Grace Zimmerman
University of Central Arkansas student Grace Zimmerman has been named the Internship Student Achievement Award winner by the Cooperative Education and Internship Association (CEIA).
The Internship Student Achievement Award recognizes outstanding students in an undergraduate degree program who have participated in an internship. Award winners receive a $500 scholarship.
“It feels amazing to be the recipient of this award,” Zimmerman said. “Internships have always been a huge part of my learning process in college, and it was great to not only get recognition for my internship accomplishments but also get to represent UCA on the national stage.”
Zimmerman, a senior physics major and music minor, currently interns at the NASA Langley Research Center’s Simulation Development and Analysis Branch. She has held internships with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Solar System Exploration Division, where she was named a John Mather Nobel Scholar, and Georg Fischer Harvel, in Little Rock.
She has received UCA’s Bear C.L.A.W.S. Award, which stands for Celebrating the Lofty Achievements of Our Wonderful Students; the UCA Service-Learning Spirit of Humanity Award; and was named UCA Career Services’ 2020 Intern of the Year.
At NASA Langley Research Center, Zimmerman is working on the On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM) Architecture Simulation System (OASiS), where she is responsible for creating generic robotic guidance, navigation and control (GNC) classes to serve as the foundation for modeling future complex robotic GNC systems.
“Internships gave me valuable experience toward my future career while also allowing me to explore all of the opportunities out there,” she said. “I’ve been exposed to so many different areas of engineering and science that I’d had no idea existed before then. In all of my internships, my mentors have had my education at the forefront of the experience.”
UCA Career Services nominated Zimmerman for the national award.
“When we received Grace Zimmerman’s nomination for UCA’s 2021 Intern of the Year, the committee immediately knew that her story was one that should be shared on a national level,” said Robyn Williams, associate director of Career Services. “Grace’s ambition, dedication to her field and leadership are unmatched. She truly embodies the definition of CEIA’s Internship Student Achievement Award from her outstanding work in her internship with NASA to the drive she has to give back to UCA’s community.”
Zimmerman graduates in May and plans to attend graduate school in aerospace engineering with a focus on spacecraft trajectory design.
CEIA provides professional development and support to those in the field of cooperative education and internship program management and recognizes students who have excelled in work-integrated learning. Zimmerman’s award will be presented April 20, during its national conference. For more information about CEIA, visit www.ceiainc.org.
