![](https://news.engineering.iastate.edu/files/2019/09/569A6835-720x480.jpg)
Kempa served as a teaching assistant for AerE 361 (Computational Techniques for Aerospace Design) for three semesters. AerE 361 is a required course with a coding component in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, and according to Rozier teaching of this course a special challenge due to technically-related issues in the past. Kempa volunteered to assist with the course while Rozier was in the process of overhauling the material, because he felt he had a valuable perspective from having taken the course as an undergraduate. Rozier nominated Kempa for his dedication and passion to teaching, which she called “truly exceptional.”