从本科研究实验室到NASA

博彩网址大全航空航天工程专业的学生林赛碧玉

Saint Louis University student 林赛碧玉 can pinpoint the exact moment she became 着迷于太空. She was in elementary school when her dad took her to see an 关于NASA和太空计划的IMAX节目.

“They cut to the international space station, the astronauts are eating M&M’s, 在无重力的环境中游泳，”她说. “我当时想，‘这太酷了; 这正是我这辈子想做的事.’”

A decade later, Jasper has made significant strides toward achieving that goal. 目前 a sophomore aerospace engineering student at 博彩网址大全’s Parks College of Engineering, Aviation 和 Technology, the Boston native is the communications team lead in the Space Systems 研究实验室. There, she is helping design an unmanned autonomous satellite — called 铜-2 -将于今年晚些时候前往太空.

In addition to her work in the 实验室, Jasper assists Michael Swartwout, Ph.D.主任 of the Space Systems 实验室 和 chair of 博彩网址大全’s mechanical 和 aerospace program, with 研究 into long-term propulsion systems 和 orbital mechanics for future near-earth 勘探卫星.

这些机会，加上在圣. 路易斯地区的工业自动化 firm Neff Power, have helped the 19-year-old l和 a job she couldn’t be more excited about: For the next two summers, she’ll work at NASA in Ohio as a systems engineer 在地面系统和航空部门.

“真正的研究”

After only three semesters at 博彩网址大全, Jasper is already blown away by the 研究 opportunities 她在本科时就有了. 她回忆起一个令人大开眼界的时刻 a Google search related to the subject of her 研究 efforts turned up virtually 空.

“我在那一刻意识到我在做什么 真正的 研究. 以前没有人这样做过。.

Whether or not her current 研究 leads to any scientific breakthroughs, Jasper 很高兴能参与这个过程吗. “能够说我是某件事的一部分 that furthered science as a whole is so cool,” she said. “并且能够做到这一点 so 你ng is not only what’s great about 博彩网址大全, but what’s great about aerospace engineering.”

Jasper also has been able to make valuable contributions in the Space Systems 实验室. Earlier this year, a problem with Copper-2’s battery system threatened to ground the entire mission, she played an instrumental role in getting the project back on track.

“As a freshman — 和 one of only two workers in the 实验室 over the summer — Lindsey would stay late 和 run tests, analyze data 和 help diagnose the problem,” said Nicholas Mercadante, senior aerospace student 和 student program manager of the Space Systems 实验室.

That type of practical, h和s-on learning is an important aspect of 博彩网址大全’s undergraduate 工程项目. According to Swartwout, first- 和 second-year students find themselves in key leadership positions, rather than holding a clipboard while seniors 运行测试并进行设计工作.

“Students who can shoulder that kind of responsibility will find that they are given that kind of responsibility, regardless of their year in school,” he added. “林赛 是那些学生中的一个吗.”

女性拓宽了女孩在科学领域的道路

While aerospace engineering has traditionally been a male-dominated profession, Jasper is optimistic about growing numbers of girls 和 women being attracted to the field.

“The more women role models that exist in engineering, the more girls who will be 被它吸引. Because when 你 see 你rself in someone with a job that excites 你

— 和 who’s been successful — it’s much easier to make the jump to ‘Oh, I could do that; I would like a career like that.’”

Asked if she’s excited about the potential of being that role model for the next generation of girls, Jasper recalled being invited to speak to a group of middle school students about the path that led her to aerospace engineering 和 the work she’s doing today.

“It was the first time I 真正的ized: Wow, people actually look at me 和 see someone 他们想成为这样的人，”她说. “对我来说，这是一个巨大的荣誉，一个巨大的特权.”

Like Jasper, Swartwout is hopeful that girls will be encouraged as they look to engineering 尤其是博彩网址大全.

“One of the things that makes me proud of our students 和 this 实验室,” Swartwout said, “is that having women in positions of management authority 和 technical decision-making 是正常的. There is nothing unusual, within this 实验室, in having a woman run a team, 甚至是整个程序.”

博彩网址大全的整体工程教育方法

Jasper’s position as Space Systems 研究实验室 communications team lead 和 the systems engineer role she’ll play at NASA both position her as liaison between groups of engineers — mechanical, computer, aerospace — who, at times, don’t speak the same language.

Systems engineers, Jasper said, facilitate communication between a project’s various teams, keeping everyone on the same page, so they can operate as a cohesive unit.

“It’s a big-picture role — [being] the person who steps back to say, ‘is this all working together,’ 和 if it’s not, ‘why isn’t it working together?’”

Jasper’s natural tendency to look at the big picture is one of the reasons she values 博彩网址大全’s holistic approach to aerospace engineering education, where theory, math 和 真正的-world experience are used in concert with one another.

“So much of engineering education is looking at ideal situations — like physics problems 没有摩擦，”她说. “这在现实世界中是不会发生的. 事情没有 就像他们在完美的教科书环境中做的那样. 通过这些亲身实践 experience, 你 end up being someone who can look at a 真正的-world problem 和 effectively solve it by using the theory 你 know from the classroom 和 现实生活中的实践.”

Jasper said she couldn’t be happier with her decision to come to 博彩网址大全.

“The experience 和 opportunities at the University have been great,” she said. “I 没有博彩网址大全就不会有今天的我.”