Tiera Guinn hasn’t graduated college yet but she’s already working on projects for NASA.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior has worked as a rocket structural design and analysis engineer since June 2016. She designs rocket components for ventures to Mars and other deep space destination, and analyzes them to ensure they won’t break during flight.
She’s living out a dream she’s had since she was 11 years old. Guinn remembers seeing a plane and wanting to know how to build one.
“I’d had a passion to become a mathematician, inventor — everything you can think of under STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), but when I looked at the plane, I wanted to do that,” Guinn tells USA TODAY College. “I got stuck on that.”
That interest sparked her desire to study aerospace engineering, which led to her current role.
After a Boeing representative visited MIT in 2016, Guinn accepted her dream job with the company working on NASA projects. She works with the structural design and analysis team at Boeing’s Huntsville, Ala. location on school breaks and puts in about 20 hours a week working remotely from campus — all while maintaining a semester’s load of classes.
“I’ve seen the design (for the rocket) come into fruition somewhat so far,” says Guinn, 22. “I love looking at something I’m designing and realizing it will be built.”
Guinn’s success doesn’t surprise her mentor Orren Williams, who taught her high school engineering classes.
“She’s fulfilling her dream, but it wasn’t handed to her — she has worked every step of the way,” Williams says. “She was one of those students who made me get up in morning looking forward to go to class.”
Guinn says her drive comes from the significance of her work.
“The best part is knowing that what I’m building is going to affect the world and mankind,” she says. “This rocket can really change what we visualize as possible.”
Guinn counts Katherine Johnson, a NASA mathematician, as one of her role models. Johnson’s work made instrumental strides in sending the first American to space. What’s more, it inspired the Oscar-nominated, box office hit Hidden Figures.
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“Even in those times, when everything was against her, she still did what she wanted to get done and made history as a result,” Guinn says. “She’s been a huge motivation in my study.”
Like Johnson, Guinn is no stranger to challenges. She says she focuses on the support she has received instead of the obstacles yet to come.
“My parents always told me that others don’t declare the fate of your destiny,” she says. “It’s up to you to achieve the dream you set in the first place.”
Guinn will become a full-time employee in August and will continue to work with rockets.
“My most memorable experience in college has been implementing what I’ve learned and experienced,” says Guinn, who serves on the Black Women’s Alliance and also choreographs African dance at MIT. “It’s great because it gets to continue after I graduate.”
She may have already achieved her childhood dream, but Guinn shows no signs of slowing down. She plans to create an organization for low-income students that will inspire them to reach their goals as well.
“I always like to make the dream larger after it’s achieved,” Guinn says. “I want to pass on the resources I’ve received and much more.”
Brooke Metz is a member of the USA TODAY College contributor network.
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