Space Science and Engineering Center University of Wisconsin-Madison

Each year, students from University of Wisconsin-Madison and universities across the US come to the Space Science and Engineering Center to work side-by-side with scientists to study Earth’s atmosphere and satellite meteorology.

For the sixth year in a row, students got hands-on experience working with SSEC researchers to study a wide variety of topics. Examples include cloud properties, land and sea interactions, developing remote sensing software programs, as well as databases.

“We’re always blown away by how smart the interns are, how quickly they pick up new concepts, and how much they accomplish in such a short period of time,” says Dave Hoese, one of the program organizers.

Students attend the paid summer internship program for 10 weeks and share their research findings during a final presentation in August. This summer, SSEC welcomed 13 interns into the program and has hosted more than 40 students since 2021. Applications for the 2027 summer internship program begin in early January.

Two students from this year’s group shared their experience about their time here and their research.

TJ Ochoa Peterson

TJ came to SSEC from Michigan State University where he is majoring in geography. His research project this summer developed a satellite retrieval product using data from the Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) which is currently aboard the Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellites, including Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21. TJ worked with two SSEC researchers, Kyle Mattingly and Nate Miller, to understand cloud phases. By analyzing infrared brightness temperature data, they sought to identify phases of observed clouds, whether they are liquid, ice, or in a mixed state.

TJ says he has enjoyed learning about the many variables that go into making satellite observations and retrievals and learning different ways to approach the problem of calculating them.

Outside of research, TJ is into running and being active. He also is an avid reader and enjoys spending time at the UW-Madison Washburn Observatory to learn about astronomy and all things space related. He plans to graduate in 2027.

Munasib Ilham

Munasib is a graduate student at UW-Madison and recently earned his B.S. in Computer Engineering. His research during the SSEC summer internship focused on creating a software-based system that can be used to process data transmissions from weather satellites such as NOAA-20.

Munasib worked with SSEC distinguished scientist Liam Gumley to code and refine systems that can help others make use of open-access data from satellites around the world. Satellites like NOAA-20 and GOES-East transmit their data unencrypted, making them available to anyone with ground-station receiver equipment. Traditionally, this meant needing specific and often expensive hardware demodulators to decode each satellite’s signals.

However, Munasib’s project replaces that fixed demodulator with a flexible software pipeline. This allows a single receiver to be reconfigured to decode different satellites and signal formats without swapping hardware for each one, lowering the barrier for universities, research groups and hobbyists to build their own ground stations.

“The part I enjoyed the most was learning about the many different ways we could approach a problem, and that our knowledge has evolved so much that there is more than one solution to a challenge like translating data signals,” says Munasib.

Outside of research, he enjoys biking around the Madison lakes and spending time at Memorial Union and the Terrace.

The Summer Internship Program is supported by SSEC and CIMSS.