AIAA’s Post

About a month ago, I graduated from Stony Brook University with my Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Health, Medicine, and Society under the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Honors Program. My time at Stony Brook was memorable to say the least; my peers and the faculty had a lifelong impact on me. Throughout my time in college, my peers knew me for always being busy working on something: I often had 3 jobs taking over 20 credits a semester while I was president of AIAA, on the executive board of SHPE, as well as mentoring 2 different groups of students. With graduation, my time as President of the AIAA Student Branch at Stony Brook University has come to an end. I served as President for 2 years with an absolutely amazing team right beside me for both. We accomplished so much this year, including qualifying to launch in Alabama for the NASA USLI competition, having over 100 students attend our Careers in Aerospace Panel, and increasing our general body total membership from 4 when I was elected in 2022 to 205 this past May. We painted a rock within the engineering quad and organized several collaborative events for the benefit of the entire college of engineering. As an organization, we were honored to receive two awards and a recognition from the Stony Brook University College of Engineering and Applied Sciences: Most Outstanding Event for our Careers in Aerospace Panel, Most Outstanding Project for our NASA Student Launch Team, and Outstanding Organization Recognition. Our executive board expanded to 9 people this year, including Shivani Shastri, Raees Bacchus, Alan John George, Anastasia Stankevych, Joseph Ortiz More, William Wells, Abraham Mendoza, and Maximilian Blakely. I am so proud of you all and I hope to work with you again in the future! I am also honored to have received the Best Student Leader Award from the College of Engineering. I want to thank Mike, Todd, Deb, Courtney and the rest of the CEAS and Career Center staff for all they’ve contributed to my journey as President and bringing AIAA to the position within the college that it currently stands. Additionally, during graduation I was selected to serve as the banner bearer for the department of Mechanical Engineering as well as one of the student speakers at the Mechanical Engineering Departmental Graduation. Thank you to Amanda Flanagan, Austin Giordano, and the whole MEC department for contributing to my education and supporting my crazy ideas for AIAA. I want to conclude by thanking you all: fellow students, faculty, staff, professionals, and family for supporting me and AIAA on this journey the past few years. Congratulations to my fellow graduates and student leaders for all you have accomplished!