Notes & Studying & Exams! Oh my!

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I came into ERAU with a less common background. I was in virtual school from 4th through 12th grade. This trained me to prefer a certain type of learning: throw a textbook at me and tell me to learn it by myself. I did and still do really well with this approach. As I attended more and more lectures at ERAU, I survived but noticed that I did not feel 100% comfortable with their type of learning experience. Thus, for any new virtual schooled students or just new students in general, now as a senior, I wanted to share some of the techniques I have developed over the years.

MOST classes here at ERAU, at least the ones in my experience as an EP student, have a distinct system. You attend lectures, do homework, and take exams. I have a certain note-taking/studying system that has worked very well.
I use OneNote to do all of this because I like being able to see everything at a glance. I keep one large notebook; each semester has its own section group. Then, there is a section for each class. Each page is for a day of lecture, homework, or type of note.

  • Attend class to take lecture notes
    • Focus on writing down what is on the board & any other important things the professor says
    • Don’t be afraid to ask “will this be on the exam”
    • Ask if you are confused!
    • If not already specified by the professor, ask for what part of the textbook things correspond to & what extra practice problems you can do
  • Study at home!!
    • Take notes on the textbook
      • Create another notes page for textbook notes
      • I know it can feel wrong to do sometimes, but mark up your textbook!! Highlight definitions in yellow and important facts in blue. And then write notes in the margins or do extra math next to the examples.
    • Take notes on any PowerPoint slides or supplemental material on Canvas
    • Start homework early to fully understand the problem
      • In my opinion, it is okay to use an answer key (if given/permitted by your professor of course) as long as you understand how to get there. In fact, this process can make learning easier sometimes!
    • Do any extra practice problems that you can
      • If you are confused (or even if you aren’t), take these by the professor’s office hours or email it to them for feedback and extra tips!
  • Exam time
    • Glance through notes, especially for around 15 minutes leading up to the exam. Your short term memory is a powerful tool.
    • Redo all of your homework and practice problems on a big whiteboard for a day or so before the exam and see how fast you can get through them. Timing is key in some of these classes!
    • Study with your classmates. Even if you feel like you understand the material fully, someone else may have a perspective that will make you go WOAH

36 Hours in Pittsburgh

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Welcome to the Steel City!

Last weekend I got back on the road again with ERAU’s admissions team. As a Women’s Ambassador, I get to travel around the country and support recruitment events with the admissions counselors, which is one of my favorite parts of the job! Last year I traveled to Dallas and Houston for their regional admissions presentations. This is my senior year, and my first trip of senior year was to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

This trip took place over the weekend of September 23-24, which meant I left Saturday and came back Sunday, spending around 36 hours in Pittsburgh. I left Daytona bright and early on the 6 AM Delta flight, and I’d made the mistake of getting only three hours of sleep the night before. I slept through the whole flight to Atlanta, only waking up and noticing the sunrise when the aircraft landed.

Sunrise in Atlanta.

Sunrise in Atlanta was beautiful. Since I had a two and a half hour layover, I got to watch the airport wake up with more flights coming and going each hour. I also stopped at a local coffee shop and got an iced caramel latte, which was pretty tasty.

After the time in Atlanta, I jumped on the flight to Pittsburgh. It’s much hillier than I expected up there, and definitely a much different climate than Florida. Thankfully, I had brought a sweatshirt and was adequately prepared. The admissions counselor who I was traveling with got the car, and since it was early afternoon, we stopped for food before checking into the hotel.

Since the presentation wasn’t until the next day, it meant that I had a lot of time to explore! It was raining, but the counselor and I had already planned out a few things we wanted to do. On the way to Pittsburgh, we had made reservations for the local cat cafe.

This kitten was very friendly! Too bad I couldn’t take him home…

I really enjoyed the cat cafe- it made me miss my two cats back at home. I try and visit cat cafes in as many cities as I can to see all the cats around the US. Pittsburgh was a great addition, and lucky for us, the restaurant we chose was nearby. It was a Japanese restaurant, and I got the tofu udon which tasted amazing.

At night we intended to go to the incline and get a good look around the city, but it was raining, so we decided not to. Instead we headed back to the hotel room and rested before the presentation the next day. Honestly, after only three hours of sleep, I needed it- I went to bed around 10 PM and woke up eleven hours later.

