>> ANGELICA: Even here in like, Long beach, California LBC,
there are Michigan alum.
They have been really key in like,
pushing me outside my comfort zone.
Helping me to be comfortable with being uncomfortable
especially in a technical domain.
Being willing to help me become like the best engineer
that I ever wanted to be.
[upbeat music playing]
So I graduated from the University of Michigan,
College of Engineering in 2016 with
a Bachelors in Material Science Engineering.
And then I got my graduate degree in
Space System Engineering in 2019.
So it's been not that long since I got my grad program.
I currently work with The Boeing Company.
I am in their kind of like early-career talent pool.
They have a really top-notch rotation program
that I'm in right now.
It lasts two years total, each rotation is six months long
and we rotate throughout all of Boeing's business units.
Last July I started in a service engineering team
in Seal Beach, California,
working and supporting the 737 MAX program.
My second role currently, that's what I'm doing right now,
is in Space Systems Engineering,
specifically Mission Architecture Engineering,
and I'm supporting kind of this
Pathfinder project at Millennium.
I'm not sure how much I can really talk about
in terms of like the satellite that we're supporting,
but you know it's all about model-based systems engineering.
It's really, I guess the way to kind of like describe
what that is, is like, you know, how back in the day,
if you wanted to design a part,
you might, you know, hand-draw it.
But that all changed when we started implementing
computer aided design, right, CAD.
MBSC is the same kind of application,
but for a systems engineering domain.
So working through, you know, you've got this product
and you've got a bunch of requirements
and you need to make sure that the thing
that you deliver to the customer, whoever they may be,
actually fulfills all of your requirements.
>> ZOE: But can you just share one of the most exciting parts
about the rotation you're on.
>> ANGELICA: When I was actually able to understand
how this modeling and simulation tool, Cameo is what we use,
I felt like, I don't know, I felt dangerous.
I felt like, you know what?
I actually, I now know how to use this and I know
how to use it to address the problems that we have.
And so I'm gonna just like start running for it.
Once I was able to get into the model, you know,
we were able to start, you know, creating use cases, right.
Use cases that showed our architecture.
Like you have this satellite, you're, you know,
15 different ways in which you can use it.
We started to have a model.
We really started to have
a architecture model of a satellite.
We were able to see it worked,
we were able to involve all of our stakeholders,
we were able to kind of evaluate
a working ground system, right.
Not just like the satellite floating around, you know,
in space, but how does it communicate
with all of these different terminals
that are, you know, all over the country, right?
Like how do we coordinate that effort
so that we're not losing communication.
We were actually able to implement, you know,
our mission objectives, like all of those kinds of things.
Like we are now able to see and say,
this is, you know, this is how we're gonna do it.
And so for me, a really exciting part was being able
to like work with my team and achieve that success, right.
When we were able to baseline our architecture, right.
We also get a day off, really awesome.
We were like, we did it.
[Angelica and Zoe laughing]
You know, like we were able to kind of get to a point
where we're able to deliver like real-life value
for a program when you started from ground zero.
>> ZOE: So how do you see your work or how might your work
make a difference in society?
>> ANGELICA: There are so many ways in which like
the aerospace industry kind of affects life,
and affects the world.
But I got to go see, you know, go to Southwest airlines,
I got to go to Dallas, I got to sit in their headquarters,
I got to watch them take planes apart.
It's crazy to like, think about, you know,
how the work that you're doing has impact.
It has an impact like that, right?
And even working in the satellite space, you know,
Boeing is working on, you know,
this huge project called O3b.
Stands for the other 3 billion,
providing internet to like people all over the world
who have never previously had access.
And I just think about how the internet has been so key
in my own educational career for various reasons,
mostly Google, but like, it's been so important.
And so thinking about how that can have an impact for people
all-over the world is like pretty sobering, right?
'Cause all I'm doing now is, you know,
working in this model,
I think I'm so smart, yada yada, yada.
But it has an impact to really
like dramatically change someone's life, you know,
the work, you know, that I'm doing here.
