What is your next adventure?

I’m applying to graduate schools, including Georgia Tech.

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

I am excited to apply the things I have learned at Georgia Tech, like solving hard problems. It's been great learning all the theory. If you're going to learn about aerospace, Georgia Tech is the place. It’s given me a bunch of theoretical experience.

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

I transferred to Georgia Tech from Georgia State University. My first summer at Tech, I studied abroad in Limerick, Ireland. In the summer of 2023, I did research with Dr. Sankar, working on computational fluid dynamics. One of the projects I enjoyed was analyzing the fluid flow. It was one of the experiments that we worked on that excited me, and I was like, this is something I may want to look into in the future. In 2024, I received the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship and worked with Airbus, U.S. Space Defense Inc. for summer. I was an assembly test and launch operation engineer, creating models for their satellite program. We also did assembly, testing and structural analysis on all of that. Currently, I work with Senior Research Engineer Selcuk Cimatalay in the Aerospace Systems Design Lab. I’ve been working with them for two semesters on model-based system engineering. One of the main projects I enjoyed working on was the Mars Rover Mission using methods of systems to essentially create and model the mission.

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

Georgia Tech pushed me. It gave me the opportunity to be around goal and detail-oriented people. I usually found myself in a room full of people who were passionate about the work, and that was motivational. I took advantage of the resources that Georgia Tech offers, like professor office hours, club meetings, different societies, and it gave me the push I needed to accomplish what I wanted.

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

There is beauty in self-reflection, but a lot of us just forget about it. I know this because I do it a lot. I will not do well in an exam, and then I'll generalize it. I’ll say things like, Oh, I really need to study harder, or I need to do better, or I don't think it's me this time. It can be that general because it's not one-size-fits-all. Self-reflection is important before improving or implementing change. Bounce back and get it better.