Brooke Owens Fellowship
The Brooke Owens Fellowship is a non-profit program in the United States that provides paid internships and executive mentorship for undergraduate women seeking a career in aviation or space exploration. The fellowship was created to honor the memory of Brooke Owens, a pilot and space policy expert who died of cancer at the age of 35.
Motivation and overview
The program looks to improve diversity within the aerospace industry. The program offers students paid summer internships at companies, travel stipends and assigned mentors. It was created by Lori Garver, a former NASA deputy administrator, along with aerospace executives William Pomerantz and Cassie Kloberdanz Lee.Fellows received two experienced aerospace mentors, one at their host industry, and another in an associated sector. Mentors include Lori Garver, Diana Trujillo, Charles Bolden, Pamela Melroy, Dava Newman, Danielle Wood, Emily Calandrelli, Will Pomerantz and Cassie Lee. The fellows are connected to a Fellowship class and an alumni network. The program is run with Future Space Leaders, and emphasises creativity. The annual Brooke Owens Fellowship conference happens during the Future Space Conference in Washington, D.C. Whilst the program is open to international students, some institutions can only host US citizens or green card holders.
The program's success has resulted in the creation of several spin-off fellowships, including the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship, Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, Zed Factor Fellowship, and Zenith Canada Pathways Fellowship.
Alumni
As of 2024, the Brooke Owens Fellowship has 343 alumnae across eight cohorts. Fellows span fields from engineering and science to policy, journalism, and entrepreneurship.Inaugural Class of 2017
- Jocelyn Clancy, — The Aerospace Corporation
- Katherine Carroll — The Aerospace Corporation
- Makiah Eustice — The Aerospace Corporation
- Maryam Gracias — Air Line Pilots Association
- Rachael McKee — Air Line Pilots Association
- Shreya Udupa — Altius Space Machines
- Morgan Irons — Avascent
- Mady Sargent — Ball Aerospace
- Taylor Zedosky — Ball Aerospace
- Golda Nguyen — Blue Origin
- Amy Comeau — Bryce Space and Technology
- Caroline Juang — Bryce Space and Technology
- Emily Sheffield — Commercial Spaceflight Federation
- Chelsey Ballarte — GeekWire
- Michaela Spaulding — Generation Orbit
- Karen Rucker — HawkEye 360
- Maggie Goertzen — Made In Space
- Hayley Lewis — Mojave Air and Space Port
- Jasmine Q. Smith — Mojave Air and Space Port
- Kaitlin Engelbert — The Museum of Flight
- Pau Pineda Bosque — Orbital ATK
- Sumayya Abukhalil — Orbital ATK
- Maddie Miller — Planet Labs
- Becca Thoss — Planetary Resources
- Dahlia Baker — Planetary Resources
- Karen Kuhlman — Scaled Composites
- Amanda Turk — Sierra Nevada Corporation
- Justine Walker — Sierra Nevada Corporation
- Dawn Andrews — SpaceX
- Roselin Campos — Space Sciences Laboratory
- Christine Reilly — Virgin Orbit
- Diana Alsindy — Virgin Orbit
- Ninoshka Llontop Lozano — Virgin Orbit
- Piper Sigrest — Virgin Orbit
- Christine Chappelle — Vulcan Aerospace
- Sasha Warren — XPRIZE