Meet the team behind the brains: LoyolaMARS students talk all things aerospace – Los Angeles Loyolan

While covering the LoyolaMARS initiatives, Loyolan copy editor Brynn Shaffer sat down with some of the members of the team to talk about the club, their aspirations and the future of aerospace.

Troy Womack-Henderson, freshman computer science major

What inspired you to join LoyolaMARS? How did you first hear about it and how long have you been a part of it? How active are you in the team?

LMARS is actually one of the reasons that I decided to apply to, and attend, LMU. When I first heard about it, when I was applying around this time last year, I just saw that they were really involved in aerospace research, not just building rockets, but also just teaching about the aerospace industry and rocketry which was really cool When I was researching schools and I was considering LMU, since I knew it was in this aerospace hub of Southern California, I remember seeing an article I believe done by Seaver News, and it did a special back in 2018 on the current team. It had their website, and it basically just introduced me to what they were doing, their group and their society and everything. It all sounded really, really interesting and I hadnt seen other clubs similar to it at any other universities, so that definitely motivated my decision to apply to LMU.

Are you interested in space exploration at all, like being an astronaut yourself, or are you more interested in the behind the scenes/mechanical part of aerospace engineering?

I would definitely say a little bit of everything. I think that the aerospace industry, especially now with the industry in the U.S. trying to make space flight commercial and accessible to everyone, [is] a really exciting industry, and its something Ive always wanted to do since I was little. I really want to be an astronaut because I love space and I love rockets, and I think to do scientific research in space and help space exploration and humanity would be a really great thing for me to do for my career.

Marina Aziz, sophomore, electrical engineering with an emphasis in computer engineering major

Can you name a role model of yours? Maybe you have one within the aerospace industry?

Within people I know, definitely Dr. [Claire] Leon. I could talk about her for literally days. I love her. I admire her so much, shes such an incredible person. And the fact that she did the things she did before women in STEM was really even a thing. She worked for Boeing for 35 years, and then the AirForce for five and now shes a professor at LMU, so can you imagine like 45 years ago, she was working at Boeing, she stayed at Boeing for 35 years, was a manager, big-baller, shes just really cool.

With COVID-19 and the transition to Zoom, what has that looked like for you and the team? Has it been an easy or hard transition? Maybe discouraging?

The e-board people, like the president Matt, they havent made it very public if theyre struggling or not, but I think they have definitely had a good transition in terms of shifting from more hands-on projects to more like focusing on our careers. Which I think is really cool, I think they definitely made the most out of the situation that we were put in. The whole point of the club is to build rockets. So, you would expect that when we go online, were not going to be doing anything, right? But, if anything, I think that I feel more involved in the club now than I did before just because you always have like a speaker to look forward to or like a CAD workshop. Theres just always something to do now, and its like right at your fingertips. They definitely made the most out of it.

Sabrina Colet-Ruiz, senior mechanical engineering major

Are you interested in space exploration at all, like being an astronaut yourself, or are you more interested in the behind the scenes/mechanical part of aerospace engineering?

Definitely more like behind the scenes, for sure. I like space applications for satellites and for studying the Earth, but Im actually not really keen on Elon Musk, like colonization of Mars and stuff, I think its kind of a little ridiculous. I just think theres a lot of money going into it, and I think its so weird that people would rather move to Mars and colonize Mars, than just take care of what we have here. So I totally like the idea of satellites and rocketry and stuff to study Earth and to help improve the Earth, but I just think its a little weird that you would want to start another world on another planet.

What is your favorite thing about LoyolaMARS? Could be anything.

Right now I really like our speakers that come in to talk to us. So like speakers or more opportunities to talk to professionals in a smaller context than if you went to a big presentation at LMU, which they do sometimes, like the Seaver spotlights.

Clare Galvin, junior mechanical engineering major, computer science minor

What inspired you to join LoyolaMARS? How did you first hear about it and how long have you been a part of it? How active are you in the team?

I joined LMARS freshman year because I heard it would be a good idea to join a project as an engineering major and be working on it. And I chose LMARS because they came to speak to all the freshmen and caught my eye. First semester, freshman year, all of the project leaders came to talk to us and I was the most interested in rocket club. Since then, Ive been on the team, so three years and now I am the treasurer, so Im trying to be a little more of a leader in the club. Were now participating in this dollar per foot challenge.

Can you name a role model of yours? Maybe you have one within the aerospace industry?

One of our professors actually is our club advisor, Dr. Leon, Dr. Claire Leon. And we share a first name so thats fun. She is really cool. She was, I think, a VP, or at least a manager, at Boeing and then went to lead a division at the AirForce as a civilian. And she helped me get my connections that led to my internship last summer, so shes just been a really helpful mentor and shes just really cool.

How do you think being a part of LoyolaMARS is benefiting you individually? Maybe in either personal or professional aspects of life, or maybe just to fulfill a hobby of yours?

Its definitely helpful professionally. Its hard to know what to talk about in a job interview, but a project is the best thing to talk about for an engineering student, especially one that can apply so directly to a lot of the companies that are around us since we are in such an aerospace-heavy part of the world. Its been super helpful for interviews for me.

Jesus Arzapalo, sophomore philosophy major

Can you name a role model of yours? Maybe you have one within the aerospace industry?

Theres this astronaut who used to be a navy seal and also a doctor, his name is Johnny King. Its pretty crazy to be a navy seal and then go to med school and then become an astronaut, a really difficult career.

Professor Leon told me about the weekly speaker series. What are your thoughts on them? Are they inspiring? Who has been one of your favorite speakers thus far?

Yeah, they are inspiring. Its great to hear from people in the industry in engineering; just right now I came from one, her name was Candace Givens, she works at Northrop Grumman. She was describing her career as she started as a systems engineer and then she went to LMU to get a masters and now shes been working there for a while. Its really interesting to hear how people find different career paths. So that is inspiring.

Jose Garcia, senior mechanical engineering major

What are your duties and responsibilities as VP of LoyolaMARS?

I do a lot of outreach. I work with the president to figure out what speakers we should have. I also teach a class through the club, so I use it as a platform to help give back to the community, the LMU community as much as possible.

How does aerospace and medicine fit together, since it seems like a very unconventional path?

Its very common for astronauts to be doctors because they have different missions that are required, depending on what the budget is, to do specific research. So very often, youll find astronauts who have a medical degree or they have a PhD in something, but theyll bring along a whole team with different strengths, and with that, Ill just have more strengths allocated.

Is there anything you think the team is lacking/could be improved upon?

Members! I feel like there are a lot of tools and opportunities that I feel that we provide that I wish more people took advantage of.

This article is part of a three-part package series on LoyolaMARS, in which Loyolan copy editor Brynn Shaffer investigates the club in-depth. Read more coverage with a news story on everything you should know about the club,and anopinion pieceon why space exploration is fundamental to societal advancement.

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Meet the team behind the brains: LoyolaMARS students talk all things aerospace - Los Angeles Loyolan