Welcome to Mary Kate's Website

I recently graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL. My major is Engineering Physics. I am waiting to attend graduate school and instead go straight into the industry. As an Engineering Physics major I can work in a number of areas. However, I have taken a job with the Department of the Army. I will work as an aerospace engineer in their windtunnels in Maryland. I am very excited.

Before Embry-Riddle I attended Guntersville High School in Alabama and graduated in 1999. Immediately after, I began college and have had many of my dreams come true. As a freshman, I learned of several opportunities that I wanted to particiapte in. I didn't know how possible it would be, but I never gave up. After completing my first year of college, I went to work at Cedar Point Amusement Park located in Sandusky, Ohio. It has the world's tallest and fastest rollercoaster, the Millennium Force!

During my sophomore year, I joined the Moonbuggy design team of 2001 and participated in NASA's Annual Great Moonbuggy Race. The following year I was team leader and had the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of people who made it quite the experience.

Also, between my sophomore and junior year, I landed a job in the Atmospheric Physics Research Lab. There we design, assemble and test numerous payloads for upper atmosphere research. Later they are launched onboard sounding rockets from either NASA's Wallops Flight Facility or NASA's White Sands Test Facility. It's been a really great learning experience for me, that's for sure.

This past summer I took some time off work and headed over-seas. I participated in the study abroad program and spent 5 weeks in Paris. While there, I got to climb the Eiffel Tower, tour the Louvre and float down the Seine. One weekend, we took a trip to the countryside and walked on Omaha Beach and through many chateaus. I met some really neat people from around the world and made a friend that I'm not soon to forget. The experience was awesome!