Senior Spotlight: How Megan Glasgow Capitalized on Every Opportunity at Duke

Ever since she was in the seventh grade, Megan Glasgow knew that she wanted to go to Duke. She might have flirted with the idea of attending other colleges with strong engineering programs and aerospace connections like Rice University, but at the end of the day, she knew Duke was the right choice.

It wasn’t just her love of basketball or the opportunity to camp out for Duke vs UNC tickets, which she took full advantage of. And it wasn’t just Duke’s reputation for hands-on design experiences and strong communications components to its engineering program.

It was in her blood. Both of Megan’s parents went to Duke, which explains why there are pictures of her in a 2010 Duke national championship t-shirt as a child.

“There were parts of school that were hard. Classes were rigorous, and I dealt with imposter syndrome and academic stress. But Duke was the perfect fit for me,” Megan said. “I can confidently say I have never once regretted the decision.”

“That was the semester where we all really mastered collaborative studying,” Megan said. “I knew all my classmates. I worked with all of them on projects at one time or another. We were always working together, studying for exams and tutoring each other in what we were strongest.”

That collaborative spirit carried her to her senior capstone design class, where six of her classmates worked to redesign small surveillance drones to reduce their weight. Sponsored by the Army, the project saw the team embed copper traces within the drone’s arms to simultaneously make them more rugged and cut down their weight by eliminating copper wiring.

After a semester of planning, her final semester has been entirely focused on executing her team’s designs.

“The instructors have really let us take the reins in this last semester,” Megan said, speaking of MEMS capstone design leaders Professors Sophia Santillan and Nico Hotz. “Having the freedom to creatively solve a real-world problem has been a great experience.”

Launching Rockets—and a Career

Speaking of great experiences, Megan’s most impactful project during her time at Duke might have been outside of the traditional classroom. As a first-year student, she got involved with the Duke Aero club, which designs, builds, tests and launches real rockets every year for an annual international competition in the summer.

During her senior year, she has served as the club’s president and has continually pushed the group to go beyond the competition’s requirements. Duke’s team tries to set themselves apart by having the most technically advanced rocket possible. Guided recovery systems. Roll-stabilizing canards. Even a liquid-based engine is in the works.

“None of these are required or give the team bonus points, but they’re interesting and fun,” Megan said.

Besides those perks, having so many advanced components provides lots of opportunities for club members to take ownership of a specific system’s design and execution. This doesn’t just give them hands-on learning experience; students also get a great story to tell during internship and job interviews.

Not that Megan needs any practice for that. At least not right now. After graduating, she will soon begin her stint in the United States Air Force by pursuing a master’s degree focused on high-speed compressors at Purdue University.

For others thinking about coming to Duke Engineering or pursuing a similar path through mechanical engineering, Megan has this piece of advice: “Lean on your classmates and get involved in everything you can. Seek out hands-on experiences, ask lots of questions, and learn early on how to collaborate and communicate.”