Aerospace engineering graduate Olivia May dreamed of being an astronaut from a young age; she even had a space shuttle mobile over her crib.
“During my childhood, I dreamed of becoming a test pilot to get the experience needed to become an astronaut,” she shared. “My love for flight test took off from there.”
May demonstrated that passion throughout her aerospace engineering and computer science courses and through her extracurricular activities.
“During my time at Cal Poly, I was deeply involved with Cal Poly Space Systems, a student rocketry club,” she shared. “I served as vice president, group support lead and PR representative over the course of my time with the club.”
She also served as a College of Engineering ambassador since January 2020 and the student Aerospace Department representative from September 2020 to June 2021.
Near the end of her senior year this year, May found a way to get one step closer to her goal and applied for the National Test Pilot School Graduate Assistant Program – a three-year work-study scholarship program that produces flight test engineering graduates with a Master of Science in flight test engineering and a test pilot school diploma.
“The first step was to submit a resume and write an essay explaining why I wanted to attend the National Test Pilot School and what my career aspirations are,” May explained.
This year, more than 117 candidates from all over the world applied for the scholarship. The group was narrowed down to the top 20, who participated in the initial phone interview phase. The top 10 candidates then gave a technical presentation on a topic of their choosing – May presented an artificial intelligence project that would assist airplanes with emergency landings – to the National Test Pilot School’s technical team. The school’s president, James Brown, interviewed the remaining five applicants, and May was chosen to receive the scholarship.
The scholarship is only awarded to one or two students each year, so May was honored to find out she was this year’s recipient.
“I am beyond excited to start my journey there, and I am so amazed that I have been presented with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said. “My dreams of being a test pilot and astronaut are finally starting to come true!”
Cal Poly Proud
Cal Poly’s Learn by Doing philosophy is a motivating factor for students to take on projects that will help jump-start their careers.
“My professors at Cal Poly have a wide breadth of knowledge and connections that have made me aware of a variety of paths I could go down to accomplish my dreams,” May shared. “I found ways to get involved in aviation outside of the classroom – I worked with aircraft at the local airport and bought an airplane to achieve my pilot certificate.”
Along with hands-on experience comes the faculty members who challenge and support their students so that they can succeed in the workforce and in life.
“Dr. Dianne DeTurris has been a wonderful professor and mentor for me,” May said. “She has been a great role model as a woman in STEM. I also enjoyed taking flight test with Dr. Paulo Iscold. It’s pretty phenomenal to get the opportunity to work with industry standard flight testing equipment at the undergraduate level.”
After years of hard work, whether in the classroom or in the air, May is looking forward to her next adventure.
“I have worked my entire academic career toward flight test, so pursuing a graduate degree in flight test engineering is a natural next step as I complete my B.S. at Cal Poly.”
By Taylor Villanueva
