From Ringling’s campus to crafting visual stories for NASA, recent grad Nico Roper ’25, Illustration, uses illustration as a tool to spark scientific curiosity.
Currently serving as an Illustration and Design Intern on the Orion Communications team, Roper is helping shape how the public sees and understands the future of human space exploration. As part of the NASA team supporting the Artemis mission, they have been hard at work designing two posters that will be released to the public in the coming months. These visuals aim to educate and excite audiences about Artemis—NASA’s ambitious effort to return humankind to the Moon.
“My favorite thing about working for NASA is the community,” Roper shared. “Everyone here is so passionate about being part of a team that helps make human spaceflight possible.”
This opportunity builds upon their previous work in the field of science communication. Last summer, Roper interned at Quanta Magazine, a publication known for making cutting-edge scientific research accessible to a broad audience.
Science is a dominant theme in much of Roper’s work. They are especially passionate about entomology, the study of insects, which is visible in their bug-centric pitch for the Senior Thesis Exhibition poster. Their thesis project, Presently Paleo, explored how extinct flora and fauna might interact with the modern world if they were brought back to life.
“I loved having the opportunity to combine my research of the prehistoric era with my personal style to create a thesis that felt wholly my own,” Roper shared. “The work I had done on the project allowed me to better articulate why I was interested in working in science communications.”
Even while working at NASA, they’ve kept up with their love of bugs. They set up a beetle enclosure, which houses a metallic stag beetle named Quark, named after the Deep Space Nine character, whom they love dearly.
All opinions here are Roper’s own, and they do not speak on behalf of or as a representation of NASA. Learn more about the progress for the Artemis mission on NASA’s Artemis blog!
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