The Workforce Development: Industry Internships (WDII) program is a new program developed by Louisiana Space Grant to place Louisiana college students in paid internships with aerospace and aviation industry partners. For summer 2026, twelve students from Louisiana Tech University, Louisiana State University, and Tulane University were placed at Lockheed Martin (NASA Michoud Assembly Facility and NASA Stennis Space Center), AVEX (New Iberia, LA), Vivace (NASA Michoud Assembly Facility), and Cislune (remote positions, located in Rosemead, CA).
Brennon Stevens, a Mechanical Engineering student from LSU, had this to say about his experience so far, “From the start, the Orion Stress Analysis team has fostered an incredible environment for hands-on learning. The engineering and manufacturing processes behind human spaceflight have been eye-opening.”
“The goal of this internship program is twofold,” says LA Space Grant Director Colleen H. Fava. “First, the aerospace and aviation companies in our region need scientists and engineers to grow their workforce. Secondly, our students need hands-on work experience to prepare them for their careers.”
Brennon Stevens' work at Lockheed Martin is already translating into practical engineering experience. “My primary focus over the last two weeks has been diving into finite element analysis using FEMAP (Finite Element Modeling and Processing). I have had the opportunity to directly apply this by working on mesh generation and performing structural stress analysis for a heat exchanger housing destined for the Orion spacecraft. The engineering scope required for these systems is staggering. To put it in perspective, the level of durability required is comparable to throwing a car into the ocean from orbit and expecting it to turn on and drive perfectly again afterward.”
The Workforce Development Industry Internship program was developed by the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, a statewide consortium established in 1991 under the National Space Grant College & Fellowship Program to promote NASA-aligned STEM research, education, and public literacy in Louisiana and train the next generation aerospace workforce in our state. The LA Space Grant program is based at LSU in Baton Rouge but provides programming for higher education students throughout the state. For more information, visit laspace.lsu.edu and connect on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/la-space-grant-nasa-epscor.
Pictured: Brennon Stevens, LSU Mechanical Engineering, with a model of the Space Launch System (SLS), at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, LA.
