Kush Bandi, BSAE 2025

What is your next adventure?

I'm starting a full-time job at Relativity Space working on their rocket on the structures team in Southern California, in Los Angeles, in Long Beach. 

What about your next adventure are you most looking forward to?

I’m excited to get accustomed to Los Angeles and the new area. I'm going to be living there with a couple of my friends. We will be able to go out and explore the city. There's a lot of stuff to do around LA. I can’t wait to visit the beaches. I’m also obviously looking forward to working in industry for the first time. It will be an amazing experience. I get to grow really fast and learn more.

Did you have any previous co-op, internship, or research experience in this area?

Starting in my second year at Georgia Tech, I joined the Ramblin’ Rocket Club with several friends. That was my first hands-on experience in aerospace and structural analysis. I worked on design, analysis, and testing for our rocket, which really inspired me to pursue this field.

The following summer, I interned at Whisper Aero, an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) company, as a mechanical design engineering intern. That experience gave me valuable insight into how the industry operates and deepened my interest in mechanical and structural engineering.

In my third year, I became the lead of structures and mechanisms in the rocketry club. Georgia Tech provides incredible resources for student organizations, which allows us to take on ambitious projects. This leadership role gave me a strong foundation in structural design and analysis.

This past spring, I also did research in the Space Systems Design Lab with Dr. Brian Gunter where we're working on a lunar drone for the moon. This research was interesting because I joined the project pretty much when it started at the concept point. So, there was nothing existing on this. I was able to bring the first vehicle iteration to life, which we're actually testing now in the Indoor Flight Lab. Again, all of the resources at Georgia Tech are just incredible and allow us to do anything.

This past summer, I interned at Relativity Space, which was an amazing opportunity and really solidified my passion for this field. After two years of hands-on experience and internships, I’m confident this is the career path I want to pursue. I’ll be returning to Relativity Space after graduation.

How did your educational experience at Georgia Tech help you to achieve your goals?

One of the biggest advantages of Georgia Tech is the incredible support for student clubs and organizations. I didn’t realize how well-funded these clubs are until I joined one. The resources available allow students to pursue almost any interest, knowing that Georgia Tech will provide the backing to make it happen.

For example, in the Ramblin’ Rocket Club, we received more than enough funding to build multiple rockets. That level of support was instrumental in helping me grow, learn, and gain hands-on experience in the field I wanted to pursue. Beyond funding, Georgia Tech provides access to essential resources like machine shops and dedicated spaces, which are critical for developing skills in design and analysis. These opportunities have been a major factor in my growth.

What advice would you give to an underclassman who would like to follow the same path?

At the end of the day, if you're interested in going into industry and following a field, the number one thing that you can do at Georgia Tech is figure out a project or a team you're interested in and just try to take ownership of a project. Every single time I ask anyone about how an interview went, they always get asked about something that they've personally taken ownership of, or what they have led from concept to finish. So, for any underclassmen in any field of aerospace engineering, I think having total ownership over something is really the best way to put yourself in a position to succeed. Georgia Tech will always help you with that along the way by giving you all of the resources you need to take your idea to fruition. 

Carson Garrett, BSAE 2025

What is your next adventure?

I am really excited to begin working at my dream job at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. I am scheduled to start in April with the Integrated Guidance, Navigation, and Control team. While I am not yet certain of the specific guidance, navigation, and control systems I will be supporting, I am eager to collaborate with this team and contribute to the advancement of human spaceflight throughout my career.

What about your next adventure are you most looking forward to?

I am very much looking forward to having the opportunity to work a consistent nine-to-five schedule every day for an extended period. For the past three and a half years, I have been participating in a co-op program, alternating between my studies at Georgia Tech and my internship with NASA through the Pathways Program. This experience, while rewarding, has presented certain challenges, such as returning to campus to find that many of my friends have graduated or progressed far ahead of me. At times, it felt as though my academic journey was somewhat delayed due to my pursuit of other valuable opportunities. Nevertheless, I am genuinely excited about the prospect of settling in one place and establishing a stable routine for the foreseeable future.

Did you have any previous co-op, internship, or research experience in this area?

I began my journey in the fall of 2022, when I was fortunate enough to join the flight dynamics team in Mission Control at JSC. This was a truly unique experience, as it coincided with the launch of Artemis I—the first in a series of missions that will eventually return humans to the Moon and later to Mars. Although Artemis I was an uncrewed mission, it served as a crucial test of our capabilities, and its success was highly significant. I had the privilege of sitting at the console during the mission, suited up and positioned directly in front of the flight director. While my role was primarily observational, the experience was unforgettable and set a high bar for future opportunities.

