Senior
Major: Aerospace Engineering
Hometown: Fort Worth, TX
Extracurricular Activities: Society of Women Engineers Member, 2006-2007 WiSE Peer Mentor

How did you decide to come to Iowa State University?

 I received a scholarship to Iowa State, and I knew it was a good engineering school. I visited once and really like the campus and the people I met. It was a pretty easy decision.

What experience at Iowa State has made the greatest impact in your life?

 It depends on what year I talk about. My first year I really enjoyed being part of the WiSE learning community. I met my best friends through the learning community and still live with some of them. I got to meet Lora Leigh (WiSE Coordinator) and be a peer mentor for other learning community students, which was a really rewarding experience.

As far as my senior year, I would say that the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has had the greatest impact. It is a national organization so I have had the opportunity to go to national conferences and meet a lot of professionals. It is much more professionally oriented, which has been great as I start thinking about getting a job. It has been a great way to network.

Do you do research on campus?

I started a research job at the Center for Non-Destructible Evaluation (CNDE) this past semester. It is not actually on campus, but is considered a part of campus. The professor I am working with is doing a lot of different things so I get to do a lot of different things. Currently, I am doing a lot of lab work, but when I first started it was mostly paper research. We are looking at parts to see if they have flaws without destroying it ("non-destuctible"). We use x-rays and ultrasounds. I am also into visual enhancement methods like putting a fluorescent dye on a part and holding it up to an ultraviolet light. The dye will glow if it has seeped into the crack.

My sophomore year I did a summer research project working with the tornado simulator and building models. I looked at the affect of high, tornado like winds on different structures and buildings.