Chase Leidy ’23 launches career with three NASA internships

By Lydia Mandell

Cleveland Institute of Art alum Chase Leidy’s journey into the aerospace industry took flight in summer 2022 during his first internship—his first of three internships—at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Though his projects were other-worldly, the 2023 grad’s work at NASA was grounded in concepts central to his CIA Animation education: storytelling and communication.

During Leidy’s first internship, he was assigned to NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCAN) program. His task: Create an animation for the Lunar Surface Propagation (LSP) project that would simplify intricate scientific concepts for a wider audience.

More specifically, the animation needed to demonstrate establishing 4G LTE communications on the moon to support future missions of the NASA Artemis program, which aims to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before as well as land the first woman and first person of color on the moon. The LSP project is focused on testing space technology on Earth in an emulated lunar surface environment so that missions can determine the likelihood of using 4G/5G LTE technology on the lunar surface prior to sending that technology to space.

The internship was an out-of-this-world opportunity for Leidy. How did he feel when he first learned he’d landed the gig? In a word: “Ecstatic.”

“I really couldn’t believe it. It definitely took until I got here for it finally set in, and even then, it still didn’t feel real for a while,” says Leidy, a Brunswick, Ohio native and graduate of the Medina County Career Center.

When he returned for his second NASA internship in summer 2023, Leidy contributed to a new assignment, the Cognitive Communications research project, which aims to develop decentralized space networks with artificial intelligence. Like during his first internship, his work on that project involved creating an animation for educational purposes.

“For the Cognitive Communications project, the main purpose of the three-and-a-half-minute animation was to serve as a visual aid throughout tours of the research facilities, as the communications team just got moved to a new building,” Leidy says.

Collaborating closely with NASA researchers and engineers, Leidy used his artistic talents to bridge the gap between science and art. Communicating with a new audience took some getting used to, but Leidy says CIA provided him with the language and understanding to do just that. One of the most useful skills he learned at CIA was simply “the vocabulary that the Animation major teaches you.”

“At first, that vocabulary doesn't translate well (to scientists),” Leidy says. “But since you have a good fundamental understanding of what all these things mean, you can figure out different ways to explain it.”

Leidy’s mentor during his NASA internships was Molly Kearns, digital media lead for SCAN at Glenn Research Center. She praised the remarkable improvement in the quality of his work from internship to internship.

“We were blown away by the realism and dedication in his work,” says Kearns, who emphasized that interns with art backgrounds bring unique value to research environments.

“It’s really beneficial, especially in space communications and navigation,” she says. “It helps both the public understand what we’re working on and it also helps a lot internally to demonstrate the benefits of our technology before it’s actually developed.”

In fall 2023, during his third internship, Leidy turned his focus toward a new and improved LSP project animation, which he also fine-tuned during his second internship.

“I am restructuring and reshaping the project that I created last year, which is a two-minute animation on how we would like to send different equipment into space so we can get 4G LTE communication on the moon by the time that astronauts are there for the Artemis missions," Leidy says.

Driven by his passion for animation and technology, Leidy’s return to NASA for his third internship was motivated by the opportunity to further refine his skills and contribute to ongoing research initiatives.

“I had just gotten out of school (at CIA), so it was a really good opportunity to get right back into working,” Leidy says. “I made my thesis project all about NASA, so I learned a lot about the same techniques and different ways of going about those techniques. Being able to recreate my project from last year is a really good opportunity to make it a lot better.”

Leidy plans to return to NASA for his fourth internship in summer 2024. He’s the latest in a long line of CIA interns at NASA, which includes Stuart Collins ’18, Hannah Obremski ’19, Sara Horoiwa ’20, Grace Merry ’20 and Katie Schaefer ’21. Offering advice to aspiring interns, Leidy stressed the importance of focus and dedication.

“Focus on your goals. Make it your No. 1 priority, and if you put all of your effort into it, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have a really good shot at getting it," he says.

Reflecting on advice from Animation assistant professor Jeff Simonetta, Leidy acknowledged the importance of continuous learning and passion in excelling in the animation world.

“Even if you’re not animating, you should still be excited about animation, be researching it, and be looking at different processes and methods and the new things people are doing,” Leidy says. “I’m really glad I had taken the time to do that throughout getting my undergrad (degree), because I took a lot of those things I learned and applied them to this (LSP project) animation.”