Rebekah Haysley, MechEngr'19

#ILookLikeAnEngineer

What does the #iLookLikeAnEngineer hashtag mean to you?

This campaign is so inspirational to me because it shows me that the true mark of an engineer is hard work, passion, and dedication; engineering isn’t defined by a certain gender or ethnicity. For example, I'm a short blond girl who often gets confused for someone much younger than my true age, and people are frequently surprised to find out I’m an engineering student. However, I’ve worked hard to become the best engineer that I can be. Today, I’m a project manager on a cryospheric dust collection project at Space Grant. I’ve helped to design, model, and machine a rocket payload that was launched into space this summer. In addition, I’ve had two successful internships for NASA JPL. It just shows that anyone can achieve their dreams if they set their mind to it.

What are three things that make you unique?

1. I've been to almost every single home ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ football game since my freshman year.
2. I’m really close to my family, and my favorite week of the summer is our annual week-long camping trip.

3. My club soccer team won 3rd place at a national championship soccer tournament when I was in high school.

What are your career goals?

I hope to work in the field of space exploration! Specifically, I think it would be really interesting to work on robotics in space. I'm getting a computer science minor with my mechanical engineering major, and I love seeing how all the systems come together. I feel like space exploration can help us answer some of the big questions about the makeup of our universe.

Do you have a favorite quote or mantra?

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy rock climbing, soccer, reading, camping, hiking, and playing the piano.

What do you enjoy most about engineering?

The part of engineering that I enjoy the most is the creativity. I've been on several projects where we get to go through the entire design process–brainstorming, prototyping, testing, and iterating–and I always learn so much from the experience. Engineering is all about thinking outside the box in order to find the best solution.

What is your favorite engineering experience?

My favorite engineering experience so far was launching a balloon satellite to 100,000 feet during my freshman year projects class. As I watched all of our hard work float higher and higher into the sky, I discovered a passion for space engineering that eventually drew me to amazing projects like a rocket satellite and an internships at NASA JPL.

Rebekah Haysley, Class of 2019, Mechanical Engineering

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