While attending University Aviation Association (UAA) events, it is common to be in rooms surrounded by established aviation academics with fancy titles as well as graduate students pursuing academic careers.  In my discussions with these individuals there is a common theme - most aviation academics are initially drawn towards aviation through a love of flight and then transition into an academic career. 

This is my personal background – I began flying airplanes and helicopters as a teenager and it was not until I completed an internship at a major airline that I began to...