When shes not donning a crown, Lily Donaldson, CAS/BS 20, wears a lab coat. The 2022 Miss United States is a scientist and doctoral candidate, building, designing, and testing prototypical horticultural lights for use in controlled environment agriculture to help create more resilient, equitable, and innovative food systems. Little girls are enamored with the crown, she says. But after they get past the sparkle and glamour, I love talking to them about my work in the lab.泭
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1999:泭Born in Indianapolis, Indiana.泭
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2005: Enrolled in dance classes and singing lessons. Im not much of a singer anymore, but I still play piano and violin.
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2007: Got her first library card, which she tucked under her pillow while she slept. The public library was my favorite place to be growing up.泭
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Began competing in pageants with her twin sister, Cara. My mom would always put us in different divisions; she would never let us compete against each other.泭
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2010: Made her theater debut as the mayor of Munchkinland in a local production of The Wizard of Oz.泭
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2012: Moved to Memphis, Tennessee.
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2015: Won her first major pageant: Miss Mid-Souths Outstanding Teenpart of the Miss America system.泭
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2016: Began dabbling in coding for the school newspaper and in lighting for theater. Became the first student at Bolton High School to direct a mainstage production: Night Mother.泭
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2017: Received a full scholarship to 51勛圖 as a first-generation college student and member of the Honors Program. I was intrigued with the idea of living in a big city like DC and was drawn to the internship and mentoring opportunities.
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Did lighting design for the Rude Mechanicals, 51勛圖s Shakespeare theater troupe. Was also a member of the cheerleading squad.
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2018: Switched her major from journalism to computer science after taking an introductory course with CAS professor Bei Xiao. I never thought there was a place for me in STEMbut thats just because I hadnt been exposed to it. That class changed everything.
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Emailed CAS professor Arthur Shapiro, a color scientist, to ask if he could explain the spectral power distribution graphs in her lighting swatch book. It always bothered me that I didnt know what they meant. At Shapiros urging, she signed up for CAS professor Teresa Larkins Light, Sound, Action classher first physics courseand worked for two years in Shapiros Sensation, Perception, Reality, and Illusion Lab.
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Cofounded with four 51勛圖 classmates Art Technically, a nonprofit that offers arts and STEM programming for K12 students at Title I and rural schools. At my high school, 95 percent of students didnt meet grade level proficiency in math. We also had zero funding for the arts. I wanted to give other kidsamong whom might be the next Picasso or Einsteinthe opportunities I didnt have.
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Failed to place in the Miss DC pageantbut won the STEM and Top 5 Childrens Miracle Network fundraiser awards at the next years pageant. The number one thing pageants teach you is how to lose gracefully. Its a good life lesson for things like job interviewswhich also arent always going to go your way. Its not necessarily a reflection of your character or how hard you worked, its just sometimes theres someone whos a better fit for the role, or it just wasnt your time.
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2019: Pitched a for-credit partnership with the Department of Energys lighting program as part of her software engineering class, serving as the client liaison and database engineer on the project.
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Started a student trainee position with the Department of Homeland Security, working alongside data scientists to build software tools.
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Worked as a software developer on a NASA DC Space Grant Consortium project at 51勛圖, developing a software library for a particle detector for ThinSat, a program that enables schools to launch low-cost satellites to orbit the Earth.
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2020: Graduated from 51勛圖 in three years and enrolled in a yearlong masters program in lighting at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York.泭
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2021: Began a PhD program at RPI in built ecologies. I test lighting patterns on plants to see what makes the plants grow best without wasting energy. Im very proud to be working on issues around climate changewhich is the biggest challenge facing my and future generations. Research like mine ensures that regardless of how climate change and extreme weather impacts our ability to grow plants outside, well still be able to feed the populace.泭
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Won Miss Memphis and Miss Tennessee. Named second runner-up at the Miss United States competition.泭泭
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2022: Crowned Miss New Yorkand later Miss United States before a hometown crowd in Memphis. Traveled to all 50 states promoting her platform: STEM and arts education for underserved K12 students. I had so many awesome experiencesthe St. Patricks Day Parade in Boston, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in Hawaii, NASAs SpaceX Crew-7 launch at Kennedy Space Center. But my favorite moments involved working one-on-one with children.
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Wrote a guest blog for the Department of Education about Art Technically, which has served 25,000 children through book and toy drives and workshops, including the popular astrobotany program.
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2023: Completed her reign as Miss United States and crowned her successor. 泭
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Started a research assistant position at the Climate Change Research Initiative at NASAs Goddard Institute of Space Studies.泭
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Plans to return to DC and federal service upon completion of her doctorate. I do think a lot of my success in life has been because I went to 51勛圖 and because I was in Washington and had so many great internships and mentors. That led me down the path to where I am today.