Emily Parkerson

“I’ve always been fascinated by cars and planes,” says Emily Parkerson, an Impact Award winner for Spring 2025 in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.

Although she developed an interest in cars from a young age, Parkerson was inspired to pursue a career in aerospace engineering by “How to Build a Car,” a book by Adrian Newey.

Parkerson recalls going with her father to a race by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing as a first-year student and being captivated by the thunderous engines. She was particularly impressed by something that became a throughline throughout her engineering journey at ASU: collaboration.

“I was intrigued by the precise teamwork behind the scenes and the engineering required for optimal performance of the cars,” she says.

As part of Engineering Projects in Community Service, or EPICS, she expanded both her technical and cultural understanding through various research projects, internships and extracurricular activities. One of her projects was to create a 3D-printed tactile map to assist visually impaired students in navigating around the ASU Tempe campus.

Building on her passion for applying engineering to real-world challenges, Parkerson sought out opportunities abroad. She spent three weeks in Da Nang, Vietnam, where she helped prototype a device to aid small-scale farmers in implementing sustainable practices. She later went on a study abroad trip to Cairo, Egypt, where she examined the impact of the global food economy on the city. These global experiences broadened her perspective on how engineering solutions can address environmental and societal needs.

Back on campus, Parkerson worked with Associate Professor Konrad Rykaczewski helping to develop a device that measures the effect of extreme heat on the human body. This work led to an achievement she says she’s particularly proud of: presenting her findings at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics annual conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

During the summer of her sophomore year, Parkerson interned at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where she designed and prototyped dampers to reduce the impact of high-frequency vibrations on offshore floating wind turbines.

Parkerson stayed connected to her early passion for vehicles as part of ASU’s Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Racing team. She contributed to fabricating aerodynamic packages for a small-scale formula race car, an experience she says aligns perfectly with her ultimate career goal as she transitions to graduate school at Stanford University.

“Engineering has taught me to be extremely curious,” Parkerson says. “I now view the world through an engineering lens, constantly thinking about the components and systems behind everyday objects.”

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ spring 2025 class here.