Starstruck: Chemistry teacher Susan Hallstrom explored her passion for science beyond the classroom at a Nasa internship in 2010

“So, what are you here for?”

An older man eyed chemistry teacher Susan Hallstrom at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. She explained she was interning in the environmental department, asking him the same question.

“I’m the laser guy.”

“The laser guy of what?” she asked.

“The laser guy of the world.”

He wasn’t kidding. Over the two months Hallstrom spent working at NASA in 2010, she met genius after genius, all “laser guys” in their fields. Hallstrom said she was lucky to get a glimpse of their work because it showed her how vast the world of science was.

With the environmental scientists, she looked at particulates in the atmosphere to track pollution and ozone depletion. In an ongoing collection of environmental data — the kind of information used to make “what-if” models of fossil fuel consumption — Hallstrom was one of the lab coats facilitating the process.

All it took was an application, some rec letters and a thorough background check, and she got to spend two months with masters of STEM, who inspired her as a teacher.

The cutting-edge devices and intelligent workers of NASA helped Hallstrom keep her passion strong while teaching chemistry at SM Northwest. She’d wanted to get her certificate in STEM Education for the NASA Endeavor Fellowship, a program that offers classes and study opportunities to 50 applicants each year. At the time, she was the sole NASA Endeavor Fellow from Kansas that the program had ever chosen.

“It sounded like it would be fun, and I knew I could get the internship,” Hallstrom said. “Every once in a while, I need to do something outside of school so I can keep my enthusiasm level high. To keep excited. And doing something like [the NASA internship] really helps my excitement.” 

Whether she was working in the lab or the field, Hallstrom was stunned by what her peers could accomplish. Outside the facility, she helped them use weather balloons, lasers and photo arrays to collect data on particulates — microscopic matter found in the atmosphere that can be inhaled. In the lab, they’d analyze the data — though she left most of that to the NASA experts who worked there full time. She was the only intern in her group and felt highly underqualified.

“We’d look at particulates and people who were much smarter and mathematical than me would look at the relationships between those particulates,” Hallstrom said.

Hallstrom realized just how much NASA employees lived up to their name at weekly social gatherings — which were mandatory, since the STEM employees usually preferred work over talk.

“It was almost intimidating, because these people were so brilliant that it was tough to even carry on conversations with some of them,” Hallstrom said.

Still, working with so many geniuses was eye-opening. Hallstrom finally understood the importance of funding scientific research and technology.

“I was one of those people that wondered, ‘Why are we putting all this money into NASA?’” Hallstrom said. “And I met the people who were working there, who were leaders in their field. I realized that if we didn’t provide them an opportunity to work at a really good job in the United States, they were going to go work for somebody else and that expertise would leave us. These are people who are experts in weapons, experts in space travel, experts in things that I had never even thought about.”

A few days after she met “laser guy,” he brought her to the laser department — which required special clearance, a military escort and the vacuuming of her clothes to remove dust particles. The building was giant, covered by computers and topped with a ceiling that could open and shut for laser beams to blast out. 

It was awesome.

And what did the lasers look like? Nothing. She had to peek at computer screens to witness the pulse of the red streaks that aimed to reach satellites thousands of miles away. But she loved getting to see the “cool stuff” anyway.

She loved learning at NASA so much that she continued trying to grow her love of science outside the classroom. Since then, she’s worked a summer at a Research Experiences for Teachers program through the University of Kansas doing analytical techniques for biofuel products for a summer. Currently, she’s making videos solving chemistry problems for textbooks to be used in high-level chemistry classes. 

Outside of room 402, Hallstrom is always looking for opportunities to nurture her passion for science.