Through this experience, I came to realize that my interests lie more in the engineering and design aspects rather than in mission control operations. I was particularly fascinated by the development of the tools and capabilities necessary to achieve our ambitious goals of lunar and Martian exploration. I transitioned to the engineering team, where I initially worked on entry systems, then moved to structures, and eventually returned to the flight mechanics and operations division, which is where I will ultimately be based. My passion for orbital mechanics, coding, and trajectory planning was a major factor in this decision, and receiving an offer from that division was truly exciting.

In terms of research, I was previously involved in the Georgia Tech Vertical Integrated Projects (VIP) program, specifically with the space balloon and research team. This experience was invaluable in enhancing my resume and securing my co-op position. Our team would launch space balloons equipped with payloads, track their journeys to low-Earth orbit, and recover them upon return. 

For those who have not yet participated in an internship, I can attest to the opportunities they provide. It was through conversations with other VIP team members that I was encouraged to apply for my first position with NASA, which ultimately opened the door to the co-op program. In many ways, these experiences are interconnected and have collectively shaped my professional journey.

How did your educational experience at Georgia Tech help you to achieve your goals?

Georgia Tech is very well renowned and has a great reputation. I even underestimated that fact. I learned going into internships in the industry that being a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket comes with a huge advantage. It's like a status upgrade in a way and you get looked at like, ‘oh, you're a Yellow Jacket’. It applies across the country, not just in Georgia. I'm really proud to represent or rather be a part of the AE School, and I think it's always helped me in that way. And of course, the professors and the classes are rigorous and challenging, which allows you to learn and apply yourself in whatever space you are interested in.

What advice would you give to an underclassman who would like to follow the same path?

Apply, apply, apply. The number of times I've been rejected by things is so big. I’ve gotten more rejections than acceptances. I applied for the NASA Co-op Program at least three times before I was accepted. Just because someone says no doesn't mean that you’re unable to apply somewhere else. 

Recently, I was talking to someone who was interested in starting at Tech as an aerospace engineering student. They were asking whether they should even apply for this program. I replied. Why are you asking whether you should apply? And they responded that they weren’t sure if they were ready. And I said, well, let them decide. If you don't put your foot in the door or try to, you'll never know if there is a yes or no. You're confining yourself to a ‘no’ if you don’t try. So, I'm a big believer in shooting your shot, because if you don't take that shot, you definitely won't make it.

Joshua Netter, Ph.D. 2025, MSAE 2020, AE 2018, CS 2018

What is your next adventure?

I recently accepted a position at AST SpaceMobile in Lanham, Maryland. The company is working on building and deploying satellite arrays to create global cell phone coverage—essentially worldwide 5G access. I think that’s incredibly exciting, especially for regions that don’t have reliable internet connectivity.

What about your next adventure are you most looking forward to?

A couple of things come to mind, but what I’m most excited about is working on something that feels like it has a real, tangible impact for a lot of people. We’re talking about global internet or cell phone service—and while that might not change my day-to-day life much, the idea that it could help millions of others is incredibly exciting. It’s also great to find something this impactful that still keeps me in the spacecraft space.

I always wanted to be working on flight software for spacecraft, and that's kind of where I've ended up. I was really surprised to end up somewhere this close to what I want to be doing, immediately out of Georgia Tech. It's a nice little intersection of feeling like I'm helping, and I like rockets. I mean, I was at this school for a long time for a reason. I like rockets.

Did you have any previous co-op, internship, or research experience in this area?

I’ve earned all of my degrees here at Georgia Tech. I’m a quadruple jacket. I double majored in computer science (CS).

The funny thing about being here for a while is that, because of the double major and everything else, I spent most of my time on campus. I interned at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California during the summer of 2018. I worked on the systems engineering team—specifically the model-based systems engineering group. Obviously, I was just an intern, so I mostly did small tests and a few commits to some open-source codebases the lab was using. But in a roundabout way, some of that work ties back to actual missions. Things like Europa Clipper, Opportunity, and Perseverance—the rover that’s on Mars right now. My contribution was tiny—so small you could almost pretend it doesn’t exist—but it wasn’t zero. And that’s still pretty cool.

How did your educational experience at Georgia Tech help you to achieve your goals?

