Langley Aerospace Research Student Scholars (LARSS) provides students with real research experience at one of the world’s premiere research centers. There are exciting opportunities at NASA Langley for both undergraduate and graduate students to perform research in almost every engineering discipline as well as the physical sciences and mathematics and computer science. Students in EE, CS, and Math should note that there are several opportunities for hands on experience in researching embedded systems (unmanned aircraft and avionics testbeds), functional programming, interactive theorem proving (PVS), verifying numerical software, runtime verification, static program analysis (SMT solving, abstract interpretation, symbolic execution), global optimization, and algorithm design.
NASA Langley Research Center was formed 95 years ago by the National Advisory Counsel on Aeronautics (NACA) and was the nation's first research lab focusing on aeronautics. In its early days, Orville Wright was a regular visitor. Langley has been a leader in aeronautics from the era of the biplane to paving the way for hypersonic flight. The Mercury 7 astronauts trained at Langley. Neil Armstrong trained to land on the Moon at Langley. Back in August, years of work carried out at Langley's Atmospheric Flight & Entry Systems Branch came to fruition when the Mars Surface Lander (MSL) Curiosity landed on Mars. The scientists and engineers at NASA Langley daily tackle problems that are critical to the nation ranging from studies of atmospheric changes, green aircraft, developing new materials for aerospace, creating the technology and algorithms for next generation air traffic management, generating new aircraft and spacecraft designs, and architecting the next generation of avionics.
NASA Langley is located in Hampton Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay. Virginia Beach and Colonial Williamsburg are a thirty minute drive and nearby Norfolk provides an urban nightlife scene. The Outer Banks of North Carolina and Washington DC are an easy day trip.