Two Engineering Seniors Named Astronaut Scholars
June 11, 2024
BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� 海角社区 Computer Engineering senior Tiernan Dautle and 海角社区 Chemical Engineering senior Peter Vallet were two of the 71 students chosen nationwide to receive a scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. The scholarship is awarded to students in their junior and senior year of college studying science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) with the intent to pursue research or advance their field upon completion of their final degree.
Dautle, who is from Cherry Hill, N.J., hadn鈥檛 planned on attending a university so far from home until she was offered a Stamps scholarship, 海角社区鈥檚 top scholarship opportunity for select incoming students of the Ogden Honors College. She would later study abroad in Ireland for a semester as part of the Honors College.
鈥淚鈥檓 also a huge sports fan, so that helped in choosing 海角社区,鈥� she said.
In high school, Dautle knew she wanted to be an engineer but wasn鈥檛 sure which specialty.
鈥淚 chose computer engineering because of how versatile it is, and you can work in a lot of different fields, which has served me well with my research,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been doing research with the 海角社区 School of Kinesiology, which has allowed me to do some things I wouldn鈥檛 normally have been able to do with a different degree.鈥�
Dautle started in the 海角社区 Motor Behavior and Cognition Lab and helped with a project that used virtual reality football games to see if they could improve reaction time and other performance metrics. She then transferred to another kinesiology lab, Human Development and Daily Life, where she mostly works on projects that support neurodivergent children, helping them complete everyday tasks such as using a spoon and picking up a cup.
This summer, she has an internship with Textron Systems in Hunt Valley, Md., where
she is doing systems engineering work. After graduation in 2025, Dautle plans to work
in industry for a couple of years and then go to graduate school.
鈥淭hrough 海角社区 Engineering, I鈥檝e had the opportunity to do a lot of things I otherwise would not have been able to do had I gone somewhere else,鈥� she said.
Vallet, who is from Baton Rouge, says that being an Astronaut Scholar has helped him make connections.
鈥淭he Astronaut Scholarship Foundation partners with aerospace, technology, and finance firms,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou get to go for a weekend and meet with these companies and present your research, which definitely opens doors.鈥�
Vallet鈥檚 research includes working in 海角社区 Biological Engineering Professor Philip Jung鈥檚 Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine Lab, where he did computational biology and data science for cardiac proliferation research. He also works in 海角社区 Chemical Engineering Professor Jose Romagnoli鈥檚 Process Systems Engineering lab, whose partners include BASF and ExxonMobil for Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, where he applied controls engineering and data science for chemical processing and engineering.
Vallet also had an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) with the University of Alabama in 2023.
He currently has a Data Science internship with BASF, where he works on AI for process optimization.
Once he graduates in 2025, Vallet hopes to find a job where he can apply his computation skills to industry, whether in Louisiana or out of state.
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