The reception, like all of them, was held in a nice hotel. The way they work is the same- an admissions representative will talk about the school’s academics, organizations, professional opportunities and then the campuses. Sometimes there are two- one from Daytona and one from Prescott- but in Pittsburgh it was only us from Daytona. I also got the opportunity to speak a bit about my experiences in organizations and how I got internships.

Accepted student receptions!

After the presentation is over, people are free to stick around and ask us questions or leave. Each region of the US has a regional admissions counselor that comes to the presentation, and that person will be handling applications from that region. I also usually get a few questions after the presentation about student life or the aerospace engineering curriculum.

Once everyone left, we headed to the airport. The presentation was scheduled from 1 PM to 3 PM, and I had a 6:30 PM flight. Thankfully, the TSA lines were pretty short, and I got through in about ten minutes. The Pittsburgh airport is really nice, it’s got a bunch of food options centrally located, and I chose pizza. There is also a seating area watching the gates, where I stopped to do some homework. When I travel for admissions, I don’t get a free pass on my homework, I still have to do it on time.

On the way back to Daytona, I had a one-hour layover in Atlanta. Since that airport is huge, I pretty much went straight to the gate and waited for my zone to board. I like window seats for short flights, and I had window seats on the way back. I’d also heard that you can collect trading cards of Delta’s fleet, and I was able to get some on the flight into Daytona. In my opinion, the Pittsburgh trip was awesome- I got to see a new city, meet new people, and collect airline trading cards. Maybe I’ll see you at a regional admissions presentation, too. If not, I’ll see you in the next post… and hopefully at Riddle!

Study Locations

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You need a place to study in between classes and meetings. Sometimes the main floor of the Student Union is a bit noisy or there are just no seats left or you really really need a change of scenery. Here are some of my favorite spots on campus and a bit about them!

  • NR3 Study Room: The New Residence Hall 3 building has a great study room in the lobby. It can get busy in evenings during exam weeks, but other than that it is fairly quiet. The tables are whiteboards, and there are rolling whiteboard in there too. It is a really great place to meet a study group for exam cram sessions. I do recommend bringing your own markers though; they go missing around there.
  • Honors Center: If you are an honors student, the honors center in the first floor of NR3 has a library with tables & beanbags, computer lab, and some other study rooms further back in the hallways.
  • College Lobbies: A super underrated place to go study in place is the lobby of many class buildings. COAS has a little nook with a couch by the back door. COAS also has a very nice study area on the 5th floor which overlooks the runway and Micaplex with a quiet environment, nearby restrooms, and tons of room in general. On COAS 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors there are some couches by the windows right next to the elevators which are also wonderful study spaces if you can claim a spot! Lehman has many seating choices including booths and comfy chairs by the 1st floor elevators; there are also nooks with booth and chair seating and tables by the vending machines on the 2nd and 3rd floors. If you like outdoor spots, there are some tables outside by the labs on the 3rd floor of Lehman. The M Building in back of Lehman also has a little sitting area with vending machines right when you walk in, but there are outlets only on one wall. The lobbies of IC, COB, and COA are also very nice with various seating choices.
  • Student Union Balcony: When the weather gets nice, the balcony by Starbucks is a PRIME seating choice for studying. You can even watch the planes take off and grab a coffee!
  • Physics Lounge: If you are a Physics student, we now have our own study space/lounge in COAS 315 with computers, whiteboards, whiteboard tables, markers, comfy couches, and more! Great place to do homework and talk to classmates.

Organization is Key

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As a student, you need to keep track of a lot of things. These things can include (but are definitely not limited to) classes, work, research, clubs, projects, and just general life things. There are many ways in which you can do this such as planner books, bullet journals, notes apps, and checklists. I am going to share how I personally keep track of well….life!

I have experimented with quite a few methods, definitely everything listed above plus a handful of productivity apps. They all have their pros and cons. Planner books are very fun to use, useful, satisfying to write things in, and pretty, but if you have many last-minute meetings come up or just numerous things back-to-back in one day, your space per day in that book can be fairly limited. There is also an app out there called Notion which many people swear by; I have a few friends who use this, and it looks great! However, its device compatibility is limited and the full list of features I want requires a paid subscription. Over the years, I have solidly settled on using two main methods: Google Calendar & Todoist.

