What is your next adventure?

I am going to be start my master's through the AE BS/MS program. I will be spending the summer doing research in the Space Systems Design Lab (SSDL) on the Green Propellant Dual Mode (GPDM) project with Prof. Glenn Lightsey. I will be acting as a Graduate Mission Operator and Ground Data Systems Lead.

What about your next adventure are you most looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to the classes. I saw that graduate classes dive deeper into orbital mechanics and the dynamics of how orbits work, how they’re shaped, how they interact with each other.  I am also really excited about GPDM. As a graduate student, you get a lot more responsibility and ownership, so I'm looking forward to that aspect as well.

Did you have any previous co-op, internship, or research experience in this area?

Last summer, I interned at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as an Orion Avionics Intern, working in the Wireless Communications Branch. When Orion goes into orbit, there can be periods where communication between spacecraft and ground stations is lost, which is a critical issue, especially when astronauts are involved. The team wanted a better way to identify and analyze exactly when those communication losses occur. I helped develop a program that processed pre-existing trajectory data to pinpoint when communication with Orion dropped, allowing the team to more easily identify and further analyze those moments.

Before that, I interned at Amazon Prime Air, where the team was developing delivery drones. I worked as a hardware development intern and helped redesign one of their propellers to make it easier to manufacture at scale. I also created a prototype for a package bay door by designing a gear mechanism that allows the door to open and release the package when the drone lands.

And then my first internship was at General Electric Vernova. I was an Aerothermal Methods Intern. I created a program that took that large Excel file and organized the data so they could efficiently generate graphs of turbine engine data at scale. The interface that allows the team to select a specific engine and quickly plot or analyze the data as needed.

How did your educational experience at Georgia Tech help you to achieve your goals?

My educational experience at Georgia Tech really helped me through the strength of the coursework, especially the programming classes. Taking classes in Python and MATLAB gave me a solid foundation. Without that experience, I would have struggled with many of the projects and internships I later took.

Beyond the classroom, the lab team-based and hands-on projects were just as important. Working in collaborative environments taught me how to function effectively as part of a team. Experiences like working in the Space Systems Design Laboratory with Prof. Lightsey and conducting materials science research under Prof. Rosario Gerhardt really reinforced those skills and gave me practical, real-world experience.

What advice would you give to an underclassman who would like to follow the same path?

Get involved. It's really hard when you first come to a new school. You can get swept up in classes, but it's not just the concepts that are important. It's actually crucial to get hands-on experience. For example, getting involved in research is really important. Reach out to professors and ask about any opportunities. That is how I got into research: I asked my professor,” Do you have any projects?” Join clubs. I didn't do any competition clubs during my time at Tech because I was busy already, but those are also very important too. So even if you can't do research, just get hands-on experience somewhere. Georgia Tech’s opportunities can help you get internships. And then from there, the internships get you more internships and...so on.