Do you know our Pros? Meet Maggie Goertzen – Billy Poole Ski with the Pros Alumni, Pro Skier for Dynastar, and Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering Mastermind!!
When your last name starts with the word “GO” you know you are destined to go big places. Maggie is showing us how it’s done. Not only a gnarly skier in her own right, but a ground breaking mechanical and aerospace engineer by trade and training. Maggie has been an avid supporter of the Billy Poole Foundation and we could not be prouder of her and her accomplishments so far. We have a feeling she has just begun the “GO” part of her career and we cannot wait to see where it takes her!
Maggie grew up skiing, climbing and mountain biking in Montana. 
She relocated to the Salt Lake City area to pursue her mechanical engineering degree at The University of Utah, while also exploring the rugged terrain of this beautiful area. With Alta and Snowbird right up the canyon, the fun (and learning) was just beginning. Along with her skiing and biking skills, her engineering interest and innate talent became obvious. University of Utah’s Mechanical Engineering Program is one of the top engineering programs in the world. Excelling there is no small feat.
Watch Maggie shredding the fluff at Snowbird this past week:
She began to seek out research opportunities that would let her explore a variety of mechanical engineering emphases.
Under the supervision of mechanical engineering assistant professor Amanda Smith and funding by UROP (undergraduate research opportunities program at the Univ of Utah), Maggie conducted an analysis of energy usage in high performance buildings. She then went on to work collaboratively, as a design engineer, in the chemical engineering department with assistant professor Swomitra Mohanty.
In Dr. Mohanty’s lab she learned the significance of working with other engineering disciplines to solve complex problems. While thoroughly enjoyed her experiences in both laboratories, they were not a perfect fit for her interests. Maggie found her research calling in the Nanotribology and Precision Engineering Lab, led by mechanical engineering associate professor Bart Raeymaekers.
Maggies’s research focuses on additive manufacturing of low-density multi-functional materials with tailored properties. The problem addressed in her research is integrating stereolithography additive manufacturing with ultrasound directed self-assembly, to organize (nano)particles dispersed in a liquid polymer into user-defined patterns. Ultrasound directed self-assembly employs standing pressure waves to drive (nano)particles dispersed in a fluid medium into user-defined patterns. This is groundbreaking and critical research. 
According to Maggie’s advisor, “this research, if successful, will create a new manufacturing process that enables fabricating materials with a user-specified microstructure in a layer-by-layer fashion.”
Maggies dedication and enthusiasm paid off and Maggie was selected as a 2017 Brook Owens Fellow. https://mech.utah.edu/maggie-goertzen-fellow/
Created to honor the legacy of a beloved space industry pioneer and accomplished pilot, Dawn Brooke Owens (1980 – 2016), the Brooke Owens Fellowship Program
is designed to serve both as an inspiration and as a career boost to capable young women who aspire to explore our sky and stars, to shake up the aerospace industry, and to help their fellow men and women here on planet Earth. They do this by matching thirty-six extraordinary women per year with purpose-driven, paid internships at leading aviation and space companies and organizations and with senior and executive level mentors. http://www.brookeowensfellowship.org/
So, while she crushes it on the slopes, she is also crushing it in engineering research lab at the same time. 
Bravo my friend! You are an inspiration to all of us!!
We cannot wait to see you this coming weekend at Ski Discovery and the 2018 Billy Poole Ski with the Pros Weekend.
*I am not sure about the rest of you, but I ordered a few books to brush up on my knowledge of her field of study. Goal number 1, learn to pronounce “nanotribology” correctly. *
