aviation. Every semester I take classes where I get hands on experience operating,
building, programming, and repairing unmanned aerial vehicles. I am also required to
take a number of aviation related courses in which I learn about aircraft systems,
aviation law, basic aircraft science, and NAS operations. I also receive experience in my
labs working with aircraft parts and components.
Other than taking courses at Purdue I do have some minor work experience with
unmanned systems. At the Duke Energy Academy at Purdue I worked as an instructor to
students learning to fly small UAVs. The Duke Energy Academy is a summer program at
Purdue that invites gifted high school students to visit the university in order to learn about
technical innovations. For this program I designed a couple of basic activities to familiarize
students with basic drone flight. I also worked together with engineers working in the UAV
industry to create a two hour long presentation about drones. My section was about
25 minutes long and provided a general introduction to unmanned aerial vehicles as well
as their current regulations. During one of the days of the program I acted as an instructor
for students learning to flysmall drones and performed basic troubleshooting and repair.
While working as a student researcher for the Purdue Energy Center I had the opportunity
to researcha number of different topics. For a few weeks I focused on researching how
different companies were attempting drone deliveries. I also contacted and attempted to
collaborate with different UAV companies for upcoming Purdue conferences.
The following semester I began working on a start-up together with a computer science
student and an environmental engineering student. The start-up was overseen by the
Purdue Foundry which is an organization that puts aspiring start-ups in contact with
entrepreneurs and industry experts. Our idea was to utilize UAVs for pesticide distribution
in the setting of wetland restoration. I personally designed a sprayer drone prototype.
I also worked together with the two other students to create a business plan
as well as collect information from wetland restoration companies and environmental
agencies.
Its hard for me to pin point exactly what lead me to be interested in unmanned aerial
systems. I have always had a persistent interest in aviation. During high-school I
participated in the PLTW engineering program as well as the robotics club. Entering
college I was very unsure what type ofdegree I wanted to pursue. After talking to a
fellow student about a new major that focused on drones and aviation technology I
found myself enrolled in UAS the following semester. A new area of study in an up
and coming industry with subject matter I was already very interested in just seemed
too good to pass up. I'm not exactly sure where I hope to end up in the UAS industry
as of right now, but I am currently working on figuring that out. I find projects involving
agriculture, wildlife conservation, and delivery the most interesting so working on
anything related to those topics would be ideal.
