by Sarah Mummert, Student Public Relations Writer
As a child, Lauryn Leslie dreamed of becoming a NASA astronaut. Now, after completing two engineering internships at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, her dream of working for NASA has become a reality.
A 2024 electrical engineering graduate of Cedarville University, Leslie was hired at NASA late last year, working in the Cognitive Signal Processing Branch of the Research & Engineering division.
She is in NASA’s Pathways co-op program, where she serves as a full-time government civil servant between periods of extended leave to complete semesters for her graduate degree in communications and electromagnetics from Purdue University.
The chance of a regular intern getting hired at NASA is about 2%. For Leslie in the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Internship Project, or SIP, her chances increased to 5% — and she made the cut.
“When I was an intern, I was very vocal about wanting to stay and that I’d love to be there,” she said. “There was not a direct path for that, but by the Lord’s grace I had happened to get a really high honor while being an intern, and that’s what opened the door for higher level management to see my name rise to the top.”
During her first summer internship, Leslie worked on 5G Array for Lunar Relay Operations – Flight Test (FIGARO-FT), a project that focused on communication technology necessary for future lunar exploration. In her role, she conducted developmental research for phased array antennas, a relatively new technology that can improve satellite communications but is still under development for power consumption and cost-effectiveness.
In her current role, Leslie works mainly on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project Mobile Telecommunications Technology on the Moon, which is developing cell service for use on the lunar surface.
“What I’ve loved most about working for NASA is the diversity of the work we do,” said Leslie. “I’ve been involved in research and development, from running computer simulations to building and testing hardware. But I’ve also had the opportunity to attend national and international conferences and helped with seminars in libraries for schoolkids.”
Though there is no doubt that she has worked hard for where she is today, Leslie credits all of her achievements to the Lord.
“It was God who opened a series of doors,” said Leslie. “They had tried to hire someone for my position twice before I got it, and that just doesn’t happen!”
Leslie will finish her master’s degree in 2026, after which she will continue on as a full-time NASA employee at the Glenn Research Center.
Cedarville University, an evangelical Christian institution in southwest Ohio, offers undergraduate and graduate programs across arts, sciences, and professional fields. With 6,384 students, it ranks among Ohio’s largest private universities and is recognized by The Wall Street Journal as being among the nation’s top three evangelical universities. Cedarville is also known for its vibrant Christian community, challenging academics, and high graduation and retention rates. Learn more at cedarville.edu.
