Leya Shaw Email & Phone Number

Boulder, Colorado, United States

• Argonia Cup:
• Leading a team of 40+ people to develop a high-powered, two stage rocket capable of flying to 35,000 ft at over Mach 2
• Designing preliminary concept of operations which includes hot stage separation and tether-release mechanism for delayed second stage parachute deployment
• Developing team flight computer and upgrading ground communications systems

Boulder, Colorado, United States

• NASA Student Launch Competition:
• Led CU Boulder’s competition team in developing a high-powered rocket that jettisoned a quadcopter during descent and earned the Rookie of the Year award and placed in the top 10 overall out of 50 teams
• Designed and tested the rocket and drone avionics systems, capable of deploying the drone then unfolding propeller arms and landing legs to support an autonomous landing within human survivability metrics
• Received the 1st Place American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Innovative Payload Award for “the most creative and innovative payload design while maximizing safety and science value”
• Raised over $15,000 through university and industry sponsorships to fund travel to competition for students who could not afford it and for the manufacturing and testing of the high powered rocket and drone
• Created a STEM outreach program for over 400 elementary to high school students of historically underrepresented backgrounds and taught rocketry and computer science

El Segundo, California, United States

• Avionics Hardware:
• Built hardware and wrote test procedures for a vector network analyzer test rack that measured the signal quality of flight hardware
• Programmed a Python software interface to run autonomous tests for multiple pieces of flight hardware under different environmental conditions such as a thermal chamber and shaker tableTest Engineering:
• Rerouted cables, debugged sensor connections, and hardened engine umbilical connections to support engine test stand rebuild
• Shadowed test director and test conductor roles during test operations for avionics checks, engine purges, and ignition testing

Boulder, Colorado, United States

• Conducted numerical simulations of spacecraft-plasma interactions using plasma modeling software to study touchless potential sensing
• Assisted with vacuum chamber experiments to recreate spacecraft plasma wakes in cislunar space

Boulder, Colorado, United States

• Developed Python programs for an arbitrary waveform generator to customize surface acoustic waves for particle separation
• Created a graphic user interface to help scientists manage the controls of an oscilloscope, video capture, voltage supply, and overall data management
• Assisted in chip manufacturing by wire bonding and testing chip performance
• Presented work at the Electronic Materials and Applications conference on “An On-Chip Electric-Acoustic Force Balance for Particle Sorting”

Boulder, Colorado, United States

• Tested structural integrity of the air frame, material strength of the fins and nose cone, and deployment of the recovery system
• Reduced the weight of the rocket by manufacturing fins, nose cone, and centering rings out of 3D printed lightweight PLA and fiberglass
• Earned the 1st place Grand Prize and 1st place for Oral Presentation and Written Reports by successfully launching a high-powered rocket

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical Engineering

Education record

Activities and Societies: President of the Engineering Club Board Member of the Environmental Club

High School Diploma

Activities and Societies: Member of the First Tech Challenge Robotics Team