Satellites, space ships and astronauts — this is what most people think when they hear the acronym NASA. However, graduating University of Idaho senior Makynzie Zimmer will be working at NASA in a different light.
“I’m a part of the rotor craft branch,” Zimmer said. “We do anything with rotors, basically.”
Rotors, blades that spin rapidly in a circle, are used for helicopters as well as drones and have become increasingly popular. Zimmer’s job will be to test the feasibility of different projects, seeing what the company can realistically create based off factors including weight calculations.
“I’m still waiting for them to say, ‘Just kidding, we take it back,’” Zimmer said. “It’s crazy, I’m just some random kid from Idaho.”
Zimmer, who is a mechanical engineering major, is a first-generation college student. In high school, Zimmer went to Treasure Valley Math and Science Center to study STEM subjects and was homeschooled for her other courses.
“I was always really interested in math and science,” Zimmer said. “When I was in high school, I took an engineering class for concurrent credit. We did these different units, where each unit was a different field of engineering. I ended up loving the mechanical unit because you actually get to do stuff with your hands, it wasn’t just the math.”
Due to her advanced classes in high school, Zimmer felt more than prepared for her engineering degree at UI.
“I ended up taking calculus when I was in eighth grade,” Zimmer said. “It turns out, that was way jumping the gun. I kind of missed out on the basics, but then I was much more prepared when I came to college.”
After starting at UI, Zimmer joined Kappa Alpha Theta sorority along with a weather balloon team that receives funding through the Idaho Space Grant Consortium, which is funded through NASA.
Zimmer is also currently working with the University of Idaho Drone Lab in the Integrated Research and Innovation Center, which is directed by associate professor Jason Karl of the College of Natural Resources for her senior capstone class.
In engineering, the seniors have a project where they work with a client directly, for Zimmer and a couple of her peers this client is Karl. As a part of his work with the College of Natural Resources, Karl does research on forest growth with drones. Zimmer is helping him by completely building a drone by hand.
“It’s pretty easy to buy a drone kit,” Zimmer said. “But we’re designing every component, which turns out is a lot of work.”
Their goal is to make the drone hyper-efficient, with longer flight time. This is essential due to the nature of Karl’s work. His drones fly for 15 to 30 minutes, but because he’s scanning a large area, the more time his drones can be out flying, the more data he can collect.
“One of the big things I’ve learned is the ability to effectively work with a team,” Zimmer said. “Engineering projects are never one person. It’s a whole bunch of people and they have to figure out how to solve the problem together.”
Brianna Finnegan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @BriannaFinnega8