Since coming to ODU in 2021 as a transfer student, Nakoma Littledove Austin has worked two part-time jobs, attended classes full time and commuted every weekday – nearly an hour and a half each way – from her home in Providence Forge, Virginia.
Austin, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, has also managed to pay for school herself. “My penny-pinching skills are unrivaled,” she laughed.
She learned how to be self-sufficient growing up surrounded by family in the Eastern Chickahominy tribe in rural New Kent County.
In high school, she took AP and dual-enrollment classes, played three instruments and had perfect attendance. Austin graduated with a 4.558 GPA, ranking fifth in her class of 212. An active church life and helping with the tribe took up most of her extra time.
After graduation, she was accepted into multiple universities, including Virginia Tech and Penn State. But the timing was bad.
“My parents had lost their jobs the year before,” she explained. “And I couldn’t bring myself to ask them to put me through university.”
She went to community college instead, earned her associate degree and worked as a certified pharmacy technician.
But aerospace was her real love. “I got into STEM because I am a big nerd, especially anything to do with Star Trek,” she said.
When she found out about Old Dominion’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and that it was less than an hour and a half away, she decided to apply.
Austin has excelled as an ODU student, maintaining a 3.96 GPA. She was recently awarded the Frankie Gale Moore Scholarship, which comes with a small amount of money. “It was a big surprise,” she said.
Colin Britcher, professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, led the committee to select the scholarship recipient. He had already noticed Austin’s work in his Fluid Mechanics class.
“It was always neat, complete and with an obvious grasp of all the mathematics,” he explained. “She told me that she ‘sees’ the equations, then figures out the physical applications later, which is quite a gift and pretty much the reverse of normal folk like me.”
Austin’s part-time job last year was helping other students with math as a tutor for the ODU Calculus Lab. Before that, during the pandemic, she was a teaching assistant for K-12 students in the tribe.
“We would have the tribal kids come into the tribal building and help them with their online classes,” she said. Austin was responsible for 11 middle and high schoolers, tutoring them in English, math, history, science and even band instruments.
“I got into STEM because I am a big nerd, especially anything to do with Star Trek.” - Nakoma Littledove Austin.
Her current job – as an undergraduate research assistant with Sharan Asundi, assistant professor in ODU’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering – involves working on a CubeSat space mission nicknamed Mission SeaLion.
In this Virginia Space Grant Consortium-supported role, Austin contributes to the design, development and launch of ODU’s second space mission. Mission SeaLion is a partnership between ODU, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the Air Force Institute of Technology. The CubeSat is scheduled to launch this year on board a Firefly launch from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Her other job is closer to home. Austin, whose first name, Nakoma, means “Great Spirit,” serves as enrollment director in her tribe’s government. She conducts genealogy research to admit new members, prints federal tribal cards and maintains tribal citizen records.
The Eastern Chickahominy, a tribe of about 250 members, has been in southeastern Virginia since the 1600s. It is a sister tribe to the Chickahominy – whose name translates to the “coarse ground (corn) people.” In 2018, the tribe was recognized federally, which is significant because it provides for their recognition as Native Americans throughout the U.S. and even abroad.
“Federal recognition opened up a lot of opportunities,” said Austin, adding that challenges remain, particularly with learning the grant writing process. “We've got all these different programs now to help our citizens: elder care, food pantries, and we even have a daycare now.”
Austin’s summer is already full. She has accepted an internship at the Newport News Shipyard. She’ll come back in the fall and graduate in December.
Her ultimate goal, however, is to work at NASA. The Langley Research Center is only 40 minutes from her home. That would be an easy commute for Austin.
“I want to be a NASA aerospace engineer or rocket scientist,” she said. “I want to do it all.”