NASA-Ames Research Center, Mechanical Engineer

I am the Lead Hardware Engineer for the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) at NASA Ames Research Center in California.  My day-to-day work activities vary from machining components to debugging electronics to developing artificial intelligence algorithms.  My key responsibilities lie in keeping the three different classes of space relevant rovers we have at Ames both mechanically and electrically healthy, and integrating any new features or instruments that researchers and scientists in my group may need.   I have also been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to do significant software development and research. 

During my five years with IRG, I’ve developed obstacle-avoidance algorithms for a five degree-of-freedom arm, designed and built a Li-Ion power system, helped develop lunar relevant rovers and their avionics, written algorithms to help robots survey an unfamiliar area such as the Moon or Mars, and have been on three field test teams.

Getting Started as an Engineer

Having a solid background in mechanical engineering, especially in math, mechanism prototyping, and CAD are fundamental to my job; however, the ability to learn new and different things quickly is probably even more important.  Because robotics combines mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, artificial intelligence research, and software engineering, it is important to have at least a basic understanding of all of these fields.  Don’t worry—you don’t need to be an expert in all four of these areas (although there are definitely a few robotics gurus who seem to know it all).  You should, however, know what a microcontroller is and how it’s used, how to write some code, and what types of problems need to be solved for robotics to progress.

The best preparation I had for my job are the courses I took in graduate school.  Since my focus was in mechatronics, I spent most of my time absorbing as much electrical engineering and computer science as possible.   It turned out that my cross disciplinary skill-set was exactly what NASA was looking for.

How I Got to Where I am Today

In high school, I loved chemistry because it challenged me to think beyond what I could see with my eyes and taught me how to digest the fundamental laws that explain so much in the universe.  Although I was only fifteen and didn’t really know what exactly an engineer did, I decided that I wanted to become a chemical engineer.

I began my Stanford career taking all the chemistry and general engineering requirements.  Since there was a lot of overlap in the general engineering requirements between chemical engineering and mechanical engineering, I was able to meet professors and students from both fields and I began to realize that I really enjoyed the hands-on nature of mechanical engineering.  The next quarter I decided to change my major to Mechanical Engineering.  Later, during my senior year, I fell in love with robotics in my undergraduate level Mechatronics class.   I not only got to design and build things, but I learned how to make them move in a semi-intelligent way!  

I received a Bachelors and Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University focusing on Mechatronics.  During my academic career I interned at several engineering firms that ultimately helped me land the job I have today, including Nippon Otis Elevator Company, GeneMachines, GM, and IBM. Although none of my previous work experience related directly to robotics, each position helped enrich my personal toolbox.  For example, the calibration work I did at GM is fundamentally very similar to the calibration procedures we perform on the rovers (painstaking!), and the technologies I researched at IBM were all “alpha” stage hardware technologies that are the same kind of technologies we integrate on the rovers.

My Personal Connection to Engineering

Engineering exemplifies to me that anything is possible with hard work and endurance, and I have always tried to apply that principle to my own life.  Although it is definitely not always fun, I really enjoy the feeling of encountering a problem that is almost overwhelming, figuring out how to solve it step-by-step, and realizing in the end how much I’ve learned by not giving up.  That to me is priceless.

The robotics community is still relatively small compared to other engineering fields and that makes it easy for me to stay connected to the leaders in my field.  The group that I work with has strong connections to researchers at all the top robotics research institutions in the world, and we are constantly working on projects together and/or asking for expertise from one another.  Also, I occasionally attend and present at robotics conferences, which give great opportunities to learn about what’s new in robotics and catch up with colleagues.

Being a woman engineer, I also try to participate in educational outreach programs for young girls who are interested in science and technology.  NASA and JPL have various events and web casts that I and the other women on my team frequently participate in.

Women in Engineering

I wouldn’t say that I ever had a role model that inspired me to become an engineer per se, since I didn’t know any engineers growing up, but there have been many people throughout my life who have taught me about the power of education, the importance of having a strong work ethic, and the importance of maintaining your values. For example, almost all of my science teachers in high school were very accomplished women who not only taught, but were also very active in the community.  Having been surrounded by such strong female role models, I actually never even realized that women were a minority in science and engineering until I entered college. 

Outside Engineering

In my free time I try to travel as much as possible.  Hopefully I’ll be going to Australia sometime in 2007.  I also enjoy snowboarding, dancing, and watching bad TV with my two fat cats. 

Advice to Future Engineers

Robotics is an awesome field!  It’s fun, challenging, diverse, and constantly changing.  The advice I would give to anyone interested in going into robotic engineering is to learn as much as you can about bleeding-edge technologies and if you can, volunteer as a coach for local high school and middle school robotics teams.  It’s amazing how much you can learn from a bunch of motivated kids!