Monthly Archives: May 2023

Riddle Rewind, Year 3: Here We Go Again

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One for the money, two for the show, three to make ready…

So at the end of every year I’ve started doing the Riddle Rewind and recapping my favorite memories from that year. Although a little later than last year, here’s my recap of junior year and my favorite memories from it.

Orientation Team, Year 2!

Last year I was part of the Orientation Team! I, unfortunately, can’t return for a third year due to the timing of my internship, but it was a fun second year.

Meeting my roommate’s kitten!

While not technically related to ERAU, I had random roommates last year and one of them got a cat. The cat, Chandelle, was the most adorable little thing I’ve ever seen! I have three cats back in Kentucky, so it was nice to live with a cat. I moved out of that apartment, but the cat was a huge perk.

Securing my Boeing internship!

In October, after the hurricane, Boeing came for Boeing Week and I secured one of their EAHI internships! Although at the time I hadn’t been matched, I later found out I’d be a Flight Test Engineering in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma- exactly where I’m typing this out. My first week is complete and I’m excited to see what’s to come!

Rides in the DA-42!

My friend Chris finished his multi-engine rating in the Fall 2022 semester, but he let me come along for a few rides while he flew. If you’re interested, there’s a whole post about it here, and if you’re interested in the flight program as a whole I interviewed him about his experiences, too.

Regional Admissions Presentations

Okay so I don’t have a picture, but I do have a post about my trip to Dallas and Houston as a Women’s Ambassador. We were super busy so there wasn’t a whole lot of photo-taking, but I got to cross off two more Buc-ees on the way.

The Hamster Ball Experience

I’m honestly not sure why there were hamster balls at Riddle, but they were super fun to roll around in. I made it down the inflatable and back, and I can truly say that being inside of those things was an experience like no other.

Going flying… multiple times!

I love going flying, whether that be commercially or in small general aviation planes. Chris likes to take me along, and I’m never one to complain. We went a few times last year- of course during his multi-engine training, but also over winter break and in the spring.

The Annual Thunderbirds Airshow

This is one thing I really love about Embry-Riddle. Each year, the Thunderbirds come for the Daytona 500 flyover and that means the students get a free mini-airshow. And of course, I watched.

The F-15 Visit

Now this does not happen every year. An F-15 visited Embry-Riddle in early March, to the surprise of us all. Students were allowed to go walk around it, including myself.

The 747: A Truly Magical Experience

And my favorite visitor of the year: The 747. Atlas Air brought a 747 just in time for the career fair and let students sign up for times to get up and close with it. I was in the second group of the day to see it, and it was definitely something I’d recommend if they bring it back.

The Honors Trip

The Honors Program hosted its annual Kennedy Space Center trip and of course, I went. I’m never going to pass up an opportunity to visit KSC, and the one through the Honors Program was discounted.

And last but certainly not least… Chris graduated!

Chris graduated with his degree in aeronautical science this year and is now working towards his flight instructor ratings! In the meantime, I’m in Oklahoma City working for Boeing at my internship. I’m excited to see where it’ll take me!

Introduction

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Hello! My name is Elisa Castillo and I am a recent graduate of the Mechanical Engineering program here at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. My degree focused on High Performance Vehicles, and I also minored in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. I finished my first year as a graduate student in the accelerated masters program this spring, and am looking forward to my final year as a student this upcoming academic year.

Throughout my five years at ERAU, I have had the pleasure of holding multiple leadership positions. I have worked with the Women’s Baja SAE Team for four years now! I started as the Chief Technical Officer and held that position for three years. This past year, I became the Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) for the Baja senior design class, where one of my primary roles was to advise and guide the students throughout the semester on various engineering principles. I also served as the Chassis Lead, where I redesigned the chassis of the vehicle our team builds every year for competition to fit the new all-wheel drive (AWD) design that was developed. I have also worked as a Physical Sciences Tutor at the Academic Advancement Center (AAC) for three years, a Thermodynamics Teaching Assistant, and recently, as the GTA for the Engineering Fundamentals Lab, where EGR101 and EGR120 students come to seek help on projects that they are currently working on in those classes.

