Moon shot: MCC DIMA degree
lands Pape at NASA
Children often aspire to become astronauts, but the childhood dream Claire Pape is living is truly the stuff of dreams.
“Working at NASA was my childhood dream — I already had that in the back of my mind, but it never really seemed practical. I told my mom I was going to work at NASA one day. She was like, ‘Okay, but how in the heck do you work for NASA?’” said Pape, who completed an associate degree in 3D Animation and Games at Metropolitan Community College in 2023.
For Pape, working at NASA involved being bold enough to apply. A failure of effort was not an option, and her persistence paid off. Through a government contract with her aerospace engineering employer, Analytical Mechanics Associates, Pape reports to work from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
One year into her first job out of college, Pape is involved in work that aims to put the first humans on the moon in more than 50 years as part of NASA’s Artemis missions. The goal of the Artemis missions is to promote sustainable exploration of the moon that is intended to pave the way for astronauts to eventually walk on Mars.
Pape, 24, works with NASA engineers who have earned some of the most coveted degrees from elite universities. She recently created a 3D model of a robotic system that will travel nearly 250,000 miles beyond Earth’s atmosphere and reflect the sun’s rays into the darkest depths of the mysterious region near the lunar South Pole, using mirror panels to provide solar power to devices doing scientific study in the darkness. The cratered area has never been physically explored, but studies suggest the landscape provides hints to how water may be moving across the moon’s surface.
“I have my dream job. I feel very blessed to be right out of school and have the exact job I have always wanted. I don’t want to work anywhere else. Like, this is it for me,” Pape said.
Pape said she took every opportunity to check in on her hiring status so people with the ability to extend her an offer couldn’t leave it up to interpretation if she wanted the job.
“I was emailing them for updates, showing them that I was passionate about it and would do whatever they wanted me to do to get it,” Pape said.
MCC instructors in the Design Interactivity and Media Arts (DIMA) program getting to know their students also played a pivotal role in helping Pape reach her moon-shot goal for employment, she said.
The science-minded artist
Pape has a unique blend of talent that relies on alternating between each hemisphere of her brain. On the way to finishing high school at Omaha Skutt Catholic in 2018, she was accepted to art schools where she intended to explore her creative interests in photography. She also won a national championship in the academic decathlon her senior year of high school, finishing with a growing interest in physics.
Deciding to “do something more practical” and based in the health sciences, Pape enrolled at MCC after high school to pursue a career in nursing. She then transferred to a four-year college in Nebraska to begin working on a bachelor’s degree in physics — until her artistic side tugged her back to MCC and into the DIMA program to explore 3D Animation and Games.
Providing 3D visual models for aerospace engineering projects has turned out to be a great way to satisfy both her creative and scientific ambitions.
A day at the office for Pape can entail spending some of her working hours hearing about ideas that exist in the minds of some of the world’s greatest scientific and mathematical thinkers.
“I think having a physics background helps me understand what the engineers are talking about,” Pape said. “My team does a lot of engineering visualization. [One of the NASA engineers] will come to us and say, ‘I have an idea for something.’ If we’re lucky, we’ll get a napkin sketch of what they have in their brains, and they’ll be like, ‘Can you put this in a 3D model for me?’”
Tapping into the part of her brain that is fascinated by physics while simultaneously accessing the area of her mind where her inner artist maintains residency, Pape takes it all in and then works with her team to put out a design that represents the concept.
“Usually people are either in one side of their brain or the other. I guess both of mine are kind of going at the same time,” Pape said.
MCC: A personality fit
Despite having a sharp academic disposition — Pape won a national championship in academic decathlon in high school “without really studying” — she has never been a top student.
Pape, a self-described “average student,” said MCC DIMA instructor Ian Snyder’s approach to teaching was exactly what she needed. When she had been a physics major, however, Pape said class sizes and lecture halls were too big at the university.
“MCC was a better fit for my personality. I really liked that the teachers could take time for individual students, and I feel like I had a lot more success here because of it,” Pape said.
Pape also took advantage of the expertise at her disposal. Snyder, who has more than 15 years of industry background in gameplay programming and development, said he wants his instruction to feel more like mentorship rather than class to the student.
“[Snyder is] by far the best teacher I’ve ever had at any school. With all the classes I was taking, he was able to tailor them to help me succeed in what I wanted to do,” Pape said.
As DIMA students begin the program, Snyder said the approach is to expose them to the wide-ranging DIMA competencies — drawing; 2D and 3D design; typography; motion graphics design; game design; 3D modeling and animation; web design; and more. During the student’s second year, when they begin more specialized classes, an area of concentration typically emerges, Snyder said. Through getting to know his student, Snyder observed that Pape’s modeling and lighting skills in 3D digital design were superb.
“This is what’s exciting to me as a teacher — when you see a student’s strengths really stand out and you start to see what they’re really leaning into,” Snyder said. “For Claire, she was working on a lot of environments, and one of the first environments she made playing with rendering and lighting was just mind blowing.”
Once an area of specialization surfaces, Snyder has the flexibility to modify courses and assignments to align with the student’s employment goals. When students take Snyder up on his offer for mentorship, he focuses their time on helping them develop an employment-worthy portfolio. Snyder knows from years of working in large game studios — where he discovered his passion for teaching — that the job seeker’s portfolio is the best opportunity for their work to stand out in a pool of hundreds of applicants.
“If your portfolio looks like work that the employer is currently doing or you know they need done, that’s how you get the job. We really focus on that. That gives the employer the confidence that if they hire this job candidate, they will be able to jump right in, and in the first week or two on the job, they will be able to start producing results,” Snyder said.
A year under her belt
Pape is feeling settled in her career and her new Virginia home, though it’s all still a bit surreal. A year ago, she was working as a detailer at a car dealership, cleaning up upholstery stains, spilled change and unfriendly odors. At her current job, members of U.S. Congress and other dignitaries routinely tour her office.
While there was no part of her that was going to turn down the offer, she wasn’t sure what kind of culture she would find at her new job, and at 24, how well she would mesh with others in the office.
“I struggled with the transition, especially because I was right out of school and all these people have their bachelor’s, master’s and [doctorates], and here I come in with my associate degree. But they thought I was a good fit for the job,” Pape said.
Pape said there’s mutual appreciation between the 3D generalists on her team and the NASA engineers they work with, who realize the importance of getting the public excited about their ideas, a key part of the work Pape’s team does.
“I’ve learned so much just from talking to people in the headquarters building. If I have a question, everybody’s been willing to help. The engineers who are building these things love our department and are always talking about the things we do. They’ll come in and say, ‘You guys are amazing. You’re doing things that we could never do,’” Pape said.
The luster of her life in Langley hasn’t quite worn off. After accepting the job, she needed to prioritize getting herself out there first, leaving a prized possession behind — her 1993 Mitsubishi 3000GT. The street racer gives a view into her physics mind with the “weight reduction,” “suspension” and “aerodynamic” work she has done.
The car is complete with two 20-pound nitrous oxide tanks “just for show.” Pape came back to Omaha in May to pick it up and drive it back to Virginia, where she gives herself an exciting affirmation.
“Almost every day, my inner child is still like, ‘We’re going to NASA,’” Pape said.
Visit mccneb.edu/DIMA for more information about the DIMA program.