STEM Struck: Collin Alumna shares her path to a career in engineering

As a young girl, Samantha Smith wasnt thinking about a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). She didnt have a female role model who was guiding her in that direction. But that changed when she started taking classes at Collin College from Professor Tripat Baweja, now director of engineering technical programs.

Fast forward a few years, and Smith is happily entrenched in the STEM field as a mechanical engineer at Raytheon. She is working on a product that protects service men and women while completing her Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD).

Forging a foundation

Learning about engineering from Baweja inspired Smith to serve as a public relations officer for the colleges Society of Women Engineers chapter. In addition, she joined the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and volunteered at the Collin College all girls and co-ed robotics camps, sharing her love of science with middle school and high school students.

It is important that women go into engineering because they have different perspectives than men, Smith said. With more people with different perspectives, we can go further because we all bring new and different ideas.

Smith graduated with an associate degree from Collin College, summa cum laude, in 2017. She transferred to UTD and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, summa cum laude, in May 2020.

I can attribute my success at UTD to Collin. Collin gave me the foundation of how to study and learn in science classes like chemistry and engineering, Smith said. I know how to dig deep into a textbook and notes and which questions to ask. I took all the theory I learned at Collin and applied it in my classes and labs and in the Nano-Bio Lab at UTD, Smith said.

Smith led a project in which she was the only undergraduate and only female volunteering in the Nano-Bio Lab. During her one and a half years at the lab she helped create a stable printhead for a 3D printer to fabricate flexible circuits. In the summer of 2018, she was one of five students selected for a summer National Science Foundation (NSF) optics lab project at the University of Texas at Austin. The group was working on unique metal compounds that exhibit photoluminescence (emit light). Smiths science knowledge from Collin College proved invaluable.

At that point, I had only learned about optics in Physics II at Collin. At Collin, we talked about how the focus would change depending on the quality of the materials of the metal monolayer. A monolayer is incredibly thin, only a few atoms thick. If you put tape on a pencil mark, the amount left on the tape when it is removed is comparable to a monolayer of metal. It was so thin we could bend it and use it for circuitry, Smith explained.

When Smith returned to the Nano-Bio Lab in the fall she was part of a team that built a 3D printer that used a modified liquid polymer that converts to ceramic when it is sintered (extreme heat). She was awarded the Johnson School Undergraduate Research Award and published a paper with her colleagues about the project. Smith went on to complete another NSF internship with a computation mechanics lab at UTD where she compiled biomechanical data and performed simulations showing how bone reacts to forces. The data included nano-level changes in regard to tension, compression, and shear. For Smiths senior design project, sponsored by UT Southwestern, she provided the mechanical components for a mannikin which served as a bleeding control trainer with biofeedback and CPR capability.

Working in the field

Last summer, Smith completed an internship supporting the radiofrequency sensors and electronics design team at Raytheon. She was hired before the internship ended.

I love what I do, how much I am learning, and being able to apply what I learned in college. Things I learned are coming to life now, and I am really enriched by that. I receive a lot of support from my team, and they respect me. My colleagues ask for my opinion even though theyve been working there for 20 years, she said.

Looking back, Smith said she realizes that women may be intimidated by the idea of pursuing STEM careers. She recommends that they just make the leap and jump into it.

I encourage women to go into STEM because it is really rewarding, Smith said. You get to see your limits and how you can change the world through innovation and problem solving. What I am doing today is going to make someones life better and may even save someones life.