Congratulations Class of 2017!

Congratulations to UT Austin’s ASE/EM Class of 2017! From constructing and launching rockets to building and flying airplanes, to making an impact with interdisciplinary research, our students have been making their mark while on the Forty Acres. Here we offer a glimpse into just a few of these student experiences – we can’t wait watch them take the world by the horns! 

Alexus Cottonham

Hometown: Houston, Texas
Degree: B.S. in Aerospace Engineering
Post-graduation plans: To enter the workforce

As a part of the University Leadership Network, one of our requirements is to either do an on-campus internship or an independent research project. I chose to do an independent research project, which I’ve been working on for two years now. My advising faculty is Dr. Jill Marshall in the College of Education. I’ve been looking into why women go into engineering because everyone has a very interesting path. My junior year, I made a survey to see what got people interested, and I sent it out to women in aerospace. I got about 30 responses back and got to see what influences people. It wasn’t family like what I thought, but just engineering itself, being able to do something hands-on and creative. I’m still working on it now. I actually just sent the survey out to everyone in engineering and am decoding the responses.

From where I’m from in Houston, there weren’t a lot of resources to teach engineering outside of science. I didn’t have exposure to it, and I just thought it was so sad that not everyone is able to explore all of their options just because of where they’re from. I remember taking AP Physics my senior year, and I was the only girl in my class, and that was really intimidating. I just want to encourage younger girls that they can do it even though they don’t see anyone like them in the room.
 

Christopher McCullough

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
Degree: Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering
Post-graduation plans: To continue research on GRACE and GRACE-FO at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California

GRACE has been in operation since 2002, so it’s currently reaching the end of its mission lifetime. Therefore, the GRACE Follow-On mission is currently planned to launch sometime between December 2017 and February 2018. All of my research is directly applicable to analysis of GRACE-FO data and any other GRACE-like missions.In addition, improvements in the gravity field, as well as the improvements in how we quantify uncertainty in our knowledge of the gravity field, directly applies to future scientific analysis derived from GRACE. My work should enable improved characterization of scientific results; such as sea level rise and melting of the sheets; allow GRACE to be combined with other data types, and improve the assimilation of GRACE into physics based geophysical models. All of which will help improve environmental planning, climate modeling, and prediction of extreme weather events.

Amanda Walker

Hometown: Austin and all over Texas
Degree: B.S. in Aerospace Engineering
Post-graduation plans: To enter the work-force

When I first started the program, I worked as an administrative assistant at a local engineering firm. The position quickly became more about process optimization. Most people in the administrative department weren’t really computer or tech savvy. They were great at their jobs, but everything they did was super time-consuming. I ended up designing new processes, writing a procedure manual, and wrote code and scripts for them to streamline certain functions.

Wesley Yu

Hometown: El Paso, Texas
Degree: B.S. in Aerospace Engineering
Post-graduation plans: Ph.D. program at CalTech