I am a HUGE advocate of Todoist. I find the platform super simple, easy to navigate/use, and free! Honestly, my friends have remarked probably three times per month that they really need to put me on their payroll with how much I talk about the application hahaha. You can use the website on your computer and/or app version on your phone. In the free version, you can make five “projects” like mine is set up:

Within each project, you can create different sections like how my Homework project looks:

From what I can tell, the sections per project is unlimited. I use one for each class and then put tasks under them. Each task allows you to add due dates, priority rankings, labels, descriptions, comments, subtasks, and even assignees! Yes, you can make collaborative boards too!! With the free version, you can put up to five people on one project. This is really useful for clubs or even just class projects. The mobile app has all of the capabilities of the website, so if you need to rely on that during the day while you are running around you definitely can. Even better, you can sync your Google Calendar and Todoist.

To more easily view exactly what I need to do and where I need to be, I have a Google Calendar widget on the home screen of my phone. Then, my synced Todoist shows all of my tasks as differently-colored events for that day. On top of that, I highly recommend color-coding your Google Calendar. I include locations of my meetings/classes, and then I color code for each thing to make quick glances way easier. For example, classes are dark green, gym trips are light green, SI sessions are red, fun things are yellow, club meetings are light blue, and the list continues. I also enjoy having everything on Google Calendar because then I can enter other people’s Gmails as guests to my “event” which syncs the event on all of our calendars.

ANYWAYS, that was a big rant on my organizational system for day-to-day life, and I do really enjoy perfecting this stuff so maybe it will change again as I go through life. But for now, this system has helped me for almost my entire time at college to be organized, less overwhelmed, and have an all-around feeling that I am managing my time efficiently.

Summer Shenanigans

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It was an eventful Summer!

Summer is the time for internships, travelling, and living life!
This Summer, I returned to SpaceX for a third time. I was working as a Starship Vehicle Engineering intern based out of Hawthorne, California (near LA) and travelling back and forth a good amount to Starbase, Texas (Southernmost tip of Texas). My job involves a lot of overall-vehicle work for the Ship portion of Starship; more details on what I have been doing can be found on my LinkedIn.

There are some cool pictures at the end of this post.
But first, I feel like something that often gets overlooked is having a work-life balance as an intern at any company. Internships are great opportunities to learn different subjects, gain hands-on experience, network, and maybe even secure a fulltime position if you are really passionate about the company. However, keep in mind that this is also YOUR time to get a feel for if you like the company in different aspects. Are you passionate about the thing you are working on? Could you see yourself working on your team every day? If you work at this pace/hours/frequency, how do you emotionally, mentally, and physically feel? Does this work/position fulfill you? Do you need more or less time to touch grass? Thus, I highly recommend treating your internship like a trial run for how your life would be like in a full time position. Do you want to travel frequently? Do you want to be adamant about going home at 5pm on Fridays? What are some personal boundaries that you need to draw for your happiness? Do you love that 8am-8pm grind? Do you like the area that you would be living in? There are no wrong answers! Only discoveries about what would make you happiest in life and a fulltime career.

Now to cue the photoreal 🙂

SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, California
View of Downtown LA from Griffith Observatory
Griffith Observatory at Sunrise (Photo 1)
Griffith Observatory at Sunrise (Photo 2)
The Starship Shrine

Getting Involved at ERAU

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Please get involved. I promise you it’s worth it.

So, getting involved in ERAU’s clubs and activities. That’s something that the admissions counselors will tell you- ERAU has over 250 student groups for you to join, and if you can’t find one you like, you can create one yourself! But that raises the question- how do you get involved and what should you get involved in?

When I was a freshman, I had the entirety of Summer 2020 to sit at home, quarantined, and scroll on CampusGroups looking at clubs. CampusGroups, which is accessed through ERNIE, shows a list of all of the student groups one can join. Of course, not all groups are open to public membership (we’ll talk about that later) but most of them are. To receive emails, simply join the group on CampusGroups, and there’s likely to be a bit of extra information. You can also find the group’s social media (if applicable) in CampusGroups.

In both the fall and spring semesters, the campus hosts an activities fair which allows student organizations to showcase their features to students. The groups set up in front of the student union and people in the group sit at the table, telling people about the group and what they do.

I’m part of three campus organizations and each is unique: Women’s Ambassadors (which is technically a job), the Aerospace Engineering Student Advisory Board (which is an interview-in position), and the Society of Women Engineers (which is a simple click join and you’re in).

