Gu Student Participates In Nasa Training Program

Most people think of bottle-lens glasses, pencils in their pockets and introverted personalities when they hear the words “engineering student.”

But that image is shattered when it comes to Jeff LeBret, a computer engineering student at Gonzaga University.

LeBret has a lot to say. By his own admission he probably says too much.

Recently his mouth almost cost him his job as “Spike,” the Gonzaga mascot.

LeBret blew his cover as the top dog in the Feb. 20 edition of the school newspaper, The Gonzaga Bulletin. His identity wasn’t supposed to be revealed until halftime of a recent basketball game, but LeBret jumped the gun.

He pleaded with his boss who eventually let him perform in the Zags last regular season game.

But there’s much more to LeBret than running his mouth and a stuffy dog costume.

Last summer, the 1996 graduate of North Central High School attended NASA’s Space Life Science Training Program at Cape Canaveral, Fla. He was among 40 students chosen from throughout the country to work on research projects with professional scientists.

“It was really a valuable experience,” LeBret said. “We were in labs, mixing chemicals and expanding our vocabulary of acronyms.”

LeBret worked for the German Space Agency Scientists on the Closed Equilibration Biological Aquatic System project and NASA’s mission support where he worked on a freezing gradient project.

In November, he presented that research at the American Society for Gravitational Space Biology Conference in Washington, D.C.

A couple of his projects went into orbit for Space Shuttle missions in November and December.

During his work with the Germans in Florida, LeBret noticed that he had a lot more in common with them than with American scientists.

“The Germans, they’re more relaxed, they’ve got a much more casual manner,” LeBret said.

“During the conference, a lot of people were giving me a hard time saying that I was going to become one of them.”

So, for one day, he did. LeBret went to the Epcot Center, purchased a jump suit with a German flag splashed all over it.

He wore the suit when it came time for him to give a presentation before a large group of scientists.

“It went over well,” LeBret said.

So well that the Germans have asked him if he would be interested in working in Frankfurt with them this summer.

“I don’t know if I’ll go because it’ll be expensive to get over and back,” he said.

If he doesn’t go, he said he will most likely stay in Spokane and look for work.

It shouldn’t be a problem for him. Whether it’s wearing a dog suit or a German flag, LeBret always manages to land a sweet gig.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo