News

Evelyn Madewell, a graduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received the prestigious 2025 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships Program (NSFGRFP). 

Madewell, a Ph.D. student, graduated from the University of Washington with a major in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering with an Applied Mathematics minor. At UW, her capstone project was awarded the Capstone Technical Excellence and went on to compete as the first US team in the European Air Cargo Challenge with their designed aircraft. Madewell was also recognized as one of the “Trailblazing Women of Aerospace” in the UW Aero & Astro Highflight newspaper.

Madewell has interned with Freefly Systems as a flight test and software engineer where she flew many of their industrial drones, executing test plans, retrofitting with various updates, and creating production scripts. Following this she interned with Hood Technology, where she engaged in a literature review on vision-based UAV navigation while still in her last quarter of undergrad. During the summer, she developed a tracking display for in-flight UAV docking from radar test data as well as drafted and iterated on skyhooking models with prototype testing. This upcoming summer she will be contributing to the Stratolaunch Talon A system as a guidance, navigation, and control intern.

Her NSF proposal discussed how despite the growing applications and technologies available for aerial navigation, current navigation systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) typically rely on a pairing of GNSS location information, which can be unreliable due to obstacles or simply limited in remote environments, and IMU measurement data, which can have compounded position error. Madewell will work with Professor Valasek to develop a novel, visual-based navigation system that precisely estimates aerial vehicle pose and location in GPS-denied scenarios, enabling UAVs to reach targets and fly in previously inaccessible areas as well as creating a reliable alternative in GPS outages.

Madewell says “I’m thrilled to accept this prestigious honor. I am especially grateful to Dr. Valasek for his encouragement in pursuing this as well as to Dr. Vagners for his advice along the way — without these two mentors I would not be the engineer I am today. As a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, I am excited to utilize its resources while continuing my research alongside Dr. Valasek and the Vehicle Systems & Control Lab team as a graduate student at Texas A&M University.” Congratulations Evelyn! VSCL is thrilled to have you on our team!

Cassie-Kay McQuinn was selected as the recipient of the Stanger Endowed Graduate Fellowship. Established by Dianna Stanger, the fellowship provides academic freedom to selected fellows by providing a portion of their support for two years. The goal of the fellowship is to give students the confidence they need to pursue their dreams regardless of the obstacles that are in their way. The selection process for the fellowship focuses on how the student plans to leverage their Ph.D. toward the greater good and on ways in which the student has shown commitment to advancing women’s participation and inclusion in Aerospace Engineering and other STEM fields. 

Cassie-Kay was an active member of Club of Females in Engineering (CAFE) throughout her undergraduate studies. This organization highlights the importance of academic excellence, career development, and providing a community for women studying engineering. As a graduate student she has been actively involved in student mentorship through the VSCL and Sigma Gamma Tau (SGT), where she served as the president in 2022. Cassie-Kay wants to leverage her skill set and experience to bring technology and therefore encouragement to people and students who do not have access to resources or the support to pursue a STEM career.