Author Archives: Brittney

About Brittney

Junior

Computational Mathematics

Minors: Space Studies and Physics
Hometown: Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Campus involvement: Micro-G NExT club, Resident Advisor
Why I chose Embry-Riddle: It is a prestigious school with a focus in space which is a passion of mine.

Calculating the Future

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These last two weeks have been crazy with research projects and lectures, but a pleasant surprise last week was when a graduate of Embry-Riddle came to visit the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). SIAM is a club I found when I began my industrial math research class. It is an amazing club for Math majors to create networks and find out more about potential math job industries.


Last week a graduate from the Computational Mathematics program at Embry-Riddle came to speak to us. He was very interested to tell us his approach to the job industry with a major that you can do so much with. He has been investing time at a big insurance company called MassMutual, where he focuses on programming and software design. He is working on a graduate certificate that his company is paying for, and is looking at pursuing a graduate degree after that as well. After explaining his job, he spoke about his approach to applying for jobs and choosing a job based on offers. In addition, he had spoken of many things we could be doing in college now that will help us in the job field. He had spoken with us about job portfolios, research projects, internships, and practical experience, pretty much anything that could help us look good to potential employers or grad programs.

SIAM club with Embry-Riddle Graduate(third from left)


This was a great speaker to listen to as I soon will be swimming in all the job and graduate school applications, but I now feel like I have a better understanding of how to get to where I need to get to make the best post-graduating decision I can make.
The next SIAM meeting is on February 26th and I am looking forward to what else we will be doing to set ourselves up for success.

New Year, Busy Me

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This new year, and a new decade, has gotten off to the quickest start. Classes are already talking about first exams, clubs are kicking off their semesters, time seems to go by quicker and quicker with each minute, and you still have to figure out how to fit work and sleep into your schedule.
This semester is a semester full of projects for me. I am quickly learning that time management for me if more than essential to living on an everyday basis. I wake up and am immediately given notifications about where I need to be when, but it keeps me on top of my game.
As I am approaching my expected graduation in December, I am trying my best to get the most out of my last year at Embry- Riddle. I am taking an industrial math research class where I am in contact with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that works under the U.S. Department of Energy on a project to use math models to interpret data from nuclear energy, and it is truly a class for practical experience. I am also in a senior capstone project class for my space studies minor that focus on the practical operations of mission control operations. In addition, I am getting proposals ready for undergraduate research this summer, hoping to explore the ways the space industry impacts the environment.

The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse


With such a busy, but promising semester, I am trying my best to stay on top of things as my schedule gets busier with projects and meetings. Staying healthy both physically and mentally is my top goal for 2020 and am lucky to have friends and workout partners to assist me in keeping on track. Even with a busy schedule, I have still found time to hang out with my friends and go to the beach and the lighthouse (an activity we do often to relax), and despite the fact that we have had a bit of rain and cloudy days, we still manage to find ourselves at the beach with the clearest skies.
This year will be the year of progress and learning how to make the best out of the busiest situations and I cannot wait for every second of it!

The light over the horizon at the beach

Thanksgiving Season

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It is this time of year that always gives me the extra reminder of what I am thankful for, and this year I am especially thankful for my Housing and Residence Life (HRL) family.

Staff Team Bonding


This Thanksgiving, I was on duty as a Resident Advisor (RA) for a majority of the break, meaning I cannot leave campus and must respond to calls as needed. As much as it was not pleasant to be away from my family for the holiday, everyone in HRL is amazing and truly a second family that I got to spend some time with this year.

Staff participating in seasonal activities


This Thanksgiving one of our HRL supervisors organized a Thanksgiving meal for all the RAs that were not able to go home. We had a turkey and stuffing and we all brought our favorite holiday dishes to share. It was an amazing time and reminded me how thankful I am for the people I work with and the friends I have made throughout my time on HRL staff. Thanksgiving marks about a year since I have been hired on staff and my life has changed a lot since I joined my second family. Everyone in Housing and Residence Life is always so supportive and willing to help. I have had the honor of getting to know the new professional staff members this year and they are all amazing and ready to lend a hand with any issues you could possibly have. In addition, I have made an abundance of friends that I enjoy working with every day.


Thanksgiving is a great time to remember the little things in life that we may tend to take for granted, and I am very thankful of my home away from home and all of my school mates I spend every day with. I am very thankful for this school and everything it has brought me.

I hope everyone else had an amazing Thanksgiving, too.

The Entertainment’s Here

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What a wild few weeks it has been at Embry-Riddle.

