MY JOURNEY

I began in the aviation industry at 14 years old with a passion for space. Over the course of two years I have learnt so much and it’s pulled me to further my knowledge in both the aviation and aerospace fields. At 16, the youngest age you can get your glider’s license, I got my license after training consistently for two years. It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, through the days I would get up at 5am and travel an hour to the glider field and set everything up and not fly because of the weather conditions, to the days I would spend hours studying for both the written and oral exam required, to the days where setbacks felt impossible to push through, I’ve persevered and I would love to be able to share these experiences and opportunities with underrepresented youth. 

 

Furthering along my career path, I aspire to become an astronaut combining my interests in astrobiology and aeronautical engineering provides an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the possibility of life beyond Earth through designing space missions with a focus on extraterrestrial habitats and the challenges associated with human space exploration. There are so many questions to be answered, but we barely know enough about space to go beyond those questions and that inspires me to research and create ways to answer those questions. To pursue this, I plan to study aerospace and become a research scientist while applying to become an astronaut at NASA, enhancing my skills in the field. I plan to get my masters degree while working internships with space companies to gain experience, and in the longer term plan to get my PhD. Knowing and identifying these problems is the first step to improve our current technology and systems which I hope to work on as a researcher and astronaut.

 

As an Irish-born Indian female, my experiences and background are diverse and exponentially different from the older more prominent generation in the aviation industry. Although I haven’t experienced direct separation I’ve felt it enough to know it’s still a prevailing problem. In my glider club alone, I am one of the only teen females compared to the majority male members. Additionally, I’m one of the only people of color and this extends into other aviation organizations I’m in. Living in the United States, a place of cultural diversity, and having such little representation made me consider the other places with even less diversity. I hope that through my work I can inspire others to pursue their dreams, regardless of their identity. I’ve spoken about this in multiple interviews, and also believe in the importance for more women in the aviation industry. In the airline industry itself less than 20% of the workforce is women, even in the 21st century. There’s still an impactful gender divide, not to mention cultural divide, which needs to be filled and it starts with us.