BECCA THOSS

• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2017

• University of Southern California, Chemical Engineering ‘18

• Host Institution: Planetary Resources

• Mentor: Lauren Kickham

Becca Thoss is now a Systems Engineer for Ball Aerospace. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a major in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Economics. Originally from Chicago, Becca spent her weekends growing up in Chicago’s great museums, but her favorite was always the Museum of Science and Industry. With a passion for chemistry and mathematics, she chose to pursue chemical engineering for its diversity of applications and a strong background in thermodynamics and chemistry.

At USC, Becca served as a Freshman Academy Coach and TA for an introductory engineering class; as Editor-in-Chief of Viterbi Conversations in Ethics, an undergraduate student written and published a magazine about engineering ethics; and as President of Order of Omega, a Greek honors society. She worked at the MC Gill Composites Center at USC as an undergraduate research assistant, in addition to interning at VeePak, a contract manufacturing firm, and at Virgin Orbit. She has held both technical and business development roles.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Becca worked at Planetary Resources in Redmond, WA. She primarily worked in Business Development, taking advantage of the opportunity to develop both her engineering and economic skillsets in a meaningful and creative capacity.