Before I left to my internship, I spent some time with family. There are two things that we did in the Northeast Florida area that were super fun, and I highly recommend checking them out.
First, my parents, my boyfriend, and I went to a placed called All Fired Up in Winter Park (North Orlando sort of area) where we painted our own pottery! My parents and I painted a set of penguins to put in our garden. My boyfriend and I painted a cute little vase that we will plant sage in for our kitchen.
Secondly, my parents and I went shark teeth hunting! I also collected some cool shells and other types of fossils. In the Northeast Florida area, Ponte Vedra beach is an amazing hot spot for picking up shark teeth. You can walk onto the beach for free from the neighborhoods and find a good amount within an hour. This is a great idea for a date or just a nice vacation from the chaos of campus. There are also some amazing restaurants that you can walk into from the beach.
After all of these fun activities, I flew to LA for my fourth SpaceX internship! But more on that in the next post 🙂
In late May, I flew to LA to start my fourth Summer there. I worked with the Falcon Engineering and Product Management team based in Hawthorne, California as a Graduate Engineer which essentially means that I was an intern with a degree that was treated as a full-time employee with a salary. Here are some bullet points about my work there:
Assisted with Starship mass properties for a delta report & for training of a new hire
Wrote a script connecting change in booster allocations per mission to automatic CAD changes
Created dashboard to automatically summarize key program metrics in production and launch
Created dashboard to automate a simplified manifest view for external use
Consolidated knowledge across different mass properties programs to start a base of best practices
Produced trade study for booster fleet strategies
Led other side initiatives such as long-term S1/S2 part number storage and accurate reusability tracking
For this internship, I was able to obtain credits towards my graduate degree. I highly recommend that people talk to Career Services about this since it can save time and money.
Some fun things that I did while I was there include getting food with my California bestie, Alexa, who is a technician at Apex Technologies (she is really cool). She has also worked at SpaceX and Bombardier!! We love discovering new places that serve things like a fluffy mango cake, dragonfruit boba, Korean cold noodles, or pork katsu like you see below. I also wandered around Manhattan Beach which has amazing weather, cute bookshops/stores, wonderful cafes, and more. The last picture is a duck that hangs out at the LA Fitness I go to there.
While in LA, I also tried to attend some networking events including one that involved a tour of JPL!! This was truly an amazing life experience that I shall show more of on my next post. 🙂
After graduation, I stayed around Daytona for a few more days to attend Rockville 2024 with my dad and boyfriend!! This is a rock festival that happened at the Daytona Speedway with tons of my favorite bands all day for FOUR DAYS including Limp Bizkit, Falling In Reverse, and Evanescence. Had the time of my life and highly recommend to anyone in the area.
It was the end of a decade, but the start of an age
My time at ERAU as an undergraduate student came to a close last May. Throughout these four years I have made many lifelong friends and grew both academically and personally. I am grateful to all who supported me as well as those that made me stronger.
Next Chapter…
On to the Summer and my last year here at ERAU! During the Summer I completed my fourth round of the Summer internship program at SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA as a Graduate Engineer. This academic year, I will be finishing my graduate degree in Systems Engineering. But those are topics for other posts….. 🙂
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.
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.
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. 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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!
Honestly, graduation seems years (not weeks!) away still…
Sometimes I look around and wonder where the time went, since college seemed to flash by in the blink of an eye. Other times it felt so slow- waiting for the weekend, excited for the next trip I was taking, waiting for an internship. But here I am now just weeks away from graduating, and I’ve been thinking a bit about what I’ve done right vs wrong during my time here. When I work at admissions events, I get a lot of questions, including “What would you change if you could do it all again?” So here’s my advice.
GET INVOLVED. Join an organization you’re passionate about. Here’s how. It can be intimidating walking into a club meeting where everyone seems to know everyone and you don’t. However, that’s exactly what you should do! ERAU hosts the activities fair every semester a month or so in, and that’s usually when club meeting attendance spikes. You can also get involved in things like Greek life, but I’ve found that most people who go Greek stay Greek.
