Three SUNY Potsdam graduates are currently working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Ryan Zeigler ’98 is a planetary scientist and lunar sample curator working at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, who earned his bachelor’s degree in geology and history at SUNY Potsdam. He was recently part of the lucky team of scientists who got to analyze the last unopened lunar samples from the Apollo missions to the moon, which had been saved for 50 years.
“My first geology professor at SUNY Potsdam, Dr. Neal O'Brien, got me hooked on geology and he encouraged me to pursue planetary geology,” Zeigler said. “Once I found out there were ‘space rocks’ to be studied that could tell us wholly new things about entire planets that had exotic (compared to Earth) environments, I was hooked. I haven’t studied anything else since!”
Zeigler has also spent two field seasons in Antarctica and one ocean expedition searching for meteorites near the South Pole and on the seafloor. Danny Krysak ’08, who graduated from SUNY Potsdam with degrees in both speech communication and archaeology, along with a minor in geology, is living the dream of just about every techie and space buff.
He is an operations specialist, working on the Mars rovers and the Juno spacecraft missions, including highly technical writing of the programs that send imaging commands to rovers and spacecraft, and managing databases that hold thousands of photos.
“In my first geology class at Potsdam, my professor had mentioned a field named planetary geology and that immediately got my interest. After doing some research, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”
Daniel Krysak is seen with a test rover at NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory. The image appears orange because it was taken inside a testing area, which simulates light in the Martian atmosphere.
Jamie Szafran ’08 is an engineer/software developer at the Kennedy Space Center, where she was recently on the launch team for the Artemis mission to the moon, putting her in the control room as the Space Launch System megarocket launched the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit. A 2008 graduate of SUNY Potsdam, Szafran earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science, a Bachelor of Music degree in musical studies and a minor in mathematics.
“Choose a field you love, and, as I've recommended to just about every prospective intern I've interviewed, chase what you want and keep trying… Of the eight applications I put in for NASA internships in college, I was accepted to one. But largely, enjoy what you do, and do what you enjoy.”
Article by Alexandra Jacobs Wilke