Going for Greatness with Lauren-Ann

Transcript

Let’s meet Lauren-Ann, a young alum and current grad student who used her degree in aerospace engineering to launch a career at NASA. If there’s anything Florida Tech is known for, it’s helping ambitious students gain the skills and knowledge needed to become extremely employable professionals. Success comes in many forms, and Florida Tech graduates exemplify them all. Let’s hear your story.

– [Astronaut] Three, two, one.

– Thank you, Alex. I’m a recent aerospace engineering grad and a current mechanical engineering master’s student at Florida Tech. Since the age of five, it has been my dream to be an astronaut, which is what brought me here to sunny Melbourne, Florida. Florida Tech got my attention with its unique and inspiring history, diverse but intimate community, and tropical location on Florida Space Coast. As it turns out, I couldn’t have picked a more perfect school for me. The opportunities here are incredible. As an undergrad, my Florida Tech education helped me to land an amazing internship working with the science and engineering teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Twice, which then led to my first job. Today, I’m proud to be a test engineer on NASA’s Artemis program, working on the Orion spacecraft fleet that will take humans back to the moon. If this university is known for anything, it’s preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow. Florida Tech alumni are literally out of this world. There are astronauts, scientists, engineers, educators, CEOs, and award-winning leaders in all kinds of industries all over the world. Companies like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, and Breyer and more are located close to campus and home to many of our Florida Tech alumni. Florida Tech has been my home away from home ever since the first time a professor let me and a few of my friends leave class for a few minutes to see a rocket launch. Hopefully one day, I’ll be walking on the moon, but until then, I’ll continue to passionate work towards my dreams. The incredible people who have come into my life because of my time here taught me that the sky is definitely not the limit, it’s only the beginning. Back to you, Alex.

– [Astronaut] Roger that, ground control.

– Lauren-Ann. From student, to intern, to NASA test engineer, it sounds like Florida Tech’s longstanding tradition of preparing students for amazing careers of the future is strong and thriving. What an out of this world start to your journey towards becoming an astronaut. So inspiring. Thank you.