{"id":1491,"date":"2023-05-01T08:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T12:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/?p=1491"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:01:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:01:21","slug":"mackinzie-washington-soars-at-boeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/mackinzie-washington-soars-at-boeing\/","title":{"rendered":"MacKinzie Washington Soars at Boeing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Adam Tsegahun.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MacKinzie
MacKinzie Washington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MacKinzie Washington (BS\/ME \u201915) is a manufacturing research and development engineer with Boeing, where she provides production support to the company\u2019s Phantom Works program and the MQ-25 Stingray uncrewed aerial tanker. She recently completed a six-month rotation as an industrial engineer supporting the 777X Aileron and Flaperon assembly lines as well as the automation cells for all assembly lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was named a 2022 Modern Day Technology Leader by the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference and a 2020 Technology Rising Star by the Women of Color STEM Conference. She chairs the Boeing Black Employees Association in St. Louis, serves as a mentor with the National Society of Black Engineers Buddy Program, and is an active member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UT also recently named her to its 2023 Volunteer 40 Under 40 class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington recently reflected on her time at UT and why she decided to go into engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What intrigued you about engineering growing up?
<\/strong>I\u2019ve always enjoyed knowing how things work, so mechanical engineering seemed like the right path. When I was younger, I would build things with my dad or help him out when he worked on his car, and I\u2019d also take things apart to see if I knew how to put them back together. In high school, I was able to take three semesters\u2019 worth of CAD, which really piqued my interest in design and understanding how to read requirements from engineering drawings. I also enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles\u2014so to me, at the end of the day, engineering problems are just complicated puzzles that need to be solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What made you come to UT?
<\/strong>I think I always knew I was going to go to UT. I\u2019m originally from Johnson City, Tennessee, and UT was the perfect distance from home and was the right campus size\u2014big but not too big. On top of that, UT has one of the best engineering programs in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also participated with the Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation within the Office of Engineering Diversity Programs. It helped make me feel welcomed in a field where there aren\u2019t many Black women. Through TLSAMP I was able to attend the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Conference, the National Society of Black Engineers Conference, and the National Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science Inc. Conference. I was able to get my position with Boeing through my connections within NSBE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What memories stand out from your time at UT?
<\/strong>Lots of memories to choose from! The professor that stands out the most is Dr. Mark Barker [senior lecturer in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering]. If I remember correctly, I had him as a professor for four courses\u2014statics, heat transfer, senior lab, and senior design\u2014and I learned he was tough but fair. He was always open to students coming for office hours to seek help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first class that stands out is the Department of Materials Science and Engineering course ME students are required to take. That class was difficult at first, and I remember struggling to understand the material. Then one day everything clicked. It was a good feeling to finally understand something that I was struggling with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other class that stands out the most is probably our senior design project. We worked with a carbon foam that some graduate students in MSE were developing to determine if it could be suitable for increasing the efficiency of a heat exchanger for filtering salt water to a drinkable form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What stood out the most was one, building a working prototype and two, learning the basics of welding. The graduate student we worked with was also a certified welder, so when it was time to make the prototype, each member of the team was able to take a turn at welding some of the pieces together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the biggest lesson you learned that is still relevant to your current work?
<\/strong>In full transparency, I don\u2019t use much actual coursework in my day-to-day job as a manufacturing research and development engineer. However, there\u2019s a lot of critical thinking and problem-solving involved that UT definitely prepared me for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing I do use the most is probably my technical writing skills for project reports. After completing a project, I have to be able to write a sound technical report on what was accomplished both for my peers and for all levels of management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other thing that is relevant is doing group projects. I work on a team of about 18 engineers supporting five different programs, and we also work with multiple other teams to complete our projects. We had multiple group projects across several courses, so that\u2019s something that translates directly to working at a large corporation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about pursuing engineering at UT?
<\/strong>It\u2019s OK to be nervous when taking engineering courses, and they do get harder but there are lots of resources to get help. Don\u2019t be afraid to get tutoring either from the tutoring office within the Tickle College of Engineering or from your professors by going to office hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also recommend joining different societies and associations such as the National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, Society of Mechanical Engineers, etc., because they open you up to many resources as well. Also, take advantage of the Engineering Professional Practice Office for internships and co-ops. They are a great resource for gaining access to potential employers with the Engineering Expo held every semester. I\u2019d also advise you to seriously consider a graduate degree. Although I didn\u2019t get my master\u2019s degree from UT, that framework was placed there by two mentors I had while on campus. Without their advice and guidance, I don\u2019t think I would\u2019ve gone back for an advanced degree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mechanical engineering akumna MacKinzie Washington talks about her experience as and path toward becoming an engineer with Boeing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[386,7],"tags":[308],"class_list":["post-1491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-news","tag-boeing"],"yoast_head":"\nMacKinzie Washington Soars at Boeing - Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mechanical engineering akumna MacKinzie Washington talks about her experience as and path toward becoming an engineer with Boeing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/mackinzie-washington-soars-at-boeing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MacKinzie Washington Soars at Boeing - 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