During my time at ERAU, I have been fortunate enough to have held multiple internship opportunities with inudstry leading companies, something which I will discuss more in detail in later posts. The highlights of those internships include working as a Manufacturing Engineering Intern at the Ford Motor Company, where I helped design the assembly line for the Ford Raptor R engine. Last year, I worked with General Motors as a Lap Time Simulation Intern with the Global Product Development team, and this year I have decided to return to General Motors as a Hardware Engineering Intern.

The Women’s Baja SAE Team accepting their first DEI Award this past Spring Semester (I am all the way to the right)
Test driving a Ferrari 458 in Michigan (Summer 2022)
The last day of my internship at the Milford Proving Grounds (Summer 2022)

I was born and raised in Cuba until I was six years old. My parents and I migrated to the United States in 2006, and have resided in West Palm Beach, FL ever since. For as long as I could remember, I have had a passion not just for automobiles, but understanding the complex systems that make them work. My dad would take me to his job at a mechanic shop where I got my first exposure to working on vehicles, and I have loved it ever since. Having this passion greatly influenced my decision to choose engineering as a career path, though there was never any doubt that this is what I wanted to do with my life. It wasn’t until high school that I knew I wanted to more specifically focus on the motorsports specialization of automotive engineering. I have always been a fan of the fast-paced and intense world of racing, and the pioneering technology those vehicles use have had the potential to create world records and revolutionize all aspects of the automotive world. Those accomplishments inspire me to always put forth my best possible effort, in the hopes of one day being a part of the team that shatters the next record.

The “in-between” Time

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When you have an internship in the Summer, it usually starts soon after your Spring semester classes end. However, the time in between these things is often forgotten even though, at least in my opinion from my own experiences, it is very important.

This year I took about 2.5 weeks “off” between these things. Many things happened during this time including packing up my dorm, moving out of my dorm, putting boxes at home, unpacking some, repacking suitcases for the Summer, remotely finishing up some research work, and then visiting some family for 10 days in Hawaii and California.

During previous Summers, my “in-between” time consisted of around 24-48 hours to pack, unpack, and move around before work. Not only was this a bit stressful, but I also found it incredibly useful to take a break between school and internship work. As a ‘rocket nerd,’ I love my school work and internship work but quickly figured out that lack of breaks (even tiny ones) can lead up to a larger feeling of burnout at a later point. Having the time to move out, pack/unpack things, and spend time with friends/family can give a certain part of your brain a relaxing time to focus on different types of things which will actually help you better function at work and look forward to the next semester even more. It is also nice to have at least a day or two when you move into your internship home to get settled in, organize, buy groceries, and more so that after work you can work on other things, call family/friends, participate in hobbies, socialize, or even just relax after a productive day.

Overall, this “in-between” time, although often overlooked, is essential to success in your life and career. It should be cherished and planned out well. This Summer is the first one in which I truly did this, and I can already see how much it has helped. I’ll leave you all with some pretty pictures from my family travels during my own “in-between” time and next time start to go into more about my internship! Happy Summer and safe travels!!

One picture taken while driving around Oahu.
Another picture taken while driving around Oahu.
I found a stick fishing pole among the fancy ones!

End of Junior Year!

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The Spring 2023 semester and my junior year has officially ended! A lot happened this semester, so I thought that I would summarize it here.

I took a few different classes this semester:
CEC 315: Signals & Systems
EP 391/391L: Microcomputers & Electronic Instrumentation Class/Lab
EP 394: Space Systems Engineering
ME 200: Machine Shop Laboratory
SYS 560: Introduction to Systems Engineering Management

