Learn what drew Victoria Wilk to a career in aerospace engineering, and learn what airplane designers must account for when designing and testing aircraft, in this video from WGBH and The Documentary Group. Engineers contribute to the world by making practical solutions for society’s needs. Wilk describes her path to engineering and reveals some of the challenges she faced in grasping difficult concepts along the way. After establishing that an airplane’s design is determined by an understanding of how many people it will fly and how far they need to go, Wilk describes the testing that airplanes undergo to ensure they are safe no matter where they fly around the world. She concludes by explaining why working with failure is important in engineering.