NICOLE MCGAA 
(she/her)

  • Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2023

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Aerospace Engineering, ‘24

  • Host Institution: Blue Origin

  • Mentor: Scott Parazynski

  • Brookie Mentor: TBD

Nicole McGaa is Junior studying Aerospace Engineering at MIT. She is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where her interest in engineering sparked through working in her father's garage as a car mechanic. Upstairs, her love for space came from the diverse and courageous faces of Star Trek and the winter sky.

At MIT, Nicole takes a multidisciplinary approach towards the field, drawing from her interests in both engineering and medicine. In her freshman year, she joined MIT Emergency Medical Services as a volunteer EMT-B, where she continues to provide care to MIT and the city beyond. She draws from her experiences working on the ambulance crew constantly.

Nicole has been conducting research in the MIT Human Systems Laboratory since her sophomore year within the subfield of Bioastronautics. She previously performed clinical trials on the metabolic effect of a soft-knee exoskeleton, the findings of which were presented at 2022 ICES conference. Nicole continues to conduct research on partial gravity simulators and mechanical counterpressure suits.

Last summer, Nicole interned with Northrop Grumman at the NASA Armstrong Research Center as a Systems Test Engineer. She worked on the NASA RangeHawk program to expand and develop testing capabilities and mission planning software from a Systems perspective.

Currently, Nicole is the captain of MIT Doya, founded Fall 2022, which competes in the NASA rocketry competition First Nations Launch focusing on Indigenous methodology and representation in aerospace. The team seeks to design, build, test, and document a rocket for launch in the spring. Both through MIT Doya, her Vice Presidency in the MIT Native American Student Association, and within her research, Nicole's Lakota heritage is foundational in her approach and outlook.

This summer, Nicole will be joining Blue Origin in Denver, CO as a Systems Engineering intern.