My Proudest Accomplishment While in School by Tamara

My Proudest Accomplishment While in School by Tamara - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

Growing up in Louisiana, I was surrounded mostly by farms and football. Most of the little girls like me grew up to be nurses, teachers or homemakers, but I wanted something different. Throughout my entire school career, I studied hard and jumped at every opportunity given to read the Wall Street Journal or the latest technology and science article. When I was in elementary school, my parents gifted me with a home computer and unlike most kids, I ripped it apart. I was obsessed with knowing every part that went into making a computer, what their function was and how could I manipulate it to make the computer better. Fast-forward to 2010, I am a sophomore in college majoring in Electrical Engineering who has been given the opportunity of conducting research for the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences. I did not know what to expect seeing as how this was my first research position, but I quickly fell in with a group of five graduate students and a well experienced and tenured professor.
Once I fell into the groove of things, I began working on fabricating a pico-satellite for eventual deployment into space. A pico-satellite is essentially a small satellite under 1100 pounds that still has the capabilities and functions of a normal sized satellite. After learning much of the basics, I began setting up 3D Burst, Tensile and Temperature Test in order to a three unit pico-sat they the group constructed. After obtaining the right temperatures, pressures, materials, etc. that were acceptable for the space environment, I was then put in charge of doing the groundwork for creating a deployment mechanism for our satellite. It was during these test that I learned many of trails that our scientist and engineers go through in order to bring consumers quality and life changing products. I spent grueling hours over the next month working with different mock launchers and deploying model payloads in fields, but in the end, I was able to come up with a pneumatic launcher that would be used to deploy the university’s pico-sat into space as well as other payloads.
Throughout my time working with the space center, I learned more about myself than I knew. Not only did I make new friends, but I was able to take something from conception to reality. I was able to envision something in my head, do the groundwork and build it for the benefit of others. By accomplishing that new feat, I was most proud of being an engineer because I realized that I had the ability to bring positivity and long lasting change to the lives of people and to the world. My work went on to be used by many others and was also featured at the Proceedings of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2010 International Mechanical Congress and Exposition as well at my home university. Of all of the things I’ve done in school, this experience was the one that made me the proudest. I put everything I had and did not have into this seed, sowed it and got to watch it grow and benefit not just me, but others.