This past week was such a rollercoaster.
I experienced the crazy, amazing benefits of networking. I was volunteering for Gary Burns and I ended up talking to one of the adult volunteers there and turns out she used to work for NASA and gave me plenty of contacts. How insane is that! Networking really makes the world go round. I am definitely going to continue talking to everyone because I love socializing and who knows where I will make contacts who can help me out in the future. I never really realized how useful networking can be.
I also had my second interview this past week. Mr. Ekpete really shed some light on possible universities for aerospace engineering including; Caltech, MIT, and University of Michigan. I should look into what these universities require and what they expect. He also introduced bachelor to phD programs, where I can go straight from a bachelor degree to a phD. This fast track would allow me to get the degrees necessary in order to be in part of innovating research, which is exactly what I want to do.
He also proposed different issues with aerospace, specifically with the lack of interest in the field in general. Mr. Ekpete believes that marketing the field to generate interest is something people should work on. He also stated that the gender disparity is something that I should look into. So both of the professionals I interviewed addressed the gender inequality as a potential issue I should focus on in my original work.
Mr. Ekpete also stated that I should continue trying to get the contact information of everyone I meet and stay in touch with them. He encouraged me to continue being personable because it will serve my people and business skills well.