Sean Weldon, a second-year graduate student, was given what some would call the opportunity of a lifetime.

Over this summer, he scored an internship with NASA.

He was paid a stipend of $5,000 for his internship, which lasted from May through July.

Weldon, an applied probability and statistics major, said his love for numbers sparked his interest in getting an internship with the NASA-affiliated National Space and Science Technology Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Weldon, originally from Frankfort, Ill., was born with a hearing impairment, but it was not a challenge while interning with NASA. His first challenge was being away from home and NIU for the first time in his life.

Weldon, who was used to living in his Stevenson Towers North room and eating dining hall food, had to learn to cook for himself.

Through his NASA internship, Weldon met his mentor, William “Bill” Koshak, who specializes in the physics of lightning.

“Bill was a cool guy,” Weldon said.

Weldon got along well with Koshak. He especially appreciated the fact that Koshak worked slow.

“I also like to work slow,” Weldon said. “If you work too fast, the probability of error is greater.”

Weldon’s job was to work with Koshak to develop and test a hypothesis regarding lightning.

To accomplish this task, Weldon first had to learn about the structure of a thunder cloud, cloud-to-ground and ground-based lightning, as well as satellite measurements.

Weldon said he decided to perform a test that would determine if, on average, a positive peak current produces a brighter flash radiance than a negative peak current. After testing, Weldon concluded with 95 percent confidence that the mean flash radiance for the negative peak current is less than the mean flash radiance for the positive peak current.

Weldon gave a final presentation on his results to other interns and NASA employees, including Koshak.

Weldon thinks that his work has been very beneficial. Weldon said his research should help Koshak implement some improvements in how lightning data will be analyzed.

“My classes at NIU helped prepare me a lot for my internship,” Weldon said. “But it was still challenging.”

Weldon thought that his statistics classes gave him the confidence he needed to complete his internship. The textbooks he brought along with him also helped out, he said.

The internship was an outstanding learning experience, including the side benefits of learning to live on his own, experience new things and meet new people, Weldon said.

“It was a very interesting 10 weeks,” he said.

While staying in Alabama, Weldon noted that there were many differences between life in the Midwest and Southern lifestyle.

“The pace is much slower in the south and people are overly friendly,” Weldon said. “Also, almost all the restaurants have an all-you-can-eat buffet.”

The only thing Weldon said he would change about his internship is the lack of activities designed to let the interns get to know one another.

“I would like to see more bonding activities for the interns,” Weldon said. “It was probably difficult to do, though, with such tight security.”

To get into the building, Weldon needed a badge, which he was required to return at the end of his 10-week internship. He worked an average of eight hours a day, with occasional optional overtime, for which he was not compensated monetarily.

“Even though we did not get paid for overtime, I still liked to work the extra hours,” Weldon said. “I liked what I was doing.”

Weldon said his internship with NASA has made him even more confident that he has chosen the right career path. He one day hopes to work with statistics and numbers for a living. Although he enjoyed learning to adjust to life away from home, Weldon hopes to find a challenging job in the Chicago area so that he can have the continued support of his family.

“I am very fortunate to have such a supportive family,” Weldon said. “It was hard for me to be away from them.”

Weldon is the eldest of three children. He has a younger brother who graduated from NIU in May, as well as a younger sister who attends Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.

While away for his internship, Weldon kept in contact with his family as well as his disability career coordinator, Sheila Milan.

“This was a big step for Sean,” Milan said. “His work at NASA was very complex and powerful, but he is a very hard and diligent worker.”

Milan said that although she has difficulty understanding the work Weldon does, he often e-mailed her over the summer describing his work.

“I learned a lot of things I did not know from Sean,” Milan said.

Weldon also said that he learned a lot about his chosen field from his NASA experience.

“I learned how to use statistics in real-life situations,” Weldon said.

An avid sports fan of Chicago teams, Weldon takes pride in being knowledgeable of statistics on teams such as the Bears, Cubs, Bulls and Blackhawks.

Milan noted that even if he didn’t have the NASA internship, Weldon’s academic qualifications are high. He currently maintains a graduate GPA of 3.79.

Although Weldon is not sure if he will pursue a future with NASA, he said that he would like to get a similar job that challenges his knowledge of numbers and statistics.

“This internship has opened a door for Sean,” Milan said.