The New Zealand Space Scholarships were presented by Minister for Space, the Hon. Chris Penk, at a ceremony held at Parliament. Alongside Alexander Wiseman, Angela Xue, Laura Doyle, and Zhen Hong (Zac) Chai from Te Herenga Waka, three students from universities in Auckland also received scholarships.
The students will work alongside scientists and engineers who are part of space missions, gaining hands-on experience in their fields of study.
“The Space Scholarship presents a career-defining opportunity for these talented young New Zealanders who are set to spend three months at JPL working alongside scientists and engineers on real-world missions,” says the Minister for Space.
“As part of their work, they will be contributing to cutting-edge space technology projects and gain experience right at the forefront of global space innovation.”
He says it’s an exciting time for the space industry, both locally and overseas. In recent years, New Zealand’s space sector has grown rapidly, with revenue increasing an estimated 53 percent in the five years to 2024.
“Building and sustaining a highly skilled, future-ready space workforce is a key priority of New Zealand’s Space and Advanced Aviation Strategy—the Space Scholarship gives postgraduate students the opportunity to gain valuable international experience before bringing that expertise home,” says the Minister.
The scholarship recipients from Te Herenga Waka are:
Alexander Wiseman
Alexander is completing his PhD in Electrical Engineering, and at JPL he will be working with the UltraViolet EXplorer (UVEX) detector team, where he will get hands-on experience in detector development, performance modelling, and evaluation from a system level perspective.
“I hope to learn as much as I can through this experience,” says Alexander. “Both through the work I do on my specific project, and by getting to know lots of people at JPL. It's a very rare chance to talk to some of the world's leading scientists and engineers about what they do.”
Angela Xue
Angela is a PhD candidate at the University focusing on astrophysics, simulations, cosmology, and turbulence in the ICM (Intracluster Medium). While at JPL, she will be supporting astrophysics research and analysis, examining how certain gases (HD, hydrogen (H₂), and carbon monoxide (CO)) behave by observing how they interact with vacuum ultraviolet (UV) light.
Angela hopes to deepen her skills and knowledge by working with leading scientists at the forefront of space-science. “I am looking forward to forming connections with my mentor, research group, and the wider JPL community.”
Laura Doyle
Laura is completing a Master of Chemistry, where she is using microwaves to produce green hydrogen (H2). At JPL Laura will explore how methane (CH₄) breaks down when exposed to light.
“It’s amazing knowing that the work I will do will help us learn about worlds that humanity may not step foot on in my lifetime, but that humans could explore in the distant future.
“I used to think that science was strictly split into its different disciplines—chemistry, physics, and so on, but when you bring them all together, you can answer the big questions that no single area can explain on its own.”
Zhen Hong (Zac) Chai
Zac is completing a Master of Physics focused on Applied Field Magnetoplasmadynamic (AF-MPD) thrusters and their feasibility for future space missions. At JPL, Zac will contribute to the end-to-end implementation of telemetry analysis for a project within the Mars Science Laboratory rover mission.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to be in an environment and in the rooms where innovation and history were created, to soak in the atmosphere that great scientists before me have experienced, and to understand what they saw and felt.
“NASA JPL has been a dream of mine since I started my studies at Victoria University of Wellington—after six years of hard work, manifestation, and sacrifice, I will finally be able to experience it firsthand,” he says.
“That is the biggest milestone for me: simply being present at the site where technology that has changed our understanding of the universe was developed, and absorbing that inspiration.”