BROOKE OWENS FELLOWSHIP EXECUTIVE TEAM THANKS JUANG, KOTHE JOINING
PRESS RELEASE: The Brooke Owens Fellowship is announcing a change to its leadership team, thanking Caroline Juang for her incredible service and welcoming alumni Maddie Kothe.
| The Brooke Owens Fellowship – the award-winning, non-profit program that provides paid internships and executive mentorship to exceptional undergraduate women and gender minorities in aerospace – is announcing a change to its alumnae involvement on the executive team as Caroline Juang will be stepping down and replaced by Maddie Kothe.
Caroline Juang, Ph.D student at Columbia University is stepping back from her day-to-day responsibilities with the Brooke Owens Fellowship as a member of the Executive Leadership team. As the first alumnae to join the leadership team, Caroline has been able to select 3 classes of fellows, support their career journeys, and inspire them with her amazing leadership. Caroline's efforts amid a challenging Ph.D. program showcases her love for the program and empowered the fellowship to grow and evolve sustainably.
From Juang, “I’m proud to see how much we’ve grown the Fellowship since stepping on three years ago, improving the experience for every new class and for our larger Brookie alumni network. The program was magical to me as a 2017 Brookie, and it has only improved since then with our hard work and with the support of our Fellows. It was a privilege and honor to serve and learn alongside my teammates—Kayla, Diana, Cassie, Lori, Emily, and Will—and be inspired by them every day. Today I am stepping down in my capacity as part of the Executive Leadership Team to focus on my Ph.D. dissertation, but my support for the Brooke Owens Fellowship and my fellow alumni will not end here.”
The Brooke Owens Fellowship welcomes Maddie Kothe, 2018 Brooke Owens Fellow to the team alongside Will Pomerantz, Kayla Watson, Lori Garver, and Emily Calandrelli on the Executive Team. Maddie is a Dragon Vehicle Lead at SpaceX.
From Kothe, “The Brooke Owens Fellowship has played an immense role in shaping my life, providing me with an uplifting community, instilling confidence in myself, and emphasizing the power of diverse perspectives in growing our industry. I am endlessly grateful for the fellowship and I’m humbled to have the opportunity to join the executive team. For me, it’s a chance to give back to this fellowship that has given me so much, to employ my creativity and skills to enhance the fellowship and to amplify our impact within the industry.
I am eager to play a small part in perpetuating the impact and legacy of this exceptional fellowship. I’m looking forward to contributing in a more profound capacity as we continue to empower and uplift one another. This community is an ever-growing source of inspiration and innovation which will have a ripple effect of impact on our world.”
The Brooke Owens Fellowship was founded in 2016 and continues to grow and expand, through an evolving leadership team, amazing alumni, generous grants, and donations. The Brooke Owens Fellowship will open applications for the Class of 2024 in the coming months. The continued evolution of the Brooke Owens Fellowship Executive Team, with Kