Lauren Coffman, a current biomedical engineering student, has always been fascinated by space. Her childhood interest turned into a reality when she secured a NASA Pathways Internship in human health and performance at Johnson Space Center (JSC). From an early love of space exploration to landing an internship with NASA, Lauren’s journey has been filled with determination, hard work and guidance from her mentors at Wichita State.
This past summer, Lauren completed her first NASA Office of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (O-STEM) internship at the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH). During her time there, she developed procedures for biomedical equipment used in commercial spaceflight, tested these procedures with her team, managed biosample collections from astronauts and organized biomedical hardware as it moved across institutions. Now, in her current Pathways role, Lauren focuses on ensuring astronaut safety through the development of supplemental materials for biomedical equipment, certifying medical devices and analyzing countermeasures for spaceflight. “A majority of my day is spent analyzing problems with equipment and designing solutions for efficient spaceflight,” she explains.