When Megan Richardson attended a Society of Women Engineers conference, she never would have guessed it would lead her to outer space—or to place first in an engineering design competition.

Through a contact she made with a supervisor from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, the senior mechanical engineering major (pictured above, left) was able to secure two co-ops in the California lab—where she’s already accepted a job offer once she graduates in May.

In the Planetary Sample Transfer Acquisition and Handling department, Richardson worked with Mars rover prototypes (each the size of a Mini Cooper) to design the robotic arm on a rover set to launch in 2018. The goal: devise a drilling and break-off mechanism that can accurately extract small rock cores and soil samples from Mars, without damaging the specimen or adding bulk to the rover.

Although Richardson lacked previous geological experience and only devoted two months to her design, her proposal prevailed, beating out submissions from PhD students and experienced NASA engineers who had spent years on their own prototypes, all bigger and more expensive than Richardson’s solution.

Richardson is thrilled that after graduation, she’ll have the opportunity to return to her department and continue her project. “It’s challenging work,” she says, “but, in terms of my career, I like that what I’m researching and designing isn’t a product that has been around for 500 years, but is new technology. That’s the exciting part.”

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