What did you do to prepare for your job?



What did I do to prepare for my job. Well...I treated school seriously. I especially enjoyed math and science and put more emphasis (time) in those areas. Having good grades in high school and taking college prep and honors courses prepared me for college. When I was a junior in high school, I started researching universities in the state of California that had an aeronautical and/or astronautical engineering degree program. I actually visited several campuses to make sure I would be happy going to college there. I finally decided on Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. A wonderful university with a "hands on" philosophy to learning. While in college, I took the opportunity to work as interns during the summer to give me exposure to what kind of aerospace jobs were out there. And that's how I decided I wanted to work in the field of rotorcraft research and wind tunnel testing.



How did you learn about Aerospace?



I believe starting around 4th or 5th grade I became interested in Astronomy. But, it was the development of the Space Shuttle and the first American women astronaut in June, 1993, that REALLY inspired me to prepare for a career in aerospace at NASA.



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Is your job fun, and do you enjoy it?



YES!!! I love my job. 



What's a part of your job you enjoy? 



I really enjoy working with a diverse group of people. The best thing about my job is that I get to work on projects that are technically challenging. The research we perform at NASA means we are trying to find answers and solutions to problems. It's kind of like detective work when I come to think of it. :-)



What's the best part about your job?



Hmmm, that kind of a difficult question to answer, but a good one! It depends. I guess one of the best parts of my job is that it is not routine. It's always different. There's always some technical problem that we need to find answers to and solve. The fun part is getting my hands dirty. What I mean is that I get to actually work with mechanical hardware and airplane and helicopter models and test these in the large wind tunnels at NASA Ames.



Do you do anything special at work for holidays?



Yes, we usually have holiday parties at work. But we also try to socialize other times of the year. Like during the summer, we enjoy having barbecue's outside of our building. Socializing with co-workers is good for morale. We are a team and support one another.



Thank you for chatting with us, good-bye



I really enjoyed chatting with you all! Shoot for the stars! :-) Signing off, Alexandra Swanson