Compared to previous semesters, this one was pretty light class-wise.
CEC 315 was a great class with very useful topics and a great professor. The class had no deliverables other than two midterms. The second exam/midterm was not technically a final exam, so it did not happen during ‘finals week’ which really helps to spread the load out for many people. The professor is also very reasonable with exam questions, grades, and lecture material in general, so the midterms were not too stressful.
EP 391/391L was definitely more of a challenging class, but the final project was a great way for students to combine things learned during the semester. There were some exams towards the beginning of the semester, but no final exam. The final project was only given during the last approximately two weeks, so there was definitely a ‘crunch time’ there. However, the product was great. My team designed a device that would basically use serial communication, a stepper motor, and LabVIEW amongst other tools to follow a light source and output live graphs with information such as temperature, battery voltage, and device angle.
EP 394 is mostly a project class. We still had weekly lectures on topics ranging from control systems and class mechanics to spaceflight dynamics and orbits with mini quizzes, but our main grade stemmed from our project. We had free reign to choose our space-related project topic and our group, and then any resources we needed were provided by the Physics department and lab. This class also took into account that many of our projects were large endeavors and could only get a certain amount done within a semester. Overall, lots of work, but it was super rewarding, fun, and the grading scale was very reasonable. My team was designing a floatable platform that would use a camera for vision processing and microthrusters to control and test and vehicle with a control system that could be used for satellite attitude control in space. We received a very good grade for our progress including simulations, CAD models, vision processing code, communication systems, and pneumatic systems among a few things.
ME 200 was very fun. Grades were purely attendance-based, and this was something I never wanted to miss. It was once a week for about 2-3 hours and consisted of learning then doing all sorts of things like riveting, drilling, band saw usage, and more.
SYS 560 was a good class. I was taking this one to count towards my masters degree. No big exams were given, just about one homework per week, some in-class activities, and a final project. The final project was not too large, and it combined what we learned fairly well. We basically had to draw out a schedule plan for eight different programs with overlapping resources to be finished as efficiently and quickly as possible.

EP 391 Final Project
CAD Model of EP 394 Final Project
Setup for a ME 200 Project

Overall, it was a good semester! I am writing this from a location (TBA in the next post) where I am visiting family before my internship begins. A few days ago, I also finished up my research job remotely and plan to find out what my next research project (for next semester) will be over the Summer.
For now, I’ll end this here and save my next blog post to tell more about what I have been doing since the semester has ended and things to expect this Summer!

The $400 Meal and Finals Week

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A good financial decision, really.

Well, finals week has come upon us at ERAU, and like other students, I’ve been studying my free time away. As an engineering major, a decent chunk of my grade relies on my final exam performance. Luckily enough for me, I’ve worked hard all year so I’m striving for a good grade rather than a “can I pass the class?” grade.

But before we get into that, how about the quick story of the $400 meal I ate? Hundreds-of-dollars meals are relatively common at ERAU, surprisingly. I haven’t noticed this anywhere else, but it’s really not due to the price of food here.

It’s due to the airplane rental cost.

So, a few little airports have restaurants right on the airport, catering to pilots as a “fly-in” restaurant. So instead, on the Sunday before the last week of classes, Chris and I ended up at the Pyper Kub restaurant in Williston, FL. It has pretty good food and a pretty good price, but the “$400” bit comes from the aircraft rental and the time flying out there and back.

We didn’t end up renting an ERAU plane but instead rented it from Air America, one of the flight schools in the area. Around this time last year, Chris was practicing for his commercial pilot checkride, but since then he’s earned his commercial pilot certificate and multi-engine add-on. Now he’s preparing for his CFI (certified flight instructor) checkride which means more practice and more flights for me!

ERAU from the air. Looks small, doesn’t it?

Williston, Florida is west of Ocala and it was an hour or so flight (compared to two hours of driving). We left around 10 AM in the morning, ate lunch, and then did a few touch-n-goes in the pattern at Williston. After Chris was done, he headed over to the Crescent practice area which is a common practice area for Riddle students. The maneuvers (in my non-expert opinion) were similar to those he did on the commercial checkride, but he did it from the right seat. (Traditionally, students sit in the left seat of an aircraft where the instructor sits in the right- until you do your CFI stuff when you become the instructor in the right seat.)

Since I’m not a pilot I don’t really know a whole lot about getting your CFI license, but I do know a lot of students go into that pathway before heading to the regional airlines. The other option that I see students do is flying small cargo gigs, but the vast majority of students become instructors at Riddle and surrounding flight schools.

We came back and then it was a start of a long, studious week for me. April 24 marked the last week of classes, with Friday being a study day before finals began on Saturday, paused for Sunday, and resumed Monday through Wednesday. I have four finals this year: Aerospace Structures I, Space Propulsion, Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics, and Aerospace Engineering Materials. I have two other classes, but one is a lab and the other is the lecture that goes along with the lab, so I don’t have any finals from those.

I’m also a TA for an EGR 101 class, so I also ended up helping students in the engineering makerspace lab while they completed their final projects. I saw a lot of super cool projects, from a Rube Goldberg machine to a balsa wood glider, and then watched the teams present on Thursday.