My challenge to you is as follows: walk around the activity fair (especially to collect free stuff) and make note of every registered student organization (RSO) you’re interested in. If it’s a non-Greek and non-honor society organization, the meetings should be free and open to all. Go to one meeting to see what the club is about – just one. If you like the club, maybe join and go to more meetings! If you’re unsure, go to another meeting to figure it out. Finally, if you don’t like the club, no harm and no foul, it was just one meeting. I will note that some clubs do have a small membership fee, but that’s usually to get heavily involved- our rocketry clubs typically do that.
I personally think that there’s something for everyone here. We have honor societies based on major (usually they’re invite or application-based), professional organizations (like the Society of Women Engineers or Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers), and fun organizations (sailing club, hockey club, tennis club, etc) as well as Division II and intramural sports.
The Women’s Ambassador Mentoring Program (WAMP) Ice Cream Social in Fall 2023.
Studies are important but so is experience. Your GPA is not everything. Obviously don’t neglect your studies, but it’s not an end-all be-all for internships and jobs. If you get a C in one class, it won’t be the end of the world- heck, it’s even happened to me! What I’ve found to be equally as important is the experience and skills you have. They don’t even have to be super technical. Half of engineering is the technical problem, and the other half is being able to work with people. I haven’t gotten a very heavy technical question, but I have gotten a lot of behavioral “tell me about a time when” questions. From my experience, getting your first internship is the hardest.
Don’t just go to class- make sure you understand. Like I mentioned, your GPA isn’t everything- but it’s still important. Go to tutoring, email your professors, go to their office hours, get the help you need when you need it, not the day before the test. This will enable you to get stuff done early so you can do more cool things. It’ll also lower your stress!
Leave your dorm for fun events, too! And by fun, I mean do something that you find fun. That could be the beach, airshows, club events, the Skyline Social events on Fridays… anything. In the real world they talk about a work-like balance, but I think it’s important to have a school-life balance too. It’s also something that I struggled with a bit (since I’m a bit of a workaholic) but I’ve enjoyed the times that I got out and did something fun. This was made possible in part by me starting my homework early!
A SWE event from junior year… with dogs!
If you’re not an aeronautical science student… try and go on a flight with someone. Where else are you going to find a university where a good chunk of the students are pilots? A fun fact about is ERAU is that you can shadow a flight in one of the Riddle planes. It’s pretty easy- all you need is a friend who’s a flight student and your student ID card, the EagleCard. You go to the flight operations building with your friend and ask to shadow the flight and as long as it’s fine with the flight instructor and flight supervisor, you can do it. I’ve done this in the ERAU Diamond DA-42s and those things are very nice to fly in.
If your friends aren’t aeronautical science, or you feel like a very expensive meal, there are several flight schools in the area you can rent a plane from. I’ve also done this– I’m not a pilot, but several of my friends are, which means that I’ve paid for my share of the flight costs and gone flying with them.
My view from the back seat of Riddle’s DA-42.
Volunteer! Volunteer in a way that’s fun and fulfilling for YOU. Most of my volunteering time was done with the Society of Women Engineers. I spent three years on the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Workshop (IGEW) committee before transitioning to a different leadership role in SWE, but I volunteered for IGEW all three years I was on the committee. ERAU even wrote an article about it! I’ve also volunteered in other capacities, such as for Preview Day and Open House.
SWE volunteers from the Museum of Arts and Science’s International Day of Women and Girls In Science event.
Finally… This is your college experience. Make the most of it. My college experience is vastly different from some other people, and that’s okay. College will help you figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life and give you amazing memories to last a lifetime. I’m a very social person, so I enjoyed social clubs, but if you’re more solitary you may not like all of the activities that I did, and that’s okay.
Change majors if you aren’t happy with the major you’re in. Switch classes if you realize that there’s a professor whose teaching style better matches your learning style. Do things that make you happy and surround yourself with people that have similar interests. I’ve had the time of my life at ERAU, and it’s hard to think that it’s coming to an end. This isn’t my last post quite yet, so I’ll see you in the next post!
