Outside of my capstone project and the rocketry team, there
has been plenty of other involvements also.
The first week of the semester, a grad student who is in the
same lab group reached out to form a team to design a liquid-propellant rocket
engine. We decided to build it for the 2020 Spaceport America Cup, and while
almost all of us would have graduated by then, we could at least set the
groundwork. There were 8 of us in the team, and I’d be the team manager and
specialize in the thrust chamber. The first few weeks of this side project were
great. We met twice a week and made good strides each week. Then people stopped
showing up to meetings without saying why, and we all (myself included) failed
to do the necessary work to proceed into each week. We decided to table work
until spring break, but when I attempted to coordinate another meeting to get
our feet under ourselves again, no one responded to my message. None of us have
talked about the project since, even in passing. I did learn a lot about
mission analysis, and I have a good feeling I’ll start this process again on my
own later this year. But for an orbital-class engine.
My summer research with Dr. Rouser changed what I thought I
wanted to do following graduation. I felt I was too burned out of school to do
graduate school, but the prospect of doing research and helping to build
rocketry in Oklahoma was a very tantalizing idea. Because of his energy and
enthusiasm, I wanted to continue to work on rockets in grad school, and in
March I was accepted. I’ll work quarter time as a Teaching Assistant (TA) and
quarter time as a Research Assistant (RA). I’ll be under Dr. Rouser, and it’ll
be a great lab group. Currently I hope most that I get a desk of my own.
In late February, I had no leads on an internship or other
summer opportunities. The spring STEM career fair took place on February 28th,
so I swallowed my pride and went to speak with engineering consulting firms, an
oil and gas processing company, and other group seeking mechanical engineering
majors. It actually went really well and was almost fun pitching my elevator
speech, and I carried good conversation with several company representatives.
That evening I got a call from Altec, a company that makes lift equipment for
telecommunications and electrical companies. I interviewed on campus the next
morning, and while it went, I don’t think I convinced my interviewer of my commitment
to a mechanical position with aerospace and rockets written all over my resume.
A week later I was told I didn’t get the position. Oh well.
Several days after the career fair I got a call from Audubon
Companies, a branch in Tulsa that does pipeline work. I interviewed later that
week, and I felt it too, went well. I got an offer a week thereafter with good
pay and available living options from the HR rep which was great. I was
legitimately excited about it as well. There was a lot of P&ID work and plumbing
involved which appealed. I accepted the offer during spring break and planned
to live in Tulsa for the summer. I would be able to help with preparations for
the Spaceport America Cup in June, and they even approved me for that week off.
Things were looking quite favorable, and I was truly looking forward to the
opportunity.
Things changed the week following spring break. I got a call
from a gentleman at NASA Marshall for the Propulsion Academy position I applied
for in November. He told me I’d gotten accepted for the position, and the pay
would be similar enough to the position with Audubon. I felt quite conflicted
because I already accepted an offer with another company. I did take the
position with NASA and while the phone call to Audubon wasn’t easy, they seemed
understanding enough. I’d only been committed to thee Audubon position for a week,
so I didn’t leave them hanging for too long.
Anyway, since accepting I have been so psyched. I’ll be working
on green propellants, a safer alternative to hydrazine. It’ll run 10 weeks, and
it looks as though I’ll be working with some very intelligent individuals. I am
very happy this is working out, and I’m so relieved to have gotten an “in” into
the space part of the aerospace industry.
With only two weeks remaining in the semester, this is the
most relaxed I’ve been for consecutive weeks since middle school I believe. I’ve
been baking every other day making chocolate pound cake, peanut butter wafers,
wheat bread, a mocha roulade, and white bread. I’ve only purchased one loaf of
bread this year so far; I’ve baked all the rest. The Great British Baking Show
has been a lot of fun for entertainment and inspiration, and I’d love to be
like Andrew Smyth, an aerospace engineer and amazing baker from the 2016 season
of the show. I’ve also been cooking, making quite a bit of Asian-style dishes
including General Tso’s Chicken, and kung pao chicken. I get so much pride out
of my cooking and baking, and I truly hope it is something I can do and am
interested enough to do my entire life. 10 weeks in a dorm room this summer
might be rough.
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