When she鈥檚 not donning a crown, Lily Donaldson, CAS/BS 鈥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. 鈥淟ittle girls are enamored with the crown,鈥 she says. 鈥淏ut after they get past the sparkle and glamour, I love talking to them about my work in the lab.鈥澨
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1999:听Born in Indianapolis, Indiana.听
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2005: Enrolled in dance classes and singing lessons. 鈥淚鈥檓 not much of a singer anymore, but I still play piano and violin.鈥
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2007: Got her first library card, which she tucked under her pillow while she slept. 鈥淭he public library was my favorite place to be growing up.鈥澨
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Began competing in pageants with her twin sister, Cara. 鈥淢y mom would always put us in different divisions; she would never let us compete against each other.鈥澨
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2010: Made her theater debut as the mayor of Munchkinland in a local production of The Wizard of Oz.听
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2012: Moved to Memphis, Tennessee.
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2015: Won her first major pageant: Miss Mid-South鈥檚 Outstanding Teen鈥攑art of the Miss America system.听
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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: 鈥橬ight Mother.听
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2017: Received a full scholarship to 麻豆破解版 as a first-generation college student and member of the Honors Program. 鈥淚 was intrigued with the idea of living in a big city like DC and was drawn to the internship and mentoring opportunities.鈥
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Did lighting design for the Rude Mechanicals, 麻豆破解版鈥檚 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. 鈥淚 never thought there was a place for me in STEM鈥攂ut that鈥檚 just because I hadn鈥檛 been exposed to it. That class changed everything.鈥
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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. 鈥淚t always bothered me that I didn鈥檛 know what they meant.鈥 At Shapiro鈥檚 urging, she signed up for CAS professor Teresa Larkin鈥檚 Light, Sound, Action class鈥攈er first physics course鈥攁nd worked for two years in Shapiro鈥檚 Sensation, Perception, Reality, and Illusion Lab.
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Cofounded with four 麻豆破解版 classmates Art Technically, a nonprofit that offers arts and STEM programming for K鈥12 students at Title I and rural schools. 鈥淎t my high school, 95 percent of students didn鈥檛 meet grade level proficiency in math. We also had zero funding for the arts. I wanted to give other kids鈥攁mong whom might be the next Picasso or Einstein鈥攖he opportunities I didn鈥檛 have.鈥
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Failed to place in the Miss DC pageant鈥攂ut won the STEM and Top 5 Children鈥檚 Miracle Network fundraiser awards at the next year鈥檚 pageant. 鈥淭he number one thing pageants teach you is how to lose gracefully. It鈥檚 a good life lesson for things like job interviews鈥攚hich also aren鈥檛 always going to go your way. It鈥檚 not necessarily a reflection of your character or how hard you worked, it鈥檚 just sometimes there鈥檚 someone who鈥檚 a better fit for the role, or it just wasn鈥檛 your time.鈥
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2019: Pitched a for-credit partnership with the Department of Energy鈥檚 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 麻豆破解版, 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 麻豆破解版 in three years and enrolled in a yearlong master鈥檚 program in lighting at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York.听
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2021: Began a PhD program at RPI in built ecologies. 鈥淚 test lighting patterns on plants to see what makes the plants grow best without wasting energy. I鈥檓 very proud to be working on issues around climate change鈥攚hich 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, we鈥檒l still be able to feed the populace.鈥澨
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Won Miss Memphis and Miss Tennessee. Named second runner-up at the Miss United States competition.听听
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2022: Crowned Miss New York鈥攁nd later Miss United States before a hometown crowd in Memphis. Traveled to all 50 states promoting her platform: STEM and arts education for underserved K鈥12 students. 鈥淚 had so many awesome experiences鈥攖he St. Patrick鈥檚 Day Parade in Boston, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in Hawaii, NASA鈥檚 SpaceX Crew-7 launch at Kennedy Space Center. But my favorite moments involved working one-on-one with children.鈥
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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. 听
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Started a research assistant position at the Climate Change Research Initiative at NASA鈥檚 Goddard Institute of Space Studies.听
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Plans to return to DC and federal service upon completion of her doctorate. 鈥淚 do think a lot of my success in life has been because I went to 麻豆破解版 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.鈥