A lot outside of school has happened in the past week or so! Here is a little bit of documentation:
The solar eclipse happened! Please enjoy my not-so-great picture of it through a telescope on the 5th floor of COAS. Even though we weren’t in the path of totality, it was an amazing experience. Maybe it was simply because we are at a school where nearly everyone is invested in events like this, but the whole world around me seemed to stop. I was at work in the Office of Undergraduate Research when everyone started to make their way outside and use the eclipse glasses that were being handed out.As Graduate Assistant for the Office of Undergraduate Research, I helped with Discovery Day! This was a huge (over 800 attendees) research symposium day where students from the entire school could present their findings through poster sessions while winning awards and grants! I also personally received my Research Scholar award that day at the awards ceremony.Had some great food in Orlando with my boyfriend lately! The first two pictures are from a Korean bakery called Chiffon Culture near Winter Park. Their hot dog bun, garlic cream cheese bread, and chocolate whipped cream cube croissant were amazing! The last picture is from Sushi Katana near Mall at Millenia. The sushi was great quality, and their lunch specials are a good price.I recently had the chance to attend UCF’s version of SharkTank, Joust, where my boyfriend’s (far right in picture) startup, CyberColosseum LLC, won first place! The money and services provided will really help them as they work on this growing business.We attended ERAU’s Casino Night! This was really fun. Big thanks to Touch-N-Go for organizing the free pizza, blackjack tables, raffles, and more!There is a hidden gem in Winter Park! The Morse Museum there is absolutely GORGEOUS with rooms upon rooms of Tiffany glass exhibits. I HIGHLY recommend this especially since admission for students is only $1!Went pottery painting at All Fired Up near Winter Park! It was a great experience and seemed super popular! We painted a little cardinal and a lemon squeezer bowl. Can’t wait to pick up the final pieces soon!
That time of the year has come around again- it’s airshow season! Every year, the Sun n’ Fun airshow is held at KLAL in Lakeland, Florida. I got to go for the first time in sophomore year, and I unfortunately had to miss it last year. But this year I went back- for both days- with different people.
The thing I like about attending airshows is how the lineup will change every year, and even then, it’s still unlikely to be the exact same aircraft. This year I saw a C-17, just like two years ago, from Charlotte, but the tail number was different. They let us tour a lot of the larger military planes, and I definitely took them up on that offer.
Saturday had both a day and night airshow, and I stayed for both days. I also love how the airshow changes every so often. The Thunderbirds performed again this year, but the show itself was different. I also got to see the F-35 demo team and various acrobatic performers. It was definitely worth it!
Some of the airshow performers!
One of the night show performers was the Polaris Ghost Squadron, which Jared Isaacman is part of. He’s an ERAU alumni who came back last year to speak to students, and it was awesome to see just how connected ERAU is to the industry. I enjoyed the airshow. The day airshow lasted for four full hours, while the night airshow lasted two and a half hours. And yes – I made sure to reapply sunscreen as needed.
The static displays were also a lot of fun to walk through. I noticed that a lot of the people were selling mission patches and T-shirts with their aircraft on it. There’s also a vendor area outside the warbird section, and I ended up buying a pink aviation lanyard with a seatbelt buckle attachment on it. I was really tempted to buy the KC-135 “remove before flight” tag, though…
I got to see aircraft that I’d never seen up close before, the KC-135 was one of them. They let us tour the flight deck, cargo component, and the boom operator station, which was cool to see. The KC-135 has a window in the back for the boom operator, unlike the newer KC-46 which has a refueling screen near the front of the plane that relies on cameras. I was able to look out the back of that window, watching people walk by under the aircraft. It was awesome!
KC-135 flight deck!
I also toured a C-130 with skiis that is able to land on snow, and it’s crazy for me to even think about that. I hate the cold, so I don’t like snow, but the fact that a large airplane can land on snow is awesome. I got a picture of me waving through a window of the C-130, and the breeze up there felt nice. Sun n’ Fun is just one of many things I’m going to miss when I move away, but there are airshows all over the country.
I’m very glad I went to Sun n’ Fun this year, and I’m excited to go to the Orlando Airshow next weekend! That’s one of the cool things I love about the ERAU Daytona location – there are so many airshows around here within driving (or flying!) distance. Maybe I’ll be write about the Orlando Airshow next… but whatever it is, I’ll see you in the next post!
