How did you become interested in engineering and of UW A&A in particular? Tell us more about your pathways leading you here. 

Math and physics were always my strong points and areas of interest in high school, so I always had an inclination to pursue a career in STEM. I then became interested in applications of autonomous systems. I was intrigued to learn about research on drones and remote control planes for remote sensing applications, search and rescue operations, and emergency medical aid. A&A had a quite a few research labs looking into these applications.

Tell us about your interesting research lab experience. 

I am an undergraduate student researcher in the Autonomous Flight Systems Lab working on a wildfire mapping project. The goal of the project is to develop an effective and efficient system to supply biomass data into the U.S. Forest Service’s models to improve predictions of wildfire behavior. I work on processing flight test data in pix4d and developing a script in MATLAB to produce height maps and calculate biomass data.

What do you enjoy most about A&A?

I really enjoy the fact that we are a small department. Our class sizes are much smaller than what is typical in other departments, and that’s great because then we as students are provided with opportunities to get to know our professors better and vice versa. It’s nice to see my professors recognize me, and for them to know my name. Like being able to have a conversation with my professors in the hallways of Guggenheim Hall is pretty cool for me as a student. Also, the small class size allows us students to get to know one another better and build strong support systems.

What advice do you have for prospective students?

Take advantage of our small department! The smaller class sizes and the fact that most of junior year we take our classes as a cohort will give you ample opportunities to get to know your professors and your peers.