>> ZOE: Why did you decide to study engineering?
>> ANGELICA: So, there were a lot of things
that led to my decision to study engineering.
Originally when I was in high school,
I thought that I was gonna apply
to them as like a biochemistry major.
And it wasn't until I got involved in robotics
in high school and, you know, being involved in that group,
they saw that I kind of had a talent and that knack for it.
So they recommended that, you know,
since I'm applying to colleges that I try to, you know,
get into the College of Engineering and that, you know.
But I hated it, I could switch out,
but they said that it could be a good fit for me and so...
>> ZOE: I really relate to that whole high school thing.
I definitely was not planning on becoming an engineer
until I joined robotics, so...
>> ANGELICA: Exactly, yeah, I feel like a lot of people have
a similar kind of journey and story.
And so that's why it's like really important
that when you have the opportunity to reach out
and to talk to other people about engineering,
especially like women of color, women in general
and just, you know, recommend that, you know,
people just check it out.
What's the harm, right?
In just checking it out.
>> ZOE: You just graduated in 2019,
so I guess your career is very early in its stages.
But can you kind of talk about, how that whole went?
>> ANGELICA: Yeah, so like I mentioned before,
I came in and chose Material Science Engineering
for my undergrad.
I really enjoyed Material Science Engineering
for a lot of reasons.
One being, because I like knowing kind of how things work
on like a molecular level, right?
Being able to take the material, break it down,
understand its inner workings and more so
kind of find applications for those materials,
are things that I'm really interested in.
And I realized that the coolest applications
were in the aerospace industry.
And in college I joined
a design team called MiTEE, and it stands for
the Miniature Tether Electrodynamics Experiment.
That was kind of sponsored through the
Aerospace Engineering Department and electrical engineering.
And I totally loved it.
I was working on a project developing
coatings for solar cells.
And so that kinda got me thinking, you know, I mean,
I'd really love to kind of
transition into aerospace materials, right?
I talked to some folks who were
in the Space Systems Engineering,
kind of a master's program through CLaSP,
the CLaSP Department, and I started kinda doing
some research into that.
It seemed like a really awesome fit.
And so I was in the master's program under Nilton Renno,
really great professor.
I learned a ton through that program
and definitely it helped me to get the job that I have.
I, you know, have been able to work on the
737 MAX program at a time
that's been very difficult for the company.
I'm able to work with, you know, Southwest airlines and FAA
to certify some of their angle of attack
and air data navigation tools.
I'm currently working with Millennium Space Systems,
which is one of their newly acquired subsidiaries,
implementing model-based systems engineering,
which is kind of at the forefront of the field right now.
>> ZOE: So what are you most proud of from your career so far?
>> ANGELICA: I'm most proud of myself
for really truly believing in myself
and being unafraid to have confidence in my abilities.
To be like a really dang good engineer.
And I'm gonna keep on kind of moving toward that
and yeah, trying to be the best engineer I can be.
>> ZOE: But what advice would you give
to current or prospective engineering students,
especially from the major that you graduated from?
>> ANGELICA: Just because you're taking classes
and like polymers and composites and you know,
electronic materials, right?
Photovoltaics, all that kinda stuff,
does not mean that you have to get a job
that is only working with that one material.
Material Science and Engineering is such a treasure trove
of like interdisciplinary experience,
understanding of materials
that could really be applied anywhere.
I kid you not, you just have to look for those opportunities
and be unafraid to pursue those activities.
Because, you know, if you're a material science person
that's applying with all the other
material science people, you know,
maybe your resume might get lost in the crowd, right?
But I was one of the very few material science people
that were applying for jobs
alongside aero and mechanical, you know, majors.
And I really believe that that allowed me
to stand out in a way that I wouldn't have anybody
stand out, otherwise.
And so my advice to you is like,
be okay with standing out, because I don't know,
I think that it's worth it, especially in this day and age.
It's okay to be unique, you can do it.
[Angelica laughs]
[soft music playing]