Undergraduate student kickstarts career in Aerospace with Brooke Owens Fellowship

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Sarah was chosen out of over 800 applications received by the Fellowship this year, from talented students at high-performing universities and education institutes all over the world. As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Sarah joins a professional network of women and other gender minorities in space and aviation, helping to kickstart her career in the industry. The Fellowship also gives Sarah the opportunity to complete an aerospace internship; she will work at Loft Orbital in San Francisco, CA.

The Brooke Owens Fellowship is a non-profit organisation based in the USA that encourages exceptional female and gender minority undergraduate students to join the space and aviation sector with internships, senior mentorship and a lifelong professional network of support. The Class of 2021 marks the fifth round of "Brookie" Fellows, who are selected through a competitive application process of written and creative submissions, interviews with the Fellowship’s leadership team and its close network, and interviews with the companies that will host the Fellows for their internships.

Brooke Owens Fellows must have a demonstrable desire to pursue a career in aerospace, a strong record of leadership, a commitment to their communities, and inexhaustible creativity.

In addition to her studies Sarah is an active member of the University of Edinburgh community: she is President of Edinburgh University Women in STEM and co-founder and co-director of Hello World Hack, a hackathon event for beginners. Sarah has a passion for making all areas of STEM welcoming and inclusive for all and was first drawn to the Aerospace industry by its global impact. Sarah has previously completed internships at Pixalytics Ltd. and Amazon.

I am honoured and excited to join the Brooke Owens Fellowship's incredible network of Aerospace professionals, from industry leaders to early career alumni, as a 2021 fellow. The US Aerospace industry can be difficult to break-into as a non-US citizen so I'm grateful for this opportunity to gain experience and receive mentorship.

The fellowship is largely US-focused and it's great to be joining as one of few international fellows - hopefully many more will follow!

Sarah Lappin

Brooke Owens Fellowship

The Brooke Owens Fellowship is a nationally-acclaimed non-profit organisation that champions opportunities for outstanding undergraduate women and other gender minorities in the space and aviation industry. The Fellowship supports exceptional individuals through internships, senior mentorship, and a lifelong professional network of “Brookie” alumnae.

The Fellowship was founded in 2016 to honor the memory of beloved industry pioneer and accomplished pilot D. Brooke Owens, who passed away in June 2016 at the age of 35, after a hard-fought battle with cancer. The program was co-founded by Lori Garver, the former Deputy Administrator of NASA and now CEO of Earthrise Alliance; Cassie Lee, Advanced Programs Lead for Weather and Remote Sensing at Lockheed Martin Space; and William Pomerantz, the Vice President for Special Projects at Virgin Orbit.

The Brooke Owens Fellowship celebrates its 5-year mission and legacy of disrupting the historical gender imbalance in the aerospace industry by continuing its mission to provide opportunities and access to talented young professionals from historically-underrepresented genders.

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The Brooke Owens Fellowship Executive Team is thrilled to welcome our Class of 2021. As we celebrate our fifth year of the Fellowship we extend our sincere gratitude to all of the Host companies, Mentors, donors, applicants, alums, and supporters who have made this program and our two spinoffs an extraordinary success.

Cassie Lee

Related Links

Brooke Owens Fellowship

44 exceptional students selected for the award-winning Brooke Owens Fellowship class of 2021