Friday, November 3
Salt Lake City, Utah
2:00 PM
Colorado
at
Utah
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Babcock-Chi: Soccer’s Residential Aerospace Engineer
November 02, 2023 | Soccer
The fifth-year graduate student navigates soccer and studies
BOULDER – Colorado soccer embarks on its final regular season match with a visit to Utah on Friday. The Buffaloes will look to pick up a third consecutive win and continue to push for a spot in the upcoming NCAA Tournament field.
One Buff who will not be present in Salt Lake City on Friday is fifth-year graduate student Jade Babcock-Chi. Unfortunately, an untimely knee injury cut Babcock-Chi's season and her collegiate career short this season, having undergone surgery and missing the final five matches of 2023.
Her teammates have joked with her over the last five seasons, calling her an 'astronaut' or a 'rocket scientist' as a nod to her undergraduate degree and current pursuit of a master's in Aerospace Engineering. And it's with good reason.
Babcock-Chi graduated with her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Computer Science in 2023 and is currently continuing her accelerated M.S. in Aerospace Engineering with a focus in Astrodynamics and Satellite Navigation (ASN).
She is one of three of CU's 382 student-athletes in the program this year.
"People definitely just assume I do rocket science," Babcock-Chi joked. "I think that's maybe like 5% of what it is. But it's a majority of a lot of other things like electronics, coding, orbits and things like that. It's not just rockets. It's satellites. It's planes. It's self-driving cars."
If it sounds like a lot it is because it is.
"I came in with a lot of credits for high school," she explained. "That enabled me to basically bypass all my electives. I was doing research and I saw that there was an option to do a computer science minor, so I started off with that. That double counts for my major and then I realized I'm still going to be lacking in credits so I thought I would try out the accelerated master's program called bachelor's accelerated master's (BAM). That enabled me to do like 40% of my masters during the last year of undergrad and then finish the rest off in a year."
Juggling a full class load and Division I sport is a challenge that many outside of collegiate athletics won't fully grasp. But to carry a high GPA in a such demanding program, while playing DI soccer is taking it to another level.
"It's definitely been tough," Babcock-Chi expressed. "I think people don't really understand sometimes how much time I'm putting in. I wake up early to get to practice, drive home to get ready for class and then I go to class. I usually work pretty late to do my schoolwork and then I work in the research lab too. I spend maybe 10 hours a week doing that, but I enjoy it, which is why I do it. I think in-season is really tough. In the spring I can relax a bit more and focus on school."
On the pitch, she's a constant for the Buffs through midfield and defensive backline. Her playing time started sparingly as a freshman in 2019 but worked her way into a starting spot in five of CU's final seven matches. Her first career goal came in CU's 6-0 win over Northern Colorado in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Her sophomore year saw the season pushed to the spring of 2021, where she started 11 of 12 matches and held the Buffs to a return to the NCAA Tournament. The fall of 2021 proved to be her best season, starting all 19 matches and recording a career-high four points (1 G, 2).
"Jade evolved from a part-time player her freshman year to one of our most important players over the past four years," head coach Danny Sanchez noted. "She is one of the most versatile performers we have ever coached. We are very sad she is finishing her career inured, but she has left a mark on CU Soccer."
Babcock-Chi started 13 of 14 matches this season, tallying a goal and an assist before having her season cut short.
The three-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll honoree and 2022 College Sports Communicators All-District selection, undoubtedly will have plenty of options after her master's degree.
But just like her academic path, she's got a pretty clear direction of where she wants to apply her talents.
"I want to create things that help people," Babcock-Chi stated. "A lot of the aerospace entities get wrapped into working for the government and building really good things like fighter planes which aren't really beneficial to society. I want to do something related to GPS because I think it is beneficial to society and navigation in general. I want to work with satellites and navigation both on Earth and beyond."
The Buffs and Utes will kickoff at 2 p.m., on Friday. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
One Buff who will not be present in Salt Lake City on Friday is fifth-year graduate student Jade Babcock-Chi. Unfortunately, an untimely knee injury cut Babcock-Chi's season and her collegiate career short this season, having undergone surgery and missing the final five matches of 2023.
Her teammates have joked with her over the last five seasons, calling her an 'astronaut' or a 'rocket scientist' as a nod to her undergraduate degree and current pursuit of a master's in Aerospace Engineering. And it's with good reason.
Babcock-Chi graduated with her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Computer Science in 2023 and is currently continuing her accelerated M.S. in Aerospace Engineering with a focus in Astrodynamics and Satellite Navigation (ASN).
She is one of three of CU's 382 student-athletes in the program this year.
"People definitely just assume I do rocket science," Babcock-Chi joked. "I think that's maybe like 5% of what it is. But it's a majority of a lot of other things like electronics, coding, orbits and things like that. It's not just rockets. It's satellites. It's planes. It's self-driving cars."
If it sounds like a lot it is because it is.
"I came in with a lot of credits for high school," she explained. "That enabled me to basically bypass all my electives. I was doing research and I saw that there was an option to do a computer science minor, so I started off with that. That double counts for my major and then I realized I'm still going to be lacking in credits so I thought I would try out the accelerated master's program called bachelor's accelerated master's (BAM). That enabled me to do like 40% of my masters during the last year of undergrad and then finish the rest off in a year."
Juggling a full class load and Division I sport is a challenge that many outside of collegiate athletics won't fully grasp. But to carry a high GPA in a such demanding program, while playing DI soccer is taking it to another level.
"It's definitely been tough," Babcock-Chi expressed. "I think people don't really understand sometimes how much time I'm putting in. I wake up early to get to practice, drive home to get ready for class and then I go to class. I usually work pretty late to do my schoolwork and then I work in the research lab too. I spend maybe 10 hours a week doing that, but I enjoy it, which is why I do it. I think in-season is really tough. In the spring I can relax a bit more and focus on school."
On the pitch, she's a constant for the Buffs through midfield and defensive backline. Her playing time started sparingly as a freshman in 2019 but worked her way into a starting spot in five of CU's final seven matches. Her first career goal came in CU's 6-0 win over Northern Colorado in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Her sophomore year saw the season pushed to the spring of 2021, where she started 11 of 12 matches and held the Buffs to a return to the NCAA Tournament. The fall of 2021 proved to be her best season, starting all 19 matches and recording a career-high four points (1 G, 2).
"Jade evolved from a part-time player her freshman year to one of our most important players over the past four years," head coach Danny Sanchez noted. "She is one of the most versatile performers we have ever coached. We are very sad she is finishing her career inured, but she has left a mark on CU Soccer."
Babcock-Chi started 13 of 14 matches this season, tallying a goal and an assist before having her season cut short.
The three-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll honoree and 2022 College Sports Communicators All-District selection, undoubtedly will have plenty of options after her master's degree.
But just like her academic path, she's got a pretty clear direction of where she wants to apply her talents.
"I want to create things that help people," Babcock-Chi stated. "A lot of the aerospace entities get wrapped into working for the government and building really good things like fighter planes which aren't really beneficial to society. I want to do something related to GPS because I think it is beneficial to society and navigation in general. I want to work with satellites and navigation both on Earth and beyond."
The Buffs and Utes will kickoff at 2 p.m., on Friday. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
Players Mentioned
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