Classes being over, especially in the summer, is kind of bittersweet for me. It means the summer is starting (and so will my internship soon!) but also that my best friends won’t be just a short drive (or even walk!) away. I’m moving out of my current apartment and into another apartment with a couple of friends, so I know next year will be fun. It’s hard to believe that I’m going to be a senior next year. I’m both ready to graduate and not ready to graduate- I’m excited for my first permanent engineering job, but definitely not ready for all of the adult responsibility that comes with it. I like living in the college bubble- I’ve got a lot of freedom but not too many responsibilities. And with that, I’ll see you in the next post… and hopefully at Riddle!

My First Semester as a Dual Master’s Student

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It is officially May and my first semester of graduate studies has come to a close. The last 6 months have been so eventful, but so enriching in many different ways. I can’t wait to tell you about the last 6 months of my life!

Over the Spring 2023 semester, in addition to working at the Admissions Office and as a blogger, I got the opportunity to work as a graduate student assistant for the College of Business, partaking in different campus-wide events. I was able to continue to serve as the President of the Society of Women in Space Exploration (SWISE) Embry-Riddle chapter, promoting diversity and women empowerment in the field of STEM and space exploration through our outreach and meetings. SWISE attended beach cleanups, tabled around campus, and attended the E-week awards ceremony at the College of Engineering where we were awarded a plaque for our continued efforts in the fields of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I also had the opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends more than ever! It seems like the busier my schedule has gotten, the more organized my life gets…

SWISE E-Week Awards Ceremony Spring 2023
College of Business Beach Cleanup

There were so many other cool opportunities this semester including volunteering to table at the Graduate Programs table for the College of Business, presenting to the New Smyrna Public Library about the ARTEMIS program, and continued work for Sidus Space in Cape Canaveral.

Sidus Space got to honor one of our employees at the We Venture Women Who Rock Awards Ceremony. It was a nice luncheon that showcased all the awesome women in all sorts of different lines of work who were nominated!

Earlier in the semester, I attended one of the astronomy open house nights at the College of Arts and Sciences. My friend and I attended the public lecture where we got to see an hour-long presentation from SETI’s Seth Shostak about alien exploration in the universe. We also got to head over to participate in cool STEM arts and crafts, as well as look through the 3-meter telescope on the 5th floor!

I got to spend time with my family and friends too. I ran a St. Patrick’s Day 5K race in New Smyrna with one of my best friends and then got to enjoy pizza while doing homework!

Being an alumni is an honor, but I am even more grateful that I get the opportunity to continue my education as a dual Master’s student pursuing my M.S. in Systems Engineering and an MBA simultaneously. I received an alumni package in the mail that was a nice gesture and testament to my legacy at Embry-Riddle. I am so grateful to be on such a beautiful campus!

As many of you might know, I graduated Magna Cum Laude with my B.S. in Spaceflight Operations in December 2022. It was a beautiful ceremony that I will never forget, honoring all the hard work I put into my undergraduate degree. I know this graduation was only one more in the books of many still to come.

My last bit of good news (for now): over Christmas break and into the new year, I got engaged! It was on Christmas day in front of our friends and family. It was such a beautiful surprise and the perfect end to my year!

Wow! What a jam-packed semester. I made Dean’s List, passing both of my classes and having a 3.5 GPA. I am so excited for more adventures in the Fall semester. I am already looking into Ph.D programs, like MIT’s Ph.D in Astronautics and Aeronautics or Stanford University’s Ph.D in Astronautics. This year has been great so far, now time for a fun, relaxing, and much-needed summer break. My fiance and I are headed to Orlando in 2 weeks for a 4-day Disney vacation. I got our Disney tickets discounted through the university. It pays to be a student employee! Also, I will be working full-time for Sidus Space while continuing my research on radiation shielding and preparing to present at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2024 (fingers crossed)!

Disney tickets for May 2023 from Embry-Riddle’s ICI fitness and recreational center

I am so grateful to be an Embry-Riddle student with so many awesome opportunities still to come. Cheers to the summer semester, no matter if you are pursuing classes, working, or just relaxing on vacation half the time. Everyone deserves a relaxing break… Reach for the stars!