March 16th, 2024

On the afternoon of April 29, 2023, the team of UCI engineers in Randsburg, California were on the verge of breakthrough. In the making was a historic event for UCI; the launch of its first liquid rocket and an opportunity to accomplish a dream six years in the making. For Noelle, the event was especially significant. As the newly instated interim Project Manager, it was an opportunity to set the tempo for the team’s direction, to guide the project into a new era.

While Noelle’s success with the launch of the project’s PTR (Preliminary Test Rocket) was one of her most exciting moments, her emphasis as a leader can be best defined in the discrete everyday things she does. Upon stepping foot in the lab, Noelle greets members and visitors alike with a smile. Even with her long list of tasks, Noelle consistently makes time to chat about life and to give advice. Outside of the project, her passion runs deep for mentoring the engineering community as an advisor for the ASME chapter at UCI.

Underneath her personable disposition, Noelle leads with intention and a competitive excitement that drives everything she does. From meeting with companies, to overseeing subteam operations and organizing lab cleaning days, Noelle emphasizes each task that keeps the project running, even those that go unnoticed.

Noelle’s love for space travel is the fuel that not only propels her team but also guides her aspirations of shaping the rocket technology of tomorrow.

I heard you’re from San Diego. What do you like to do back at home?

Noelle: I spend a lot of time with my family. I also really like spending time with my friends when I get the chance! I like to visit local cafes and restaurants; to try new foods. I also enjoy visiting all of the cool museums down in Balboa Park like the Air & Space Museum.

Wow that sounds like fun! How did you decide on the rocket project?

Noelle: I was interested in eventually orienting my career towards the ‘new-space’ sector by getting hands-on experience in college. Honestly, during COVID, the opportunities were very slim at UCI, but I heard about senior design projects in one of my freshman classes. I was deeply involved as a lead of my robotics team in high school, and wanted a similar competitive outlet going into college! I stumbled on the UCI Rocket Project while looking through the MAE project page, and kept reaching out to leadership to learn about how I could apply–the rest is history!

When you stepped into the interim project manager role during our first launch last year, you started in a very busy time! What are a few things you learned from the former project manager during that season?

Noelle: In those months building up to the launch, everyone was so involved. I saw what crunchtime can do to a team. I learned so much in such a short amount of time, and my two most important takeaways were communication and being involved with the team. As much as you want to get technical and help everyone, you still have to maintain the admin role. It was so crucial to actually launch the rocket while the seniors were there to capitalize on all of their knowledge. It also taught me to not have the fear of failure and to just go in there and do it! A lot of the new space companies try to fail fast so that they can learn by doing. I’m glad we decided to go for it!

How do you manage a fun and creative environment with one that enables work to be done?

Noelle: I personally have a huge creative side and want to make sure that everyone can pursue the projects that they want within the whole project! It’s important to me that everyone on the team feels welcome and encouraged to express their unique ideas, so our project can facilitate innovative approaches to design. One way that we are working to apply this to our next rocket is by implementing a more thoughtful design process that ensures our members are both collaborative and meticulous.