• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2025

• Purdue University, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, ‘25

• Host Institution: Amazon Project Kuiper

• Mentor: TBD

• Brookie Mentor: TBD

Abigail is a junior at Purdue University, majoring in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.

She is the Project Manager of the Purdue Space Program’s (PSP) High Altitude Team, where she leads a team of over 100 students designing, testing and building the reusable two-stage solid rocket built by an undergraduate team at Purdue that will compete in the Argonia Cup in March 2025.

At Purdue, Abigail is an Honors College Mentor, an Ambassador for the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and part of the current cohort of Leading Women Toward Space Careers. She is particularly interested in leadership philosophies and building highly functional teams. 

Last March, Abigail was named the National Space Club’s Keynote Scholar, and delivered the keynote address to over 2000 industry executives and government officials at the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington DC.

Last summer, Abigail interned for NAVAIR, where she was a Propulsion Flight Test Engineer on the P-8 Poseidon.

Abigail has previously conducted research in Kenya funded by the National Science Foundation. She focused on educational policy and curriculum frameworks, integrating young mothers into the Tumaini Innovation Center as a way of providing long-term employment opportunities and pathways out of extreme poverty. Her research has received awards of excellence from the Purdue Undergraduate Research Conference and the John Martinson Honors College, and is part of the Global Health Talk Speaker Series. 

Abigail has traveled extensively and enjoys learning from people of varied cultures. She has volunteered with coral reef restoration biologists and elephant caretakers in Thailand, learned to build and install solar power arrays in Kenya, and assisted nurses at a snakebite clinic in Tanzania, among other projects. She is an avid hiker and rock climber, and has explored dozens of national parks and natural wonders on five continents. She maintains a very long list of wild places she hopes to explore someday. Professionally, Abigail intends to earn a graduate degree and serve to advance the frontiers of space exploration. 

She is thrilled to be joining an incredible class of talented women as part of this fellowship!