in communication, but also in developing an artistic style that worked for these animations. I acquired new skills in graphic design and motion graphics during this internship, since NASA really pushes for most artists to be generalists and handle many different types of projects. It is interesting observing my own work as I have gone through this internship and to see how much my style and skills have developed. It has definitely given me new career insights for the future, such as the potential of working within the motion graphics industry, which was not something that I considered doing before.
This
internship has been transformational for me both as an artist and as a
professional, and I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work as an
animation intern at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
