Applicants with the following education and career experience are eligible: Science and engineering Doctoral candidates (advancement to candidacy required), recent Ph.D.’s (up to three years beyond their Ph.D.), Postdocs, Junior Faculty with a Ph.D., and non-research Engineering Master-level students within six to nine months of graduation will be considered on a space-available basis.
Open to U.S. Citizens and legal permanent residents and a limited number of Foreign Nationals from non-designated countries living within the U.S at the time of application and during the full session. There is no charge to attend, and applicants from diverse backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply. Diversity, equity and inclusion are important to us, and we strive to create a welcoming environment where participants’ contributions and unique perspectives are valued.
Roughly equivalent in workload to a rigorous 3-hour graduate-level course, participants spend the majority of the first 10 weeks in preparatory webinars acting as a science mission team, prior to spending the final culminating week being mentored by JPL’s Advance Project Design Team, or “Team X” to refine their planetary science mission concept design, then present it to a mock review board of NASA Center experts.
