Aerospace engineer shares how co-op helped her discover her path
UC Fulbright scholar and doctoral candidate gives advice to future engineers
The “College Matters. Alma Matters.” Podcast interviewed University of Cincinnati aerospace engineering Ph.D. candidate Lynn Pickering earlier this month. In the episode she discusses her undergraduate experience at UC, the importance of co-op and her research of fuzzy logic.
Pickering shared there was one thing that made UC stand out against the rest.
“The big thing for me was UC’s co-op program," she said. “If I hadn’t had that, I wouldn’t have known that maybe aerospace wasn’t the right thing for me and I would’ve had to work somewhere for years to figure that out."
The co-op program at UC is ranked No. 4 in the nation. Pickering shared that through her co-op experiences, she realized she had interests outside of aerospace engineering and discovered her passion for fuzzy logic, AI and machine learning.
Two years into her undergraduate career at UC, she connected with aerospace engineering professor Kelly Cohen, who introduced her to fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic focuses on machine learning that tries to mimic human reasoning, allowing the truth of variables to range between zero and one.
Pickering also shared that having work experience in the engineering field as an undergraduate gives UC students an advantage compared to schools that may not require co-ops.
“It’s scary to do interviews and stuff, but doing it as a freshman, it’s a huge advantage over a lot of other students,” she said.
Listen to the full episode: Lynn Pickering of the University of Cincinnati: aerospace engineering, fuzzy logic and Fulbright research scholar.
Lynn Pickering was named Graduate Student Engineer of the Month from UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS).
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.