Halle Theriault has her sights set on becoming an astronaut, so the sophomore is double majoring in mechatronics engineering, a joint program with NC State University, and physics, as well as completing a minor in math.
When deciding which university was going to help her achieve her career dreams, Theriault felt that UNC Asheville's size and atmosphere would be most beneficial for her personal learning experience, such as getting to know the professors one-on-one.
“I also really liked the fact that UNCA has their STEAM Studio,” Theriault said. “I volunteered at the STEAM Studio during my second semester here, and now I work at the STEAM Studio as a student worker, helping students with their projects or doing other side projects for the STEAM Studio such as designing and building an animatronic elk for the Asheville Arboretum.”
She initially was planning to transfer to NC State after one year to do aerospace engineering, but after her first semester at UNC Asheville, she decided to stay here to study mechatronics and physics.
“I wanted to do mechatronics because I feel like it would make me a well-rounded engineer since mechatronics engineering is a combination of mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. I also decided to do physics because I thought it would go well with my mechatronics major,” Theriault said.
Theriault wishes to tell prospective students that are interested in double majoring in the STEM field to make sure that they take the time to figure out what their learning and studying style is.
“It is extremely important in the first few semesters to fully understand the prerequisite courses, since many topics from those prerequisite courses will be seen over and over again in the harder classes,” Theriault said. “I would have liked to know about the Math Lab earlier, which is a place you can go to get help in much different math or math-heavy science courses from several different tutors.”
While her favorite classes so far have been calculus, she also enjoyed exploring engineering.
“The most rewarding part of my majors is getting to learn all about three different types of engineering,” Theriault said. “Before knowing about the Mechatronics program here at UNCA, I had no idea that mechatronics engineering existed. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to learn about the different concentrations on their own, and I can see which concentrations I excel at, and which ones I don't excel at as much.”
She has experienced a few surprises in her majors such as the gender ratio in engineering. She states that “In the engineering field in the US, only about 15% of the workers are women. In my classes, I sometimes find myself being either the only girl or one of a few. I hope that someday that ratio can be evened out and more women would enter the engineering field.”
Theriault plans to go on to graduate school to get a masters’ degree in aerospace engineering and pursue her career goal of being an astronaut or working on spacecraft and rockets.
“I have known that I wanted to work in space exploration for a long time, so I hope to one day either be a driving force in space exploration or to even be in space,” says Theriault.
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