Society of Women Engineers: This registered student organization (RSO) is one of many on ERAU’s campus that is open to all without employment or interview. I joined SWE as a freshman, signing up for their emails and joining their Discord server. Like most others, the group sends out emails telling those on the email list when and where events, including general meetings, are. To be a member of the ERAU group clicking join is all I needed to do. SWE at ERAU is part of the international Society of Women Engineers, but being a registered international SWE member is different than being an ERAU SWE member. I just happen to be a member of both!

Aerospace Engineering Student Advisory Board: AESAB, as it’s called, is NOT a RSO. It is also not open to everyone- being on the Board includes an application and interview process. This is not unheard of- many honor societies are also invite-only. AESAB applications typically open in the late fall to early spring, candidates are interviewed, and then offered a position on the Board or not. AESAB communicates with the aerospace engineering department to ensure that the students are in a productive learning environment.

Women’s Ambassadors: Also known as WA, this is a paid campus position that also requires an application and interview process. If selected as an Ambassador, you receive a grant towards your tuition as payment. There are only a handful of Women’s Ambassadors on campus, and we all get to travel- that’s how I got to go to San Francisco and Seattle. Being a Women’s Ambassador also includes planning and attending events for prospective, admitted, and current students as well as working Open House and Preview Day.

As a freshman I initially started out in many other organizations. However, as time went on, I figured out what sort of things I wanted to spend my time with and narrowed my focus to those groups. I started by going to one meeting of each public organization that I thought was cool and then decided if I liked it, didn’t like it, or wasn’t sure. For all of the organizations I liked, I continued going to meetings, and for organizations I didn’t like, I never came back. For the organizations that were a maybe for me, I went to another meeting and then thought about it.

For other organizations- like WA or AESAB- I learned about the organization before I joined. When I was a new student a Women’s Ambassador reached out to me, and the more I learned about it, the more I wanted to be a part of it. For AESAB, I saw the work that the Board had done and how they helped the students, which made me want to join. During the interview process for WA and AESAB, I was also given the chance to ask questions myself to make sure that the position would also be a good fit for me. That’s definitely a good resource to remember when you’re applying for real-world jobs and internships. Always read the job description too- most of the responsibilities and details of the job are there. However, If the position isn’t what you thought it would be based on the interview, or you didn’t click with the people, you can always rescind your application or turn down the offer.

The activities fair has been happening this week at ERAU and I’ve been busy tabling for the Women’s Ambassadors! We only tabled on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I’ll be tabling for SWE on Thursday. I love seeing the activities fair- it’s a great way to see campus come to life. AESAB typically doesn’t table as our functions are unique to aerospace engineering students rather than serving the larger student body population, but AESAB does host Cookies and Comments events to collect feedback from the students. I’m excited for that one- free cookies are always a must! Either way, I’ll see you in the next post- and hopefully at Riddle!

The Weirdest First Week Ever

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Here we are! First day of senior year!

After (almost) three years of blogging and three internships… I AM A SENIOR!

It’s honestly a very weird thing to think about- I am a senior which means I graduate in May. After graduation, I won’t be a college student anymore- I’ll have to find a job, which is terrifying to think about. I’ve loved being in college- it’s the perfect bubble of freedom without too much responsibility.

Before the school year even started, the Women’s Ambassadors held their first mentoring event! The Women’s Ambassadors Mentoring Program- or WAMP- held a meet and greet luncheon for the new female students. There, students got a chance to meet us- their mentors! I had a lot of fun at event- over 400 female students showed, and it was great meeting some of my mentees this year!

The first week has definitely been interesting. Monday went pretty normally, and so did Tuesday until the university announced that Wednesday classes were cancelled due to Hurricane Idalia. That afternoon, I headed out to buy a case of water bottles in case we couldn’t get water.

Idalia mostly hit Florida’s panhandle and moved its way through Georgia, so we only experienced tropical storm-force winds and rain. There is a pond in my off-campus apartment complex, and I noticed that the water level had risen a little bit. The storm wasn’t very noisy, so on the off day, I slept in pretty late. I mostly stayed inside and hung out with a few friends. I never ended up needing the water bottles.

Classes resumed on Thursday, and the Daytona Beach area felt minimal damage from the hurricane because the eye of the storm didn’t come very close to us. I have one laboratory class that wasn’t starting, so Thursday was short for me.

On Thursday night, I had my first meeting of the school year! It was also for Women’s Ambassadors, and we had pizza for dinner while we talked about the upcoming plans for the academic year. We have a lot of new ambassadors this year, and it was great seeing them step up and volunteer for leadership positions.