I’d say it comes down to two categories. The first is the obvious stuff about what you learn in class. When I first interviewed, people asked if I knew anything about Kalman filters. Luckily, I’d taken classes on that, so yeah—I knew what a Kalman filter was. Same with orbital mechanics. Those are things Georgia Tech taught me.

Now, I don’t remember every single detail from every class—nowhere close—but having that foundation means all that knowledge is somewhere in my head, and I can refresh myself pretty easily when I need to. 

The second category is honestly more important: all the little things. For example, the network Georgia Tech gave me. I’ve got friends who are incredible coders—way better than me. I have a CS degree, but I’ve always thought of myself as an aerospace guy who happens to code. So, whenever I hit a wall and can’t remember how to write something in C++ or Python, I always have someone I can ask. That’s a huge advantage. And over time—especially in grad school—Georgia Tech made me a lot less scared to ask questions. You get to a point where you realize you’re not going to figure everything out on your own, and that’s okay. You learn to accept that and lean on others when you need to. So, in a way, a lot of Georgia Tech was about learning how to not be scared—of asking questions, of admitting what you don’t know, and of tackling hard problems anyway.

When you come in as a first-year—and I think this is a common experience for a lot of Georgia Tech students I’ve talked to—you were one of the smartest kids in your high school. Then you take Calculous II, and it just grinds you into the pavement. It can absolutely beat you up if you’re coming from a regular high school environment, and Georgia Tech doesn’t really let up on that pressure. It’s not that it gets easier, but you start to realize something important: just because something is hard, and you look at it and don’t immediately understand it, that doesn’t mean you’re doomed. 

In addition to my academic work, I had fun at Georgia Tech. I was actually a co-founder of a club at Georgia Tech called Smash Jackets—the competitive Super Smash Bros. organization. A friend and I were big fans of fighting games, especially Smash, so we started a club for it. At its peak, we were getting 40 to 50 people every Friday night to play. Through that, I met a lot of people across the Southeast. I’ve been gone for a while now, but I still keep in touch—and the club still exists. It’s going strong almost a decade later. If you know anything about student orgs at Georgia Tech, that’s rare. A club outlasting its founders is unusual, and one lasting 10 years—unless it’s a major sports team like the Georgia Tech Swim Club—is almost unheard of.

Honestly, I think that’s the thing I’m most proud of from my time at Georgia Tech: creating something with that kind of impact that’s lasted this long. I mean, I also have a Ph.D.—but a lot of people have done that.

What advice would you give to an underclassman who would like to follow the same path?

Georgia Tech taught me a lot about breaking things down into smaller problems. Sometimes that means taking 15 minutes to get up, walk around the block, and think about whatever I’m stuck on.

I try to break things into small wins. Like, my personal goal might be to write two lines of code. I’ll spend five or ten minutes making sure those lines work, and then I call that a victory. After that, I’ll go chat with my roommates for a few minutes. It’s about constantly giving yourself those little wins.

And here’s the part people never believe—especially incoming students—but trust me: do not conflate the number on a piece of paper with how well you’re doing in a class. I know I, and a lot of other people I know who have panicked after getting a 40 on a test. It means way less than you think. Especially if you’re above the class average—you should never worry a day in your life.

Also, do sit down, and do your assignments. That's one that some people just don't do, and it creates problems later. Study for your tests. Hopefully, you're somewhere close to the average, and so long as you're pretty close to the average, you never need to worry. Now if you're below average, that's when you start talking to the professor, but just keep going. 

Ishika Verma, BSAE 2025

What is your next adventure?

Currently, I am interviewing. I'm eager to see where I will end up, but I guess ultimately my goal for what I want to do is to work in some sort of design or manufacturing environment. I’m targeting design and manufacturing roles, so anywhere where I can see a product being created. I've been lucky to experience some of that already while at Georgia Tech and while doing my internship. So, I know where I want to go. I want to create something that people can hold or touch or incorporate into like a plane or a rocket, which would be awesome.

What about your next adventure are you most looking forward to?

I’m definitely looking forward to, in the most basic sense, not having classes anymore. Beyond that, once I start the position, I’m really excited to dive back into personal projects. In school, I was involved in several clubs that I truly enjoyed, but now I’m ready to take things further—like buying my own 3D printer and creating something just because I feel inspired. I want to experiment with engineering in a creative way, without the pressure of deadlines or grades—just for the joy of the process.

