If you were remaking the 1985 indie-teen comedy Real Genius starring Val Kilmer, you might want to consider Rosie Van Alsburg of Ann Arbor for the lead role. Like Kilmer’s character in the movie, Van Alsburg is a senior at a prestigious engineering college with a job lined up after graduation and is working on a government funded-project to advance humankind’s knowledge and discovery of space.
As the president of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) chapter at the University of Michigan, Van Alsburg and her team are working on two projects awarded by NASA through the Artemis program that aims to put a person back on the moon by 2024.
“I’ve always been interested in aerospace and flight,” said Van Alsburg, a Computer Science and Engineering Physics major and instructional aide at U-M’s College of Engineering. “When I was a kid, I told my mom that I wanted to be a flight attendant, and she asked me, ‘Why not be the pilot?’”
That might have been the first time that Van Alsburg saw herself in the role of the captain, but it was not the last. Star Trek: Voyager, the fifth series in the Star Trek franchise, was another big influence on Van Alsburg’s aspirations.
“Voyager had both a female captain and a female chief engineer,” said Van Alsburg. “That helped me realize that leading a team was something that I could do.”
Seeing strong female role models in the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] fields shaped who she wanted to become and reinforced the importance of being a role model.
“I try to be a good role model to all my students, but especially for my female students, to help them succeed,” she said. In addition to teaching an introductory computer science course at U-M, Van Alsburg is also a Student Transfer Leader, helping transfer students at the College of Engineering find college resources and opportunities like student clubs and activities.
It is a role she can appreciate firsthand having transferred to U-M from Washtenaw Community College after graduating with an associate degree in General Studies: Math and Science in 2017.
Regarding her transition from WCC to U-M, Van Alsburg says it was difficult switching schools.
“It was hard for me to find my place at U-M at first,” she said. “But with more than 1,000 student groups, it’s easy to adjust once you find your community.” Two things that Van Alsburg most appreciated about her time at WCC was the small class sizes and diversity of the student body.
“I was lucky to be able to take my math and science classes at WCC, where smaller class sizes mean you get more one-on-one instruction from the instructors,” she said. “You also get to learn from professional faculty members instead of from graduate students.” “WCC also gives students a great sense of community,” she said. “At a large school like U of M you have to search for your own community, but at WCC it’s just there.”
Van Alsburg counts SEDS and members of Zeta Omega Eta, where she chairs the Health and Wellness committee, as part of her community.
Van Alsburg has lined up a job at Duo-Security as a software engineer when she graduates in May 2020.
