Karen Willcox - BE, MS, PhD

Karen graduated from The University of Auckland with a BE in Engineering Science in 1993.

Although Karen dreamed of becoming an astronaut, she had no idea what she really wanted to do until she was in Form 7 (Year 13), when two former pupils spoke at a school assembly about their careers as engineers.

Karen wasn't sure what to do after graduation, so she indulged her long-standing interest in aeroplanes and space, and travelled to the US to undertake graduate work in Aeronautics & Astronautics.

Karen completed a masters at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and then spent three months working at NASA Dryden, where most of NASA's flight testing takes place. Although she loved the work, it was almost impossible for a non-US citizen to get a job in the aerospace industry without a PhD, so she headed back to MIT to do undertake a PhD.

Her PhD in hand, Karen interviewed with several companies, but none seemed to offer role she was interested in. One of her professors suggested she interview for an academic position at MIT, which she took, spending one year working at Boeing with the Blended-Wing-Body aircraft design team as part of the job.

Karen loves the diversity and the flexibility of my job: teaching undergraduate and graduate classes, mentoring undergraduate students, advising graduate student theses, writing proposals and papers, working on research by herself, and working with outside organisations like NASA and Boeing.

Now Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Karen still makes time for other activities: she's using her knowledge of Latin to help her to learn Afrikaans, her husband's first language.