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The Kazickas family has been investing in Lithuania's future and next generation of change makers for many years. It is exciting to see young Lithuanian scientists taking advantage of the opportunities the world has to offer and learning from the top world-class researchers and scientists. So far more than 20 students from Lithuania had an opportunity to do internship with NASA at Ames Research Center since 2014.
At the end of last year two Kaunas University of Technology mechanical engineering undergraduate students Tomas Narbuntas and Deividas Celkys spent 16 weeks at the center testing wind tunnel experiment and exploring the propeller system, which could be adaptable in an urban environment.
Tomas Narbuntas shares his experience and gratitude in a letter to Jurate Kazickas:
Dear Jurate,
I would like to thank you for your unbelievable generosity and support. Your kindness allowed me and Deividas to experience the best that our internship had to offer…
When I got back home in Lithuania, it felt like returning from a parallel reality. It looked like my life at home does not even connect with anything that I experienced on the other side of the Atlantic… I miss all of the challenges that had to be solved at the office of NASA Ames Aeromechanics branch.
…I have participated in a wind tunnel experiment - it had been a dream of mine for a few years! I also wrote a draft version of a data report for a wind tunnel research which will be published by NASA. Moreover, during countless tours that we had as interns, I got to see many different projects from a variety of spheres that NASA is involved in. I am still astonished that I had a chance to visit places where Mars 2020 rover is assembled or space missions are controlled.
…Also, one of the most important aspects of this internship is people that I met … - super friendly and intelligent students that wanted to share their happy moments together… also, many people at NASA that taught me so much about the things that we were working on together.
…This internship felt so much like a dream to me that it took a while to realize it was real. I got so much from it starting with scientific knowledge and concluding with priceless relationships with my new friends.
Best regards,
Tomas Narbuntas
Both, Tomas and his colleague Deividas Čelkys, are the students of KTU GIFTed Academy – the intense studies path for the talented students. They agree that the engineering skills and knowledge obtained at KTU were the main assets, which opened the door to NASA Ames Research Centre Laboratories. “Apart from the competencies needed for the projects, the most important qualities to be selected for the internship are curiosity, open-mindedness, passion and belief in what you are doing,” says Narbuntas.
Tomas and Deividas are convinced that working together with NASA researchers had expanded their scientific outlook, and was a great investment to the future – this experience will allow them to look at the problems more creatively.
Ames Research Center is one of ten NASA field centers. Since 1939, Ames has led NASA in conducting world-class research and development in aeronautics, exploration technology and science aligned with the center's core capabilities.
The Lithuanian national competition for the internship at NASA Ames Research Centre is facilitated by the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (MITA).
Photos: Personal archives of T. Narbuntas and D. Čelkys
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