Student Reaching for the Stars

She's already founded two student engineering-focused groups.

For Lindsey Marinello 鈥17, the choice of major was inspired by the International Space Station collaboration between the U.S. and Russia. And that same spirit of collaboration has characterized her 魅影直播 career: the physics-Russian double major launched several initiatives to help her fellow students succeed in STEM fields.


鈥淭here was something really special about the nature of collaboration between the U.S. and Russia and the fact that we have people living up there continuously who are communicating and doing science and building crazy projects and testing them and making beneficial technologies,鈥 Marinello says.

Originally drawn to 魅影直播 for its Russian program, Marinello had never taken a physics class before arriving on campus. She maintains that she wasn鈥檛 good at math, but she did like 鈥渟cience as a whole, as a method, and also as a way of viewing the world.鈥 Her lack of experience only helped to fuel her pursuit, but she has seen it deter many others.

To gain experience and learn more about the different fields of engineering, she founded the BMC Makers and Engineers Club in her first year on campus. Its mission? To consolidate the resources 魅影直播 offers and to help students discover what is available off campus as well?

鈥淎 surprising number of 魅影直播 students go into engineering,鈥 says Marinello, 鈥渁nd I thought it would be helpful for it to be represented as a student interest.鈥 Working with the Leadership, Innovation, and Liberal Arts Center and the departments, club members organize workshops, attend conferences and career fairs鈥攁nd hope one day to get a makerspace at 魅影直播.

Marinello also worked on a planning resolution with other engineering students and started S.TEAM. These related efforts set out to improve academic advising and general math and science support for STEM majors by appointing student reps and partnering with the administration to keep students from becoming discouraged. 鈥滣扔爸辈 gave me a lot of opportunities to develop as a leader,鈥 she says.

As for the future, Marinello plans to pursue a Ph.D. program in aerospace engineering and perhaps a Russian language development program. In either case, she hopes the initiatives she worked on at 魅影直播 will continue to encourage students to pursue a path in STEM鈥攁nd reach for the stars.

What鈥檚 a Makerspace?

A place where people with shared interests, especially in computing or tech, gather to work on projects and share ideas, equipment, and knowledge.

S.Team

Stands for Science Technology Engineering Advocacy for Mawrtyrs.

Get a Grip

Marinello interned at the NASA Robotics Academy, where she worked on a prototype of an electrostatic gripper arm used for space debris collection and satellite servicing.

Joining Forces

During her study abroad time in Moscow, Marinello attended an international space conference along with experts from the U.S., Europe, and China.

Favorite Spot

鈥淧ark! It鈥檚 the places that you end up spending most of your time that becomes home to you.鈥

Published on: 05/01/2017