From meeting at NASA to being married in an aerospace themed wedding, Katie and Steven Gilliam, former students in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, have shared their passion for engineering with one another since they were in high school.
Now, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, they look back on the impact their time in the department and industry has had on their careers and relationship.
Like any aerospace love story, it’s got to start at space camp
While they didn’t start dating until college, Katie and Steven first met the summer of their junior year of high school at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas.
“Like any aerospace love story, it’s got to start at space camp,” said Katie.
Katie and Steven were two of about 100 high school students who traveled to Houston for NASA’s High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) program, a summer experience for students interested in learning more about aerospace engineering.
Born in Houston, Katie had previously visited the JSC as a kid. While her classmates were fascinated by the idea of being astronauts, Katie was far more interested in mission control. But, despite her youthful excitement for space, she spent most of high school focused on business.
“It’s what my parents did and seemed stable,” said Katie. “I did not even consider engineering as a career path until I went to that camp. And I fell in love with it.”
Steven, on the other hand, always had an interest in engineering. As a kid, he enjoyed reading Stephen Biesty’s “Cross-Sections” books and loved anything that spun, moved and turned.
“As a kid, once I learned that we were putting stuff in space, I wanted to be an astronaut,” said Steven. “When I got older, I realized I actually liked the rockets and all the little bits that make it go. I got more and more interested, reading about space and planes and jets, so I’ve always been an engineering type at heart.”
After their week spent on the same team together at HAS, Katie and Steven stayed in touch, even doing extracurricular engineering competitions together throughout their senior year of high school.
That’s the thing in aerospace, we all work together
With her rekindled interest for aerospace engineering, Katie decided to prioritize engineering when applying to Texas A&M. In fall 2014, Katie and Steven were both admitted into the College of Engineering and, after they settled into life on campus, they reconnected.
“We started asking each other who we were taking for classes and we would sit next to one another and compare notes and try to help each other,” said Steven. “That’s the thing in aerospace, we all work together to make sure we all know the material. We’re all helping each other learn.”
Katie and Steven are both double aerospace engineering degree holders, receiving their bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the aerospace engineering department.
They both worked from their sophomore year through masters to pay for their education. Steven worked as a technical lead in what is now the SuSu and Mark A. Fischer ’72 Engineering Design Center and Katie worked for the Engineering Entrepreneurship Program on events such as Aggies Invent.
“The last Aggies Invent that I helped out with was my 20th Aggies Invent,” said Katie. “It was actually aerospace and defense themed, so that was really awesome.”
In addition to the many hours they worked, Katie and Steven were heavily involved in extracurricular activities and class projects. Anticipating marriage in the future, they knew they needed to be top candidates to have their choice of where they worked.
“To get jobs in the same location that we would both enjoy and that were really targeted toward our passion, we would have to be the cream of the crop,” said Katie. “We pushed each other. If I’d hear something related to propulsion or any of Steven’s interests, I would really encourage him to do it, and he would encourage me just the same.”
On top of their involvement on campus, Katie completed four internships and Steven completed three, allowing them to travel across the United States and gain experience in their field of study.
After a long week at their last internship, the couple visited their favorite beach in Corpus Christi. Steven proposed. Katie said yes.
I think we have to do an aerospace themed wedding
As wedding plans were in the works and the couple was searching for a venue, the two couldn’t help but to find inspiration in their shared passion.
“I said, ‘if you go to space camp and you dated through your aerospace engineering degrees and you’re about to be flight test engineers, I think we have to do an aerospace themed wedding, I don’t think we have a choice,’” said Katie with a laugh.
It was set, and in early January the couple married at the American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Aerospace is so essential to our lives and our relationship,” said Katie. “We met through aerospace, our love grew through aerospace, it’s our shared career, our shared passion.”
In the theater where the ceremony was held, guests were seated in vintage first class airline seats appropriately outfitted with seat buckles and ash trays. Each guest received (e)motion sickness bags with tissues inside and as they took their seats, vintage airline travel advertisements played on the screen. Katie was escorted down the aisle to the theme song of the 80’s movie “Top Gun,” and the newlyweds exited the ceremony to another “Top Gun” song, “Mighty Wings.”
The reception that followed was held in the museum’s hanger under the large wings of a restored 1940 Douglas DC-3 aircraft. At the reception were pilot hats and aviator sunglasses for guests and travel postcards for them to write notes to the bride and groom. On the tables were blue and gold sheets of paper along with instructions on how to fold a paper airplane. At the end of the reception, Katie and Steven walked out to a shower of paper airplanes.
We both very much enjoy aerospace
Not long after their wedding, Katie and Steven moved across the country where they again found themselves working together, this time in industry instead of the classroom.
“Anytime an aircraft flies overhead we’ll be like, ‘Oh, I wonder what that is. A fighter? A commuter, maybe?’ We both very much enjoy aerospace,” said Steven.
Living her first love of mission control, Katie is training to become a flight test director, which consists of communicating with the pilot and flight test engineers to provide effective test performance. In support of this, Steven is in charge of evaluating and maintaining jet engine operations.
“I still have the dream of being the mission director on the first mission to Mars,” said Katie. “And Steven wants to be in the control room as the propulsion lead when we do that.”