I’m eager to reclaim the creativity that first drew me to Georgia Tech and really lean into that again. I also plan to explore mentoring opportunities, since I loved being part of GT2000 while I was here.

And also, I love talking to transfer students, new students, freshman, people who are interested in aerospace. It is one of my favorite things to do. So. if I can find a way to continue that while I'm working, that would be a dream.
 

Did you have any previous co-op, internship, or research experience in this area?

Absolutely, it started at Georgia Tech. The AE School has a Limerick program, and through that I did research with professors on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Basically, we were looking at how different fluids interact with things like windmills or airplane wings, depending on the assignment. That experience was amazing because it combined technical work with the opportunity to explore a completely different country. That was Summer 2023.

Then in Fall 2023, I packed my bags again and headed to Jacksonville, Florida for my first internship with GE Aerospace, Unison. I worked on rocket ignition systems, but my role was more like a systems or project engineer. It meant talking to multiple teams and translating that information for clients. I created test reports for ignition systems like the RL10, which is used in NASA’s Artemis program, and for Pratt & Whitney 500 and a few Blue Origin projects. I also handled experimental projects—if a client wanted to explore something new with our technology, I’d create the budget, test plan, and initial framework so the next person could hit the ground running after my three-month term. It was an incredible experience.

My second internship was in 2024 with Technology Service Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama—a military contractor with more of a startup vibe compared to GE. That’s where I really dove into design for manufacturability. I was the only intern in the mechanical engineering department, so when they said, “Here’s an idea—make it real,” it was up to me to figure it out. It taught me the difference between conceptual design and practical implementation—like realizing that making a simple box in CAD is easy, but figuring out how to assemble components inside that box is a whole other challenge. It was a blessing to learn that hands-on and see how defense requirements shape design decisions.

Then in the summer of 2025, I was lucky enough to return to GE Aerospace as an aerospace engines intern, working on their RISE program. They gave me incredible responsibilities—I worked on the compressor section of the RISE engine, and there are parts I helped design or modify. Knowing that when the RISE engine eventually flies, I can point to it and say, “I worked on that,” is the dream for any aerospace engineer. I also stepped back into project engineering for some key technology tests, handling budgeting and planning, and coordinating with teams in India and Germany—which meant 6 a.m. calls to keep everyone aligned. On top of that, I got involved in mentoring and served on the professional development committee for interns. Honestly, I tried to get my hands in as many things as possible. It was an amazing experience.

How did your educational experience at Georgia Tech help you to achieve your goals?

Georgia Tech provides a very good backbone or support system. It provides a lot of our classes that are very conceptual. You can't build a rocket engine for every single student at Georgia Tech as much as they want to.

We learn so many conceptual ideas in class, and honestly, in the moment it can feel overwhelming. I don’t think people realize how much they’ve actually absorbed until they get the chance to apply it during an internship. One story that came to mind was from my first internship. They introduced one of my projects and told me I’d be using an Instron machine—which is basically used for pull tests or experiments to determine material strength. My manager started explaining all these requirements, and I had this fun moment of saying, ’Actually, I know how that works. I’ve done that before in my 2610 lab at Tech’, that’s literally one of the experiments we do and write reports on. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I thought that was just an assignment, but this is real industry work.’

Later, when I moved into my engines role, I was working with a bunch of mechanical engineers, and there I was—the intern—explaining why a certain part of the wing needed to be curved a specific way or why a dihedral angle mattered. Those moments really boosted my confidence. They reminded me that even though classes can feel stressful, I’m absorbing so much valuable knowledge that genuinely applies in the real world.

What advice would you give to an underclassman who would like to follow the same path?

Do not underestimate yourself. I came in as a transfer student. I did not come into Georgia Tech as a first-year. I started at Georgia State as a physics major, but I knew that I wanted to do engineering. I knew that I wanted to create something that hopefully went in the sky at some point, whether that was, our sky or some other planet's sky. What I told my students in GT2000 is, ‘You are surrounded by people who are high achievers, but you are also a high achiever. You got into Tech.’ 

Create a support system around you to help you learn. It’s also okay to put your neck out. Even if you have no experience, your classes can become your experience. Your clubs can become your experience. It's so important to have the confidence in yourself to know that you are intelligent and whatever expectations you have for yourself, or whatever expectations your professors have for you, you will surpass them. 

Also, it's crucial too, even if you don't think you're going to get the role, put your name in anyways. Rejections are a part of life.