User:RocketeerLady

Mary-Kate Smith
Mary-Kate (MK) Smith (born February 28, 1990) was born in Grenada Mississippi in 1990 she holds a bachelors and Masters degree in aerospace engineering from Mississippi State University. Area of study was devoted to orbital mechanics, entry analysis, and mission design. She appeared on the TBS reality competition show called King of the Nerds in 2014.

Early Life and Education
Smith is the daughter of David and Cathy Smith and has two younger siblings, Zachary and Rose. She grew up in Madison, MS and currently lives in Orlando, FL.

Throughout her years at Madison Central High School, Smith performed in many high school and community stage productions. She was also involved in the acappella chorus at her high school as well as the Mississippi Girl Choir. She spent a lot of time in the arts while exploring STEM in her high school classes, taking higher level mathematics and science classes.

At MSU Smith studied Aerospace Engineering with a concentration in Astronautics graduating in 2014 with a Bachelors of Science. During her undergraduate program she was a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) and MSU Space Cowboys Rocket Design Team. She served as the MSU AIAA student chapter's Vice president (2011-2012) and President (2012-2013). She was the Rocket team's project manager for 2 years (2010-2012).

During her graduate school program at MSU, she studied Aerospace Engineering concentrating on orbital mechanics, entry/reentry analysis, and mission design. Her Master's Thesis was "A Concept Study for an extraterrestrial sea exploration of Titan via Deployable And Versatile Instrument Device (DAVID) Buoys". She received her Master's of Science degree in 2016.

In 2015, she was selected to participate in the NASA Ames Academy of Space Exploration where she was a research associate in the Reentry group.

Career
Smith's first job after completing her MS was at NASA Johnson Space Center as a Flight Controller in Mission Operations planning (2016-2018). She supported the International Space Station astronauts. She was certified Long Range Planner in 2017 and sat console for multiple missions. She helped in astronaut training as well as software tool development. She also supported the Commercial Crew Program leading the development of the operations tool to certify Boeing/SpaceX vehicles for astronaut safety.

In 2018 she joined the small team to build a new testing facility for a Boeing subsidiary called Insitu. She supported in the commercial certification efforts of their ScanEagle drones.

In 2019, she was hired on at Lockheed Martin to support the Fleet Ballistic Missile Program. She was promoted to the Model-Based Systems Engineering lead for the state of Florida, leading efforts to build out their digital engineering infrastructure.

Late 2020, she was hired as a sr. aerospace engineering at Emergent Space Technologies, where she is currently working now. She works specifically on constellation/cluster flight small satellite and supports contracts from varying government and commercial entities.

STEM Outreach
Smith has been a keynote speaker at events as well as given presentations to classrooms all across the United States.

She launched a YouTube series called "The Rocketeer Lady" in June 2021 to tell stories of her experiences of being a woman in the STEM Industry. In parallel, she also launched a podcast called "DeltaV". This podcast interviews women and other minorities in the STEM industry. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2401129/

https://wdwnt.com/2020/10/dreamfinders-aerospace-engineer-mary-kate-smith-talks-science-nerd-culture-disneys-space-attractions/

https://cartermatt.com/108997/king-of-the-nerds-exit-interview-mary-kate-smith-on-dice-rolling-zack-conflict-and-rocket-science/

http://www.reflector-online.com/news/article_465c3f72-8488-11e3-8ec5-001a4bcf6878.html

https://cdispatch.com/lifestyles/2014-01-25/its-good-to-be-nerdy-msu-senior-competes-on-king-of-the-nerds/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2401129/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/king-of-the-nerds

https://jarrodfinn.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/interview-with-mary-kate-smith-of-tbs-king-of-the-nerds-nerdsrule/

https://www.ae.msstate.edu/2011/94

https://www.aiaa.org/news/news/2014/03/06/AIAA-in-Hollywood-March-2014