{"id":1839,"date":"2026-03-25T11:05:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:05:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:05:28","slug":"isaacs-selected-for-reputable-nasa-ames-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/isaacs-selected-for-reputable-nasa-ames-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaacs Selected for Reputable NASA Ames Internship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Christian Isaacs&nbsp;(BS\/ME \u201922;&nbsp;MS\/ME&nbsp;\u201825), a&nbsp;fourth-year&nbsp;PhD student in&nbsp;mechanical&nbsp;engineering, has been selected for a prestigious internship at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/ames\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NASA Ames Research Center<\/a>, where he will be working in&nbsp;the Arc Jet Complex on the second-generation miniature arc-jet research chamber (mARCII).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Located in Moffett Field, California, which is 40 miles south of San Francisco, NASA Ames Research Center&nbsp;has led NASA in conducting world-class research and development in aeronautics, exploration technology, and science aligned with the center\u2019s core capabilities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaacs is part of Assistant Professor Damiano Baccarella\u2019s research group&nbsp;in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His research focuses&nbsp;primarily on measuring and quantifying the gas-surface reaction&nbsp;chemistry between thermal protection materials and high-enthalpy flows.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/03\/20260226_Engineering-0446-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1841\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/03\/20260226_Engineering-0446-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/03\/20260226_Engineering-0446-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/03\/20260226_Engineering-0446-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/03\/20260226_Engineering-0446.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am very excited&nbsp;about this internship&nbsp;because&nbsp;it\u2019s very&nbsp;similar work&nbsp;to what we do here, just on a larger scale,\u201d Isaacs said. \u201cI&#8217;m hoping that&nbsp;I can take the knowledge that I&#8217;ve gained up to this point&nbsp;at UT&nbsp;and be able to apply it&nbsp;there&nbsp;and&nbsp;hopefully bring back some&nbsp;of the&nbsp;knowledge&nbsp;I gain&nbsp;to the university.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaacs is the second student in Baccarella\u2019s group&nbsp;in as many years&nbsp;to receive an internship at NASA Ames.&nbsp;Mitchell Trotsky&nbsp;recently returned to UT from a four-month stint at the facility.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaacs&nbsp;joined Baccarella\u2019s&nbsp;group during his undergraduate studies in 2021after taking a thermodynamics class with Baccarella.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI really fell in love with&nbsp;hypersonics&nbsp;as I gained&nbsp;more knowledge&nbsp;about it,\u201d he said. \u201cDr. Baccarella&nbsp;has been&nbsp;an&nbsp;amazing mentor. He is&nbsp;very approachable&nbsp;and very&nbsp;knowledgeable.&nbsp;He&#8217;s&nbsp;really helped&nbsp;push us to&nbsp;be&nbsp;the&nbsp;best we can be.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaacs, who will be working with NASA Aerospace Engineer Megan MacDonald during his internship,&nbsp;has considered&nbsp;potentially working for NASA once he completes his PhD degree.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne thing I&#8217;m really grateful for&nbsp;with this internship is&nbsp;that it will give me a&nbsp;foot in the door&nbsp;to&nbsp;get some experience,\u201d&nbsp;Isaacs&nbsp;said. \u201cThen,&nbsp;if I decide to go that route, maybe that&#8217;s a door that&#8217;ll be open for me.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"width:100%\"><div style=\"width: 15%;height: 10px;margin: 40px 0 px;border-bottom: 6px solid #ff8200\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Rhiannon Potkey (<a href=\"mailto:rpotkey@utk.edu\">rpotkey@utk.edu<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christian Isaacs&nbsp;(BS\/ME \u201922;&nbsp;MS\/ME&nbsp;\u201825), a&nbsp;fourth-year&nbsp;PhD student in&nbsp;mechanical&nbsp;engineering, has been selected for a prestigious internship at&nbsp;NASA Ames Research Center, where he will be working in&nbsp;the Arc Jet Complex on the second-generation miniature arc-jet research chamber (mARCII).&nbsp; Located in Moffett Field, California, which is 40 miles south of San Francisco, NASA Ames Research Center&nbsp;has led NASA in conducting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":1840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,382],"tags":[531,532,88],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-student","tag-ames-research-center","tag-internships","tag-nasa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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