My friends and I after the concert


In the middle of everything going on here at Riddle, we recently had the honor of the band AJR coming and performing a belated, but rocking, homecoming show. We were all ready for this show. Before AJR, came on the preshow was performed by the Mowgli’s, and they put on an amazing performance to get us ready to hear the main act. AJR came and burned the house down with their set which was the perfect combination of popular hits and songs from their new album Neotheater. Not only did they perform an amazing set but everyone at Riddle was so excited to be there and take a break from the everyday stresses of college. We all went and hung out together listening to some great music. We had avid AJR fans with hats and T-shirts, and someone even made signs to get the band to attempt a backflip. My friends and I had a great time, and even though it was a little cold out, it was a beautiful night that ended with amazing fireworks as AJR did their finale.

After the concert, many people stuck around just to hang, Touch N Go Productions was handing out free t-shirts. My friends and I had a blast spending time together we otherwise wouldn’t have spent together, and after the concert scene had settled down, the campus was crazy with students having fun playing volleyball and hanging out.


Now that we had our fun, it is time to crack down to get these final projects down and our brains in tip-top shape to do the best we can on our finals. Can’t wait to see how well everyone does this finals season and soon we will have the holidays to look forward to!

The Coffee Grind

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With this semester only having four weeks left, I have realized one of my addictions is slowly making its way back into my life…..Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!

Ask anyone that knows me and they will tell you I have a problem with the amount of coffee I drink. I have been a coffee lover since before I can even remember. It has always been a part of my life growing up. My parents and grandparents drank it, it was offered to me before I ever thought I would enjoy consuming such a bitter hot beverage, and as I grew up my father taught me about different coffees. So being in college after already LOVING the caffeinated beverage you can only imagine how easy it is for me to consume more coffee than the average person. But the thing I love most about coffee is the time I spend with people when I go out to get coffee.

Whether or not you actually like coffee, most likely it is not preventing you from going to the closest Starbucks for a drink to sip on with a friend. It is very easy to ask someone to go grab a cup with you and has been an easy social icebreaker for me all my life. Not even a year ago, I started talking to who is now one of my good friends Kara over coffee. I meet with my RA supervisor for our meetings every other week over coffee. Going to get coffee is my way of connecting and getting to know people.

With the semester coming to an end faster than anyone can anticipate, it is nice to have a place to escape to and coffee shops are the perfect place to get that extra study time in. Being able to use a space to be productive and enjoy something small makes school a lot less stressful.

Boo-tiful times at Riddle

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The month of October is officially in session which means it’s also the scariest time of the year… midterms. Just kidding, Halloween! Even with school getting more intense and midterms being well on their way here, it is important to take time out to enjoy the spooky season with friends and loved ones.

This past week in between studying for my 4 exams, I have been celebrating Halloween with fun activities such as carving pumpkins and watching scary movies. My friends love Halloween just as much as I do and are, in my opinion, the funniest people I know.

My favorite Halloween activity we have done so far is carving pumpkins. My friends were out at Daytona One, where they were selling pumpkins, so they bought us all some and broke out the carving tools. We all decided what we were going to carve and got right to it. While we were carving pumpkins, my friend, Mike went through his records to see if he owned anything for Halloween. Well, it turns out he did, and when we went t put it on we all expected songs like the monster mash or thriller and instead just got a record full of spooky horror sounds like whispering and booing ghosts and bats flying. We kept it on for all of five minutes after our belly laughter from this odd record turned into us questioning why we had not turned it off yet. Eventually, the entire apartment smelt like pumpkin and we had changed the audio in the room to a Spotify Halloween playlist. We finished our pumpkins and lit them all together.

As stressed as I can get from school, my friends are always around to remind me to do fun holiday things and take a break from the hard work I have put in. Its friends like this that make Embry-Riddle feel like home.

Getting Ready to Soar

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The career fair is finally here. We have all been preparing extremely hard for it and putting all our time and energy into finding the perfect opportunities to continue our growth in our chosen career fields. Whether you are a freshman going to scout out future employers, or a senior hoping to score that dream job or internship, we all take the fair seriously. On top of that, it is the stressful season of the semester where mid-terms start to become prevalent and we all wish we had about three extra hours in the day. But we all have been working on our resumes, finding the perfect clothes, and preparing the perfect elevator speech to impress potential employers all while studying like there is no tomorrow and crushing all our tests.

Kara and I helping each other get through the semester

I feel this year’s career fair will be incredible. They have gotten so many employers to come out, and even though we have class most professors understand how important this opportunity is to us. Professors have been incredibly helpful with tips and checking resumes and it is so nice to have that support to make you feel career fair ready. In addition, we all have the help and support of each other to make it through this stressful and exciting opportunity.

Rory and I at last year’s career fair trying not to be nervous

Even though this week will be a lot of work, we Eagles have a lot to look forward to this week with Homecoming. There are many sporting events to go out and support from ice hockey to soccer or even if you want to participate in the fun there is a 5k on Saturday morning. Then, later Saturday night homecoming ends with a free concert performed by AJR with fireworks to top the night off. Keep your eyes out for all the homecoming activities and show your eagle spirit. I wish everyone luck this week.