Student Spotlight

Throughout high school, Elizabeth Clark, native of Boise Idaho, participated in many STEM-based camps due to her love of math and science. At one of these camps, the students learned about NASA and planned a mission to Mars. She enjoyed the experience so much that she knew she wanted to be an engineer. It was also from this experience that Elizabeth discovered that she didn’t care so much for design as much as she loved being able to see the big picture and work to integrate all the separate parts of a product. She found that she wanted her future career to be more hands on, involving a variety of processes, talking to a lot of people, and making things happen. Manufacturing Engineering seemed a perfect fit.

Elizabeth’s love for aerospace has continued to impact her time as a student. She completed an internship at PCC Aerostructures, a company that creates precision cast parts for aerospace applications, where she and other interns were in charge of the continuous improvement in the shop. Elizabeth also worked in a research lab for Dr. Gorrell, a Mechanical Engineering professor, making a hybrid rocket motor that simultaneously burned solid and liquid fuel. Currently, she is part of the Mars Rover Capstone team where she has helped build a new set of legs and wheels for their rover.

An experience that changed Elizabeth’s life was her mission. She served in the Cauayan Philippines Mission, speaking Tagalog, between her freshman and sophomore years of school. Of the many life lessons she learned during her 18 months stay, there was one in particular that she has continuously tried to apply to her life. “I’ve always really admired people who say ‘I am going to do this’ and then it actually gets done.” During her mission she worked hard to become someone who gets things done and has applied this skill during her time in college and is something she plans to keep doing throughout her life. “There will always be something to do, but there won’t always be someone to do it. You just have to step up to be that person.”

One thing that Elizabeth appreciates is how included she has felt within her major. Even though there aren’t a lot of women in the manufacturing major, she feels like the men have been really accepting and have never treated her differently than the others. “Sometimes people are a little bit surprised, but after that they get over it, we’re all just friends. We all respect each other for what we’re able to do.”

As she prepares to start her Masters, Elizabeth thought back on her classes and how she has enjoyed her time during her undergraduate degree. “We got super lucky,” she said after going through the professors she had taken manufacturing classes from. “I don’t have a least favorite professor and I know not all majors can say the same thing.” Elizabeth’s favorite part about her time as a undergraduate student has been class projects. Being able to create and build things, such as a hammer she machined from lathes and mills, a nativity set that she investment casted, and a cello bow that she attempted to make from carbon fiber, filled her with a sense of accomplishment and excitement. “Making the hammer was so exciting. I felt like I was really bad at it, and I was constantly terrified, but I am so proud that I have a hammer that I made.” Although her projects didn’t always go to plan and end up the way she was hoping, the experience was always worth it for her. “In plastics I tried to make a cello bow and that failed miserably, but it was fun to try. I can say that I have made a carbon fiber cello bow. It didn’t work, and it didn’t look good, but I made it.”

One piece of advice that Elizabeth has for all the students in the College of Engineering is to take every opportunity you can. “It doesn’t have to be engineering specific, but if it’s something you’re passionate about, do it.” Elizabeth has been able to have lots of amazing experiences, such as going to Ecuador and Peru or being part of the rocketry club, that wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t decide to try when the opportunity arose. When asked about how to find the time to do everything, she had another piece of advice: “You will always be busy. The key is to make yourself busy with the things you want to do, not just what you have to do.” She strongly believes that it doesn’t matter if it takes students an extra semester or two to graduate, if they do what interests them, it will be worth it in the end.

We’re grateful to have Elizabeth be a part of our student body.