When I started my studies as an engineering science student at RIT, I had no thought what engineers did, simply that I wanted to be ane so that I could score my dream task at NASA. When I speak at outreach events I often get asked by young people, "What does your average day at work look like?" So, as I celebrate my one year work-iversary, what better way to explain than to run through my average twenty-four hours at piece of work every bit I've experienced information technology over the concluding year?

I currently piece of work at NASA Johnson Space Centre in the Aircraft Operations Division's Engineering Branch. We provide sustaining technology support and upgrades to JSC's fleet of more than 25 aircraft which support astronaut Spaceflight Readiness Training, fly airborne science missions all over the earth, and provide straight return services to our astronauts when they land back on Globe from the International Space Station. I wanted to give yous a (very) small glimpse into what a typical 24-hour interval might look like for an engineer working in my field.


8:00: I generally arrive at work between 7 and eight a.m. depending on what's planned for the day. I first by communicable upwardly on eastward-mails and checking in with the Gulfstream mechanics to see if they have whatever questions pertaining to ongoing tasks I may have requested them to work on through an Engineering Work Gild

nine:00: On Wednesday mornings our Gulfstream team of engineers, pilots, maintenance, and the program manager gets together to discuss the condition of the program. This is an opportunity to get everyone on the same page with the schedule and condition of both our GIII and GV jets.

We use this Gulfstream GV to selection up astronauts when they land in Kazakhstan from the International Space Station. Nosotros also fly airborne science all over the globe in this shipping.

Groundwork: Our Gulfstream GV has recently returned from Georgia where it was modified to include two big cutouts in the lesser of the aircraft. Two fused silica optical drinking glass windows volition soon exist installed in the nadir viewports to better serve our Airborne Scientific discipline customers.

Practicing window cleaning on an sometime Space Shuttle window.

I've been designated every bit the GV Window Systems Engineer. In this function I am responsible for ensuring our windows are cleaned, handled, and maintained properly. This is an of import job as each of these windows costs upwards of $25,000 and take approximately eight weeks to manufacture. In this office I am also responsible for using fracture mechanics principles to ensure that the proper fourth dimension to failure of the window has been calculated to continue our aircrew and customers safe during science flights. If damage is discovered on the windows, I am responsible for providing applied science disposition. I love that I am able to use some of the concepts I learned in graduate school to my job and doing so has helped to build self-confidence in my technical abilities equally they chronicle to engineering science.

One of our fused silica windows-information technology is 1.5" thick!

10:00: Although nosotros take the pick to employ other materials (stretched acrylic has recently been plant to accept fantastic optical quality while being lighter, more cost effective, and easier to maintain), our offset customer has chosen to use fused silica. This material has dandy optical clarity just is highly susceptible to damage and static fatigue. After receiving a piece of glass, we perform a "receiving inspection" to ensure no damage is present and to check that the manufacturer has provided usa with a piece of glass that meets the specifications we requested on the social club.

Background: One of the offset projects assigned to me upon starting total-time at NASA was to become both Gulfstream aircraft fix to support the Commercial Coiffure Program by providing adequacy to send upwardly to four astronauts direct from their spacecraft'south landing site dorsum to Houston. Information technology's important to become them back equally quickly as possible and so that valuable scientific discipline data isn't lost.

The Commercial Crew part coordinates with Commercial Coiffure partners Boeing and SpaceX who will soon launch astronauts to the International Space Station from the U.Southward. These upcoming launches are exciting because they will be the first time we have launched Americans to the ISS from U.Due south. soil since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011.

12:00: I concord a CDR (Critical Design Review) to go buyoff from both the client (Commercial Crew Plan) and important Aircraft Operations Division and Engineering science Branch management to ensure they are comfy moving forward with my designs. If any action items or safety concerns are brought up by attendees at the coming together, it will be my responsibility to make any necessary changes to the design in lodge to receive final approval to modify the aircraft. These pattern reviews are reminiscent of the design reviews I was responsible for property during Senior Design class in undergrad. I must walk management through the customer requirements and how I program to meet them, my blueprint and what I programme to modify on the aircraft, consummate a risk analysis that the safety engineers must sign off on, and my projected budget and schedule every bit well equally maintenance impacts.

1:00: I head out to the hangar to run across the vendor that volition be installing carpet in the shipping for my Commercial Coiffure shipping modification project. I pick the carpet color and discuss where they will need to cut the carpet in lodge to accommodate existing seating besides as equipment I volition be adding for my project. I'm a very hands-on person so one of my favorite parts of this job is that I can go out to the hangar, get on the airplane, and check measurements or whatsoever else I demand to see in order to better consummate my project.

iii:00: At CDR, xc% of the blueprint must be complete. I have two shipping installation drawings to complete so that information technology is clear for the mechanics where the beds and oxygen tanks I have included in my design should be installed in the aircraft. I work on these drawings using Creo which is a 3D modeling software. Most mechanical engineers larn some sort of CAD software equally a part of their undergraduate curriculum. Don't worry if your employer utilizes a unlike software from the one y'all learned in school. Many jobs will either provide or send you to training, or give yous the fourth dimension to learn how to apply it on the chore.

This is a T-38. Astronauts train in these jets to learn how to react chop-chop in an environment where your decisions could have dire consequences. These are the same jets they trained in for the Apollo missions!

This is just a snapshot of a typical day at work for me. I love that I have the liberty to work on different tasks within a day so that I am never bored or stuck doing one affair. I thoroughly enjoy the easily-on nature of my work and the fact that I am surrounded past aircraft on a daily footing. This is but one example of the many heady career paths bachelor to engineers today. Keep checking dorsum to connect and learn more well-nigh me as I update the site with more than stories,  resources, and back up to help yous confidently thrive in the globe of STEM.

Ad Astra and Godspeed,

Kate