Friday came and went, and I had my second meeting of the year- this time for the Society of Women Engineers. I’m the Professional Engagement Chair this year, which means it’s my job to help SWE members with their professional development as well as interface with companies. SWE, like always, also has a lot of cool things planned!

After that, of course, was Labor Day weekend. I didn’t do much. I spent the time relaxing, sleeping in, and not thinking about school, work, or anything related. I did, however, end up buying LED lights for my room, which I’ve wanted for awhile but just never got around to buying.

Over the summer I interned with Boeing in Oklahoma City and while it was fun, this Labor Day weekend was a definitely needed break. Over the summer I got to do some really cool things there and even got to attend the yearly Tinker Air Show, hosted by Tinker Air Force Base. Oklahoma City reminded me a bit of Embry-Riddle; planes would come and go, and since I lived along the approach path, I heard them all the time. Sometimes I’d even see some military ones go by, which was awesome to track.

I’m looking forward to my senior year here at Embry-Riddle. When I graduate, I’m definitely going to miss the school. It’s been my home for the past three years. The people are great, I love the aviation-centric environment, and (personally) I love sunny Florida weather. The humidity might be a drag, but I hate snow, and it never snows here. It’s an ideal environment for me, and one day, I hope to see you here too- but if not, I’ll see you in the next post!

A Look into the Baja SAE Competition

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The Baja SAE competition was held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this year. If you are unfamiliar with Baja SAE, allow me to give a brief synopsis on the organization. Baja SAE is a collegiate design series competition that is held by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) every year. The organization aims to expose students to different aspects of the engineering process along with learning how to work within a team environment. There are multiple events a year (three to be exact) and student teams from around the US and other countries are given the ability to compete in this event. Students are tasked with designing, manufacturing, and assembling a one-seater, off-road vehicle that can withstand the grueling courses set up by the judges of the competition (most of which are Baja SAE alumni). Each team has to complete and submit a business presentation, design presentation, and an extensive cost report. Students attending competition are also given the opportunity to network with sponsoring companies and have a chance to apply for internships or full-time positions.

Oshkosh Corporation military vehicles on display at competition

This year was the first time since 2019 that the team has gone to competition. At the beginning of the fall 2022 semester, it was announced that teams would have to design vehicles with an all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive system. In previous years, Baja SAE had only required two driven wheels. Given the limited knowledge of an all-wheel drive system, the team decided it would be best to attend competition and gain an insight into the process other teams had taken to determine their designs.

Team leads and officers from the ERAU Baja SAE team

Competition is set to take place throughout four days, each day consisting of different dynamic events with the final day holding the four-hour endurance race. The first day opens with registration and the business presentation. Teams are given a prompt where they have to pitch their vehicle design to a team of judges and explain why their design makes the most sense from an economic and manufacturing standpoint. Teams also have to go through engine and frame checks on the first day. Baja SAE rules dictate that the engine is the only component of the vehicle that is not allowed to be modified, therefore teams must complete an engine check at the start of competition to ensure they are compliant with rules. The first day also included a car show sponsored by Oshkosh Corporation, where they showed off the military vehicles that the company has designed and manufactured.

Remote controlled military vehicle brought by Pratt & Miller
Oshkosh vehicles on display for the car show

Day two introduces the first dynamic event of the competition (dynamic braking) along with the design judging, cost evaluation, tech inspection, and 4WD check. Teams are evaluated on their design choices during the design judging portion of the event. Tech inspection focuses on evaluating the vehicle overall and ensuring that it meets rules. Day three introduces the rest of the dynamic events. These include the maneuverability, acceleration, sled pull, and suspension events. The last day focuses solely on the endurance event. This is where all 100 teams line up their vehicles in grid form and drive around the track for four hours. The track itself is composed of different aspects of the dynamic events that took place the previous days. The team that completes the most laps around the track is the winner of the event. There is a fun statistic that I love to share with new teams members, which is that during the first few laps of the endurance race, about half of the teams on track would have experienced some form of damage to their vehicle. The track this year was extremely muddy due to weather, so most vehicles at some point found themselves stuck in the mud.

Different competing teams out on the muddy course

Overall, it was a great learning experience for our team to be a part of. Not only did we gain a valuable insight into the innerworkings of competition, but we were able to bond with our peers and developed a desire to succeed at competition in the following years to come.

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.