Elizabeth Carruthers...

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Carruthers and I am an undergraduate Aerospace Engineering student from the Ohio State University. I’m originally from Columbus, Ohio.

Back at Home:

During my time at Ohio State, I am a Teaching Assistant for the Fundamentals of Engineering for Honors (FEH) program, a student research assistant, and a mentor for the FIRST Robotics Team 677, “Murphy’s Outlaws”, a team of high-school girls from Columbus, Ohio.

I love mentoring for FIRST because it was my involvement in this organization that really sparked my interest in engineering. The time I spent in high school learning the C programming language, machining techniques, and time management skills served me well, both in college and at NASA. And as I’m sure any mentor would tell you, I’ve learned far more as a mentor than I ever did as a student. I really credit my FIRST students with keeping me sane during the build season and teaching me things I would have never learned otherwise, from programming tricks to stress management.

I’d also credit my involvement with the Fundamentals of Engineering for Honors program with my success at NASA. If it wasn’t for the support and guidance I received in that program, I definitely wouldn’t have ended up at here. In fact, a previous co-op was my TA and encouraged me to apply. I still remember getting the phone call from NASA’s Education Office telling me I’d gotten the co-op. She asked me if I had any questions, and I asked her “Are you serious?”

Ohio State, I also got involved with NASA by starting a Microgravity University team, the “AstroBucks”. This year, we were accepted to fly a project looking at a way to extract oxygen from lunar regolith in the Systems Engineering Educational Discovery (SEED) program. This experience gave me an opportunity to work with NASA engineers year-round on NASA research, and gave my team an opportunity to fly in the “Weightless Wonder”, NASA’s reduced gravity aircraft. It was a great experience. I even got to design my own data acquisition system and write the software for it in the C# programming language.

Work at NASA:

I spent my first tour at NASA in EP4, the engineering propulsion division. I mainly worked on two projects; one was a test of a cryogenic fuel system for the Orion Project, and the other was a wind tunnel test of Forward Reactor Control System (FRCS) thruster covers for the shuttle.

For the cryogenic fuel system test, I helped support for the test procedure, looking at safety documents and test procedures, planning the test matrix, and analyzing the data. It was amazing getting to see first-hand the amount of planning and design that goes into every component of a new spacecraft. I’d never worked with cryogenics before, so I got to take a week-long class about cryogenic natural gasses (LNG), and got to spend a day with the technicians putting together the test material, so I could see how everything fit together. At the end of my tour, analyzing the data, the department determined that the fuel system I’d helped test was a viable solution for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) for the Orion Project. I was thrilled that I’d had an opportunity to be a part of the design of the new spacecraft.

The other project I was a part of was the testing of the FRCS Thruster covers for the shuttle, specifically looking at the late-release failure of several thruster covers in STS-115. I worked with NASA EP4 engineers to design, fabricate, and wind-tunnel test hundreds of covers, including some intentionally imperfect covers. The best part about this project was the fact that I got to spend several days traveling to Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, with engineers from my division to complete the wind tunnel tests. I’d never seen a wind tunnel facility besides Ohio State’s before, so it was neat to get some outside perspective and see what wind tunnel testing is like at another university. In the end, the data we collected helped us prevent late-release failures, correcting the problem in time for the next flight, STS-116. NASA even presented us with a group achievement award. It was really a great experience.

In addition to those two projects, I spent some time learning the .NET programming platform and working on updating several projects and cleaning up old software, mainly in Visual BASIC .NET. I learned how NASA creates design tools and actually got to help in the development of a propulsion and total-vehicle sizing tool.

I’m now in the middle of my second tour at NASA, working out at Ellington Field in the Aircraft Operations Division (AOD). I’m mainly working on two design projects, one for the T-38 aircraft and the other for the WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft. Both of these projects required me to learn the Pro-Engineer Computer Aided Design tool and utilize concepts learned in my mechanics classes at Ohio State. I even got a chance to fly in the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) and work with current astronauts and pilots both in the air and during design.

“Free” Time:

Both back in Columbus, and here, at NASA, there’s time for fun. Back home, I spend my free time playing tennis, racquetball, and intramural soccer, helping out with the Aero Design team, and spending time with family and friends. I also do outreach with both my FIRST Robotics team and with my Microgravity University team and mentor with the Undergraduate Research Office as a peer contact and a student advisory committee member.

Here at NASA, I’ve played on a co-op soccer team, “Sonic Boom!”, mentored lower and middle school kids, and even worked with NASA engineers to publish papers in the Joint Propulsion Conference. I even have time to fly airplanes and study to get my pilot’s license. It’s definitely been an amazing experience. The best part about the co-op program is the opportunity to pursue whatever you’re interested in and make friends.

If you have any questions about NASA or the co-op program, feel free to email me at Barbara.E.Carruthers@nasa.gov (while I’m in Houston) or carruthers.21@osu.edu (anytime). I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.