AE Alumna Featured in Discovery Channel Video Clip

4/8/2013 Written by Susan Mumm

AE Alumna Julia Laystrom-Woodard talks about her career as an aerospace engineer.

Written by Written by Susan Mumm

AE Alumna Julia Laystrom-Woodard
AE Alumna Julia Laystrom-Woodard
AE Alumna Julia Laystrom-Woodard
 AE Alumna Julia Laystrom-Woodard, BS ‘00, MS ‘04, talks about her career as an aerospace engineer in a video clip series, “STEM Careers for Students,” a production of the Discovery Channel.

The clip can be viewed on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfDE0Ki8HA8.

Laystrom-Woodard works for CU Aerospace, operating in the Electric Propulsion Laboratory on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Her projects are the Micro Cavity Discharge thruster and CubeSail.

Enjoying math and science since her childhood days, Laystrom-Woodard tells how poor vision kept her from realizing her dream of being an astronaut. Instead, she became an aerospace engineer, and is enthusiastic about her choice of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Illinois for her education.

The STEM video clips are part of Discovery Communications “Be The Future” initiative. The venture has launched a programming block, education curriculum and tools to inspire student learning and careers in the sciences, and support the White House’s efforts behind science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.


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This story was published April 8, 2013.