Interview Story - Accomplishment

As an aerospace engineering student, I participated in a team competition called "Aggies Invent for the Planet". We had only 48 hours to design an easier and more efficient means to protect aircraft wings from hailstorms.

I was involved with five other students from different engineering backgrounds. We first had to figure out a design. After several hours of weighing out various options, we decided on a dual airbag module.

We then broke off and I was tasked with designing the airbag module on SolidWorks.

I researched airbag designs and had to decide with a graduate student what shape and size we wanted. We decided on making it look like the letter C with a straighter edge instead of a full curvature. It would be cut off into two sections encompassing one half of a wing and the other half of the wing. I modeled it and showed how it would be assembled on an airbus aircraft using Solidworks.

The team then came back together. The other team members were working on making a fabricated prototype of an aircraft using materials from the machine shop as well as purchased materials from our sponsors. We recorded a live working demonstration of an airbag deploying on both sides of a wing using an air compressor. We were excited to see that it only took 10 seconds for a store-bought airbag to deploy on a prototype. We imagined how this would actually work on an aircraft and save airlines millions of dollars.

Because of our teamwork and different engineering backgrounds, we won first place with a $1,000 prize for the team in the local round. We even advanced to the final round with 4 other teams worldwide!