Audrey Chen ’24 is guided by the philosophy that “many opportunities only come when you ask for them.” This approach has served her well, from becoming a NASA intern at age 15 to leading a team of autonomous boats at MIT Arcturus to take up a managerial position at Formlabs, a company dealing with 3D printing technology, right after graduation.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Chen showed great aptitude and passion for engineering at a newborn age and skipped several math classes. During her junior year of high school, she saw a post about the JPL Space Academy at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although the program was intended for juniors and seniors, she asked if they would make an exception for her, and they agreed. During her first year of college, she helped run the program as a substitute.
But Chen didn’t stop there: she dreamed of an internship at NASA. She asked her mentor and at the age of 15, she became a drone air traffic control researcher at NASA. “I wasn’t old enough to drive,” Chen says. “High school ended, the bell rang, and I put on my backpack and ran down the street to JPL. Can you imagine being a security guard at the gate of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a kid comes to work?
Chen worked on the Orbiting Arid Subsurfaces and Ice Sheet Sounder (OASIS) project, which aims to find and study freshwater aquifers and ice sheets. “The mission was in a very early stage, so I was involved in defining the system and goals,” says Chen.
Next stop: MIT
After graduating from high school, Chen traveled across the country to pursue her eclectic interests at MIT. When she wasn’t fulfilling the requirements for her mechanical engineering degree, she could be found working in leatherwork, glassblowing, or bench welding in one of MIT’s studios. documenting MIT student life with his camera (earning “The Eyes of MIT” through MIT Admissions), working as a deep-sea sediment sampling researcher, and most notably leading an award-winning team of autonomous boats Arcturus.
“Arcturus was the highlight of my career at MIT,” says Chen. She founded a band at ul MIT Sea Grant in 2022, along with a group of equally enthusiastic students who elected Chen as captain.
“I had no experience with maritime autonomy, so we pushed hard to organize training and organize a lot of workshops to make them feel comfortable coming in and contributing as quickly as possible,” she recalled. Looking for additional funding and support, the team found a home in MIT Edgerton Center.
Launching Arcturus
“Whenever I think about how Arcturus was created and how it continues, I think it’s a miracle,” Chen says. “The first year we were at the Roboboat competition, there were five of us, and if any of us had not decided to join the team, we either wouldn’t have the boat, we wouldn’t have the electronics, we wouldn’t have the code to run the boat, otherwise we wouldn’t have the funds to run the team.”
Chen’s first year as captain required a huge amount of work because the team was very tiny. In addition to managing the team and ensuring that goals were met on time, Chen also served as the team’s business manager, treasurer, media manager and photographer. “I was juggling a lot of things. Since then, these roles have been further divided among more people on the team,” he says.
Recruiting for an autonomous boat team is not uncomplicated because many students do not gain experience in marine robotics in high school. To maintain a broad recruiting pool, Chen did not expect students to have experience in autonomy or marine systems. “Creating a friendly and welcoming environment where people can learn is crucial, otherwise there won’t be a team. We tried really hard to recruit from a large pool of people. We emphasize that we are open to all directions, at any time of the year. As an industry, marine robotics, like most engineering, is largely male-dominated. We work hard to recruit people of all genders and ethnicities.”
Thanks to Chen’s skillful recruitment, Arcturus’ membership grew from five to 74 in 2024. Arcturus has flourished under Chen’s leadership, winning first place overall design in the 2023 Roboboat competition.
Challenges of autonomous boats
Chen was interested in autonomous boats because it is a field full of potential. “You leave the robot on land and turn it off and it doesn’t move on its own, or you put it in a body of water and do nothing and it still moves with the currents. It has to constantly gather information and try to locate where it is,” Chen says.
Chen sees great potential in the marine biobiotics industry to collect crucial data about our environment. “Autonomy in maritime space is not as well researched as autonomy on land. Maritime autonomy holds enormous potential to benefit the world. You’re thinking about mapping ocean topology, searching for endangered species, protecting habitats, or studying bleached coral reefs. As a vehicle, you have more freedom of movement than a buoy. This makes it possible to collect water and sediment samples from a larger area. And by making it autonomous, you eliminate high labor costs, which will lower the price per sample for the researcher. These are different ways in which autonomy can benefit the research sphere, but also the world more broadly.”
Chen graduated in early February this year and turned Arcturus over to captains and rising juniors Ami Shi and Karen Guo. “They’re rock stars. The team is in good hands,” says Chen.
Become a project manager at Formlabs
Chen graduated a semester early and accepted a position as a project manager at Formlabs. He brings many lessons from MIT to his work. “The biggest thing I’ve learned is that I don’t have to know everything. Part of success is knowing what you don’t know. So I’m always aware that in every Arcturus meeting, and probably every technical meeting I attend at Formlabs, I won’t be the smartest person in the room. And that’s okay. I don’t have to be the smartest person in the world because that’s not my job. My job is to bring these projects together and have enough knowledge of all the systems to integrate them.
Chen is excited about the opportunity to stay near MIT after graduation, which will allow her to visit friends and continue mentoring Arcturus. When announcing her up-to-date job, she noted, “To my friends at MIT, I’ll be right down the street, so you won’t be able to get rid of me that easily!”