Since its my senior year, I decided to write this one from a different perspective (as I’ve shared my story in numerous blog posts already). After nearly 4 years, I wanted to see how much my friends and family know about what I do at USC and what astronautical engineering is all about. Here are their responses and my commentary…
Question – What is my major?
Answers – Aerospace engineering, astronautical engineering, and astronomical engineering
K’s Response – Most people got it right on the dot! As for aerospace engineering, my major is a bit more specific and specialized. Astronautical engineers work only in spacecraft whereas aerospace engineers also study vehicles which operate in the atmosphere (planes and maybe cars). For the response that said I was an “astronomical engineer”, I’m choosing to take this as a complement because, yes, I engineer very massive things lol. Also, I get this misconception A LOT when people try to recall my major. Astronautical ≠ astronomical
Question – What does my major do?
Answers – Rocket science, Designing and building spacecraft systems, Space engineer, Spacecraft systems design and satellites, and Space (see screenshot of answers at very bottom of the page because they were sorta funny…)
K’s Response – Yep, yep, yep!
Question – What skills would you gain with an astronautical engineering major?
Answers – Teamwork and insane physics and systems knowledge, Rockets, CAD, SolidWorks, physics, math, and MATLAB, How to use spreadsheets and a more holistic approach to design, Aura, How to make things
K’s Response – I concur with all of these (especially aura if that aura specifically refers to the bags under my eyes). Overall astronautical engineers at USC learn how to design ever aspect of a spacecraft as well as how to use the tools that enable these analyses. Give me any proposal for a spacecraft and I can provide you a very simple design with decent numbers and analysis as to why it is feasible.
Question – Why did I Kaleigh choose USC?
Answers – Location and RPL, Astrolab, RPL, Cus USC is amazing, For the affordability, Not far from family, RPL, diverse student population
K’s Response – OOO all these answers have given me so many talking points! I’m gonna do a bulleted list and grind through then because, YES, all of these are right on the dot!
- Location – 2 hours away from my hometown, LA is awesome (beach, food, tons to do), just about all the aerospace companies that I could think of are just down the street from here so career wise, its a no brainer
- RPL – I was able to design and build rockets that would go to space from the first day my freshman year, there is nowhere else that affords students this opportunity.
- Astrolab – This was the company I interned for the summer after my freshman year! I got this opportunity through connections at USC so yes! USC has done so much for my career development. Thanks to my connections here, I have a full time job post graduation.
- USC is amazing – 100% agree
- Affordability – I got several merit-based scholarships to attend, so, for me, USC was the most affordable option.
- Diversity – Viterbi has 50% women. I hadn’t heard of anywhere else that had that kind of ratio. Also, in all of grade school I had attended schools where I was the only black woman in just about every room I had walked into. USC has been a bit different from that. Some of my peers feel that its the least diverse place they have attended, but for me I cannot relate.
Question – What is Kaleigh’s favorite thing to do in LA?
Answers – Eat food, Go to concerts, RPL, Beach, Walking around random places
K’s Response – DO MY PEEPS KNOW ME OR WHAT?! 100% correct. Here’s two pictures I’ve taken in the past 2 weeks for proof (benefit concert + beach) …
Question – What is Kaleigh involved in here on campus?
Answers – RPL, VSA, Track, Research, Gym, serving face
K’s response – Most of these are spot on. Idk about serving face lol but I appreciate the complement. Here’s a picture of my friend and I cleaning up our triathlon transition zone after our race.
Question – In your opinion what is the coolest thing Kaleigh has done here?
Answers – Set new record with Aftershock II, Make rockets, RPL, Design rover parts
K’s response – I love the RPL shout outs! I had the crazy luck of being part of the group that sent a rocket to space this past October and SHATTER some world record. Read about how cool we are here -> Aftershock II — USCRPL. As for the rover parts, that was part of my first internship with Astrolab. I’m dropping images of both of those things here:
Question – How has USC helped Kaleigh’s career?
Answers – Introduced her to people that had similar interests and recommended fellowships and opportunities to be a leader, RPL, Astrolab and Relativity internships, Girl u literally have a job lined up, Name flex
K’s response – I’m just gonna list the things that USC has given me access to that have helped me tremendously: the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship (helped me get my foot in the door): RPL/USC has some crazy alumni (I interned and will be working full time for a startup founded by some); Everywhere that I have worked has had some tie to USC so yes, USC is a massive name flex.
Welp that’s all for me and all my peeps that I interviewed! I hope you enjoyed this weird spin on me spotlighting, well, ME. Here’s some screenshots of the full (not summarized) answers to my survey:
