Alumna overcomes odds, excels in aerospace engineering

“It’s all about how you will react when something unexpected happens, and how quickly can you adjust,” King said.

The Bagley College of Engineering aerospace engineering graduate currently lives in California after landing a job as a flight test engineer with MTSI and being assigned to Edwards Air Force Base. But like chasing any dream, King experienced a little turbulence along the way. With the support of Bagley faculty and staff, and her fellow students, she was able to propel into the field of aerospace engineering.

From a young age, King’s childhood dream was to work with aircraft even before she had ever flown in an airplane. Around ten years old, King attended a speech given by an astronaut from her hometown and was inspired.

“He said, ‘Don’t let anyone ever tell you can’t do it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way’,” King remembers.

After attending a high school science fair, King decided on Mississippi State, a school six hours from her Benton, Tennessee, home. At the fair, she was told by a judge that MSU students not only knew the material, but also could apply it more effectively than the other college students assisting with the fair. She wanted an education that would teach her how to implement the academics and set her apart in the job field she aspired to pursue.

“The opportunity for hands-on experience was one of the most beneficial things I got at MSU, and some of it was experience you don’t normally get as an undergraduate,” said King.

While King experienced her first time flying in an airplane with a professor at Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, flying was not her only new pursuit while at MSU. She also got involved with undergraduate research and several student organizations where she built relationships that made a difference in her college experience, both teaching her how to interact with superiors and giving her lifelong connections.

“It was second nature for students to work together at MSU,” King said, “and not once was I afraid to go to a professor and ask them to explain how to do a problem.”

There were multiple times, King said, when she met with a professor after class to have questions explained in more detail, and every time the professor worked with her as long as it took until she understood the material.

“I never once felt like a burden or an inconvenience and you don’t get that at other universities,” said King.

The Bagley students and faculty she bonded with were not only a part of King’s life for learning experiences, but also during her struggles.

During her time at MSU, she lost her grandfather unexpectantly and dealt with other family loss. Each trial she faced affected her greatly and impacted her studies and college life. But King felt support from her Bagley family through each step of her trials even when that meant transferring to a different university for a time.

“I had a lot of personal things happen while I was a student here that were difficult to overcome, but the faculty, staff and other students were like a family to me, and genuinely cared whether I succeeded,” King said.

She still held on to her dream of becoming an aerospace engineer after transferring, but the experience was not the same. In 2010, King returned to MSU and the faculty who had left such an impression on her. They again guided her in classes, helped her apply for scholarships and internships, and assisted her through whatever struggle she faced. King re-joined organizations and enjoyed the family atmosphere that she found at MSU the first time.

“At MSU you’re not a number or a name on a sheet of paper,” King said. “The professors care about their students.”

After graduating in 2012, she took a job with Arnold Air Force Base as a test engineer. King attributed her easy transition into the full time role because much of the hands-on work she had completed during her time as a Bagley student. The skills she learned in academia mimicked much of what she was doing in her job.

King now has her dream career, working in a job that requires remaining calm under pressure and focuses on reactions in each situation. While working with a team to conduct flight testing on-board various aircraft, she has to be prepared for whatever comes her way. Although she and her team have a list of knowns to plan for in-flight, the unknowns are always present.

One of the aspects of her job that King enjoys most is its ever-changing atmosphere, a characteristic that also describes the journey she has taken to get where she is now. And thanks to her Bagley background, King said she knows that wherever she lands next – professionally or personally – she will be prepared for it.

Bagley College of Engineering is online at www.bagley.msstate.edu.

By: Emile Creel