Monthly Archives: May 2024

Spring + Satellites

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So, remember that good news I mentioned in my last blog post? Well, it’s finally time to spill! We just successfully launched our satellite at the company I work for in Merritt Island, Florida! It was a super exciting moment in my career that I will never forget. I work in the Mission Control Center for Sidus Space as a flight controller. My job is to perform satellite operations for LizzieSat-1. I knew all of the hard work would pay off!

At the end of March, I got the incredible opportunity to attend Women in Aviation 2024 and stay in Orlando, Florida! I met some stellar women and made so many new friends! A huge thanks to Gaetz Aerospace Institute for being in my life since I was in high school and for funding this trip for me! The view from my hotel was amazing, the food was delicious, and the experiences unforgettable. It was like a mini vacation, only better!

I met so many people, including Dr. Sian Proctor, a commercial astronaut, professor of geology, artist, author, and science communicator! I saw many faculty, professors, and friends there too!

Having a huge background in aviation and aerospace definitely benefited me during my career and education. As a sophomore in high school, I was able to take Embry-Riddle classes including Private
Pilot Ground School, UAS Flight Mapping and Cross Country, and several meteorology courses through Gaetz Aerospace Institute. It made me even more encouraged to pursue my PPL (something that has been on my to-do list for a while now)!

After the conference during the first week of April, I managed to book a Disney vacation with my friends! It was so awesome to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Star Wars Galaxy Edge. We all dressed up and went to the park for the whole day! Who doesn’t get a bachelor’s in something space related and NOT love Star Wars?!

Did everyone get a chance to see that solar eclipse in April?! It was so awesome to be able to take photographs of the moon covering the sun. I will always remember that moment and where I was (with friends and family)!

I am happy to announce I successfully completed the Spring 2024 NASA L’Space NPWEE Proposal Writing Academy. It was an amazing experience to serve as the Principal Investigator of team #28 and it taught me so much I didn’t know about proposal writing. I even got the opportunity to sit on a review panel, work with modeling software (NX), and earn a skill badge! This summer, I plan to continue to work with that modeling software and become certified in NX. Thank you to all of my mentors and the incredible team at NASA L’Space and Arizona State University that make this happen for students like me.

Lastly, I just watched my fiancé graduate from Daytona State College this past week! I am so incredibly proud of him and his journey so far. I am fortunate that we both get to attend higher education institutions and pursue our biggest dreams together. Next stop for him: UCF’s Computer Science program!

This semester was definitely one for the books! I attended 2 conferences, finished another semester of my master’s programs, got to see a solar eclipse, and get to continue to work my dream job! I hope my fall semester is just as opportunistic and action-packed.

Ciao for now!

The Fourth and Final Riddle Rewind

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I had the time of my life with you!

The last day of classes has come and gone. As you’re reading this, the last assignment of my undergraduate degree has been completed and I’m just waiting for my grades to come in. That’s absolutely crazy for me to think about- I don’t feel like I’ve been here for even a year, much less four years. But here we go on the last and final Riddle Rewind. (Freshman, sophomore, and junior year can be found at the links!)

The WAMP O-Week Luncheon!

The timing of my internship unfortunately didn’t work with O-Week, so I couldn’t be on the Orientation Team this year. However, I did make it back in time for a Women’s Ambassador Mentoring Program luncheon for all of the female freshmen, and I was given the opportunity to speak. It was a great experience!

WAMP Ice Cream Social!

WAMP events in the fall were a lot of fun- and this one had FREE ice cream! I couldn’t complain about that. 🙂

My Women’s Ambassador trip to Pittsburgh!

I had never been to Pittsburgh before, but it was definitely a cool experience. While I was there I also got to meet some cute cats in a cat cafe!

Adopting my kitten, Radar!

I adopted a five-month-old kitten named Radar back in late September after moving off campus and it’s one of the best things that I’ve done. He is the sweetest cat ever- and my roommates love him, too! He recently celebrated his first birthday, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch him grow.

My Women’s Ambassador trip to Washington, D.C., and NYC!

Visiting D.C. and New York City was a whole lot of fun! It rained on my first night in NYC, but that didn’t stop me from having some late-night adventures.

Open House 2023!

Open House is always a lot of fun. There are always new people to meet and new things to learn! I volunteered for both the Women’s Ambassadors and Aerospace Engineering Student Advisory Board.

Flying Into Finals Week!

Pun… ha ha. Finals week isn’t fun, but going for a short flight in a Cessna was a lot of fun and a great way to relax before the stress of finals week hit.

The Rolex 24 (and the Roar Before the 24)!

I’ve never been to a car race before, but I thought that attending the Rolex 24 was a lot of fun. It’s definitely something to experience at least once if you’re here.

Touch-N-Go Comedy Night!

For Blue and Gold Week, comedian Ryan Kelly came to campus and gave an amazing one-hour comedy show. I laughed- a lot.

My Women’s Ambassador trip to Boston and Hartford!

Don’t get me wrong- I was SOOOO cold!! However, it was a lot of fun to walk around one of the United States’ oldest and most historic cities when I had the chance.

Speaking about internships at the WAI Conference!!

I never thought I’d be speaking at a conference as an undergraduate student, but I proved myself wrong. The Women in Aviation conference was a lot of fun, and being a speaker was an experience that I’ll never forget.

The Last WA Trip – Ever!

My last trip was to Washington, D.C., and Richmond, VA. I’d never been to Richmond, but I LOVE D.C., so I was happy to go. On the way back, I did get stuck by myself on an unexpected overnight in Charlotte- but hey, it was a new adventure.

Preview Day 2024!

Just like for Open House, I volunteered for the Women’s Ambassadors and Aerospace Engineering Student Advisory Board. Preview Day was also a lot of fun- over the Friday and Saturday that I worked, I got to meet a lot of new people who may be at ERAU this fall!

Sun n’ Fun Airshow!

I love airshows- so much so that I went to the Orlando Airshow (aka the Air Dot Show tour) the weekend after Sun n’ Fun. Airshows are a great opportunity for me to see aerospace in action- plus, just being around giant airplanes is cool. When I graduate, I’ll be working as a Space Systems Engineer, but still- airplanes are cool. I plan to go to as many airshows as I can even after I graduate!

It’s been a lot of fun blogging these past four years- it’s made me get out and adventure more than I would’ve without. This is my last post as an ERAU student, but who knows- maybe one day I’ll come back and write about what my new life looks like after Embry-Riddle. I’m really thankful for every single opportunity I’ve had, and I hope you’ve found my posts interesting. See you in the skies! -Carly

The Orlando Airshow

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This is so much better than watching Top Gun!

As mentioned during the Sun n’ Fun post, I went to the Orlando Air Show! It was part of the Air Dot Show tour that went across the United States, and it stopped at the Orlando Sanford (KSFB) airport. I was definitely excited to go. While it had a few of the same performers from Sun n’ Fun, it also had a bunch of different ones. Instead of the Thunderbirds, the Blue Angels performed, and I’ve only seen them once before.

There weren’t as many static displays to look at, but I got to get a lot closer than I did at Sun n’ Fun. They had an F-18 and a few older aircraft on display, and there were long lines to climb into the older aircraft. Of course, I took that opportunity.

The airshow itself was awesome. The acrobatic performers were, as always, amazing to watch, but they also had plenty of things I’d never seen before. One of them was the Coast Guard demonstration of a water rescue from a helicopter. It was amazing to watch- they lowered the rescue swimmer down to the ground with a basket, collected a test dummy, and then safely brought everything back into the helicopter. I honestly haven’t been around helicopters much since we don’t have a helicopter program.

The Coast Guard rescue demonstration.

The F-22 Raptor demonstration team was also there, and I’ve never seen them before. I enjoyed the airshow- the F-22 has very powerful engines, and you can definitely feel their power. They also did heritage flight, and it was awesome to see historic and modern-day aircraft flying together.

The Blue Angels were the final act, and they were awesome as ever to see. Their airshow was similar to the Thunderbirds in the fact that they had a diamond and two soloists, but the maneuvers were different. They were as majestic as ever, and I really enjoyed watching them in the heat. In my opinion, an airshow is worth the heat- as long as I use plenty of sunscreen!

Having airshows in the area is one of my favorite parts about ERAU. I love aviation (even though I’m in the astronautics track!) and coming here has enabled me to go to a few different ones. I’ve had a lesser credit load this semester so I’m able to spend more time doing things outside of class, which has been a whole lot of fun. I’m graduating soon, but this isn’t the last post. So… I’ll see you in the next one!