Brandon Ayala

I guess I’ve always been interested in space, so I’m doing aerospace engineering. It was just always something that fascinated me. I’ve always thought the space part was cooler than just staying on Earth, you know, like airplanes and stuff. Rocket ships seemed way more exciting.

Right now, with everything happening, we’re really getting into more space exploration and all that. I think it’d be really cool if I could be part of whatever new exploration humanity is heading toward. I keep saying we’re definitely in a second space race, even though people haven’t really called it that yet. There’s a lot of interest in it and so many projects going on around it.

Well, right now I mainly just have my research topic that I’m working on for my master’s thesis. It’s not really related to space, but I guess it’s broad enough that it could be applied to different areas. Pretty much, I’m writing a bunch of code to optimize network connectivity between autonomous agents. Those could be like drones, ROs, or even a bunch of microsatellites. Basically, it’s about figuring out the best way for the whole network of agents to connect to each other—like, who’s talking to who and stuff like that.

It’s also got a cybersecurity side to it. So if there’s an issue, it’s about figuring out which agents are the most important to protect and which ones, if they get compromised, it’s OK to just cut them off. So yeah, that’s basically what I’m working on right now.

Well, I guess... I don’t know. I just hope to be a part of something, whether it’s big or small. Whether people know that I contributed to it or not, just being able to see the work we do making a difference—that it’s something that helps humanity move forward—that’s what really matters to me.

I mean, honestly, it’s just about still being here, you know? Still trying, still pushing forward, and not giving up yet. And it’s always nice to hear from underclassmen who are like, “Oh, you’re doing your master’s in aerospace?” And they’re like, “Wow, yeah.”

And if they look up to me because of that, then that’s cool, you know?

I guess it’d be, you know, family and friends. Just being able to hope that I can provide that support once I’m done—whether it’s through financial support or just being there for them, like saying, “Hey, I made it, so you can too.”

I'm thinking like motivational.

I know the EDGE Center was new when I found it. I was able to find it when it first started.
I was able to be a part of it. You know, it's been a big help and just I got to meet a lot of different people in grad school too because of it.