Aerospace engineering student receives Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence

By junior year, Shockley felt worn out from her academic and military commitments. She had successfully completed her first co-op at NASA and a grueling Air Force field training, but she wanted a change of pace. She and a fellow aerospace student decided to spend winter break on an honors experience abroad, through a Mary Rowe Moore experiential learning grant. They participated in a volunteer program in Pokhara, Nepal teaching English to boys at a Buddhist monastery. They embraced the monastery culture, stayed after the formal English lessons, practiced English with older monks, and joined them in puja (worship ceremony).

Their hosts taught Shockley some Nepali language and asked them about their studies. Shockley has fond memories of stargazing with a girl at the monastery, and recalls the wonder in the girl’s eyes as she explained satellites. “We rediscovered our passion for engineering as we explained aircraft and rockets to them,” Shockley said.

Shockley returned to NASA for her second co-op in Washington D.C., where she helped build a school bus-sized telescope called PIPER (Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer), which later went into space on a scientific balloon. That summer, Shockley lived with a friend’s parents, who are from Western India; they taught her some Hindi.

Equipped with her new language skills, Shockley spent the summer of her junior year in Varanasi, India studying Hindi through Project Global Officer (GO), an ROTC program that offers summer programs for cadets to learn a language critical to US national security.

She expanded the experience to fulfill her honors experiential learning requirements back at UC last fall. She hosted workshops for her ROTC detachment to expose more UC students to Project GO. Four of the five cadets who applied to Project GO with Shockley’s guidance were accepted to programs this summer, including placements in Morocco, South Korea and Taiwan.

She swells with pride when she sees a fellow cadet push past their comfort zone and pursue their passions. “It felt good to give back in these ways. Sharing about your learning isn’t about you developing your public speaking skills; it is about you investing in the next generation.”

After her graduation this spring, Shockley will commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force and will attend the Air Force Institute of Technology to pursue her Master's degree in Astronautical Engineering. She has interest in developing the partnership between NASA and the growing Indian Space Research Organization.

If she has learned anything at UC, it is that she cannot anticipate where life will lead her next. She wants to follow her passion for space wherever it takes her. Thanks to UC, she is comfortable navigating uncharted territory.