• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2025

• University, Aerospace Engineering, ‘27

• Host Institution: a.i. Solutions

• Mentor: TBD

• Brookie Mentor: TBD

Alex Key is a Sophomore at NC State University pursuing a major in Aerospace Engineering, as well as a minor in Computer Programming. Alex is thrilled to be working with a.i. Solutions this summer and to have the opportunity to work with the other spectacular fellows of the Brooke Owens Fellowship.

Even from an early age, the people around them always suspected Alex would end up in engineering. Alex was completing math booklets and getting ahead in math from the minute they learned to read, and math felt so natural that Alex was always trying to learn more. Though they wouldn’t learn what aerospace engineering was until much later, it was a natural choice for engineering as they were fascinated with going to space and exploring other planets since learning what space was. It was always a fight to drag Alex away from just one more video about different planets or some other astrophysical phenomena as a kid,

Alex’s passion for math, and later physics, would lead them to the NC School of Science and Mathematics. There, they found a way to connect their passion for math, physics, and space in the High Powered Rocketry Club. In addition to finding their place in hobby rocketry, Alex also discovered a passion for coding and design, which led them to a research program with the school over the summer, and eventually a position with the highschool’s makerspace.

Even after graduation, Alex found more and more ways to apply their new passions in university, becoming a research assistant in the university’s additive manufacturing lab, designing rocket components for their club in computer aided design programs, and even building their own rockets to become Level 2 Certified with the Tripoli Rocketry Association! Even now Alex can often be found in the High Powered Rocketry Club’s lab, programming electronics, designing new rockets, or building new rocket parts with friends.

Despite Alex’s commitment to academics, extracurriculars, and their job, they always try to make time for their other hobbies and the little things that make them happy. If they’re not working or with the rocketry club, you can often find Alex drawing, painting, playing video games, or visiting their family and friends.