Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 24

Rising Star Awards:
Women in Engineering Aerospace Winner
Heather Cummings
H
eather Cummings, a 27-year old senior flight controls
and autonomy engineer at Sikorsky, is the winner of
the Aerospace/Defense category for SAE Media Group's
inaugural Women in Engineering: Rising Star Awards
program. In addition to her role developing flight control software
and improving Sikorsky's Innovations department's processes
for software and model-based systems engineering, she is
also a pilot. Among her career accomplishments at Sikorsky
include leading the flight controls software development and
flight testing program on a technology demonstrator aircraft for
autonomy and reduced crew operations. The project involved
Heather dividing up sub-tasks for the project and working with
each individual on the team to mentor them on the engineering
skills necessary for completion. She also served as the onboard
flight test engineer for the project. One of her career goals is to
serve as the lead engineer on new technologies that form the
next generation of semi and fully autonomous aircraft.
In addition to her role as a lead flight controls engineer, she
is a volunteer in Connecticut's Tango Flight program, where
she serves as a mentor for high school students. The Tango
Flight program, hosted by Three Wing Aviation and First Aviation
Services Inc., aims to inspire the next generation of
engineers, pilots, aviation mechanics and technicians
through hands on learning and mentoring including helping
the students build an FAA-certified VANS RV-12 aircraft. Following
her receipt of the Rising Star award, Aerospace and
Defense Technology (ADT) caught up with Cummings to discuss
her career and how the number of women working in
aerospace engineering is growing.
Aerospace & Defense Technology (A&DT): How did you
first become interested in working within the aerospace
industry?
Heather Cummings: I knew for a long time that I wanted to
be an engineer because both of my parents were engineers, and
I thought it was cool when I was growing up. I did not necessarily
know that I wanted to be in aviation until right before I
started college. In high school, I was given an opportunity to
take some college classes at a local community college. I was
flipping through the course offerings, and at the very back
there was an offering for a private pilot ground school course,
and I thought that sounded interesting. It sounded like a fun
opportunity and I basically chose the course on a whim. From
there, I fell in love with flying and airplanes, and that led me to
ultimately choose to go into aerospace engineering.
24
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Aerospace & Defense Technology, October 2024
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Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024

Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Intro
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Sponsor
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Cover1
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Cover2
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 1
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 2
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 3
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 4
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 5
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 6
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 7
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 8
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 9
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 10
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 11
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 12
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 13
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 14
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 15
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 16
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 17
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 18
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 19
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 20
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 21
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 22
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 23
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 24
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 25
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 26
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 27
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 28
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 29
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 30
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 31
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Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 33
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Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 36
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Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 38
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 39
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 40
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Cover3
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT02
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