Hi! My last blog was over a year ago after I got back from the International Science School in Sydney, Australia. Since then, I have graduated high school and I’m now attending Alfred University in Alfred, NY for materials engineering though I plan to switch to ceramics engineering soon.
A quick recap of my experiences with Higher Orbits:
• The summer of 2025 I attended a Go For Launch! event in Mars, PA
• I did not win my event, but gained the chance to apply to the International Science School
• I had the amazing chance to go ISS in Sydney, Australia
• Using my experiences and learning opportunities created by being involved with Higher Orbits I was able to have the skills to gain the presidential scholarship and ceramics grant at Alfred University
It’s been a big change going from living in the suburbs right outside a city to being in a literal one stop light town. However, Alfred University is one of the best schools for materials, ceramics, and glass engineering. I really love how it’s small, so I have gotten to really know all my professors and feel super comfortable asking them questions and asking them about their research. I have so much support and opportunities here that I wouldn’t
necessarily have at a bigger school. I am currently working in the mud lab here a few times a week and I am trying to get a job working at the space materials institute where they have developed ceramic tiles that are used on space shuttles.
One of the clubs I’ve gotten involved with is Mug Drop Club. They compete nationally at the Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T) each year. Just last month our team was able to develop a mug with such a solid composition and physical design that it beat out Virginia Tech and the judges could not break it. It was massive for us to be able to win this year since Virginia Tech has been on a winning streak for YEARS.
This is the winning mug that was created by my mud lab mentor Joe Casper and Adrian McGuire. Joe has taught me and one other freshman, my friend Lexie Gibbs about 3D modeling and printing, plaster casting, and slip casting. By the end of this year, we will have covered the different ceramic materials and how to utilize them to create a composition with the desired properties. I am excited to get the chance to go to MS&T next fall. I am also a member of SWE and Keramos. These clubs have given me access to mentorships and scholarships that will open the door for so much in my future.
As part of SWE, Lexie and I ran demos for the community. Our demo was the can crusher (You can find videos online it’s cool). We used people cans that would have otherwise been tossed and used them to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. My favorite part was the children who came to the event. They were all unique and so kind. Some of them would ask question after question and others were shyer would
just watch. In all of them you could see a glimmer in their eyes when the experiment worked. You could see them understand just how cool science could be. I hope that we have made an impact on even just one of their lives.
I hope to learn so much more about geoscience this November at the Explorers Festival in Iceland. I am really interested in how we can use geoscience to both explore other planets and to save ourselves from climate change. I can’t wait to find out what questions will come up that I don’t even know I could ask yet. It’s going to be amazing to see the place where my role models did their astronaut training. I would love to be an astronaut and if I ever get the chance, fieldwork and in general education outside the university could be vital to become chosen. Iceland is just a cool place with such a rich history even coming down to the name that was chosen to be misleading. Getting to see geological sites here will be amazing!!!!
I’m most excited to bring back my experiences both with geoscience, fieldwork, and things I learn at the festival and with the other international members of the group. I really enjoy meeting people from other cultures. It’s cool to see the differences and similarities across the world. Interacting with people internationally gives me a unique sense of joy because while we may have what seems like opposite cultures, we are all human and are all connected. In a small town like Alfred, NY, it’s good to remember how much bigger the world is.
I’ll be writing about my experience about a month from now when I’m back at school as a break from studying for exams… BUT I love writing posts like this so it will be a good break! Thanks so much for reading and coming on this journey with me.
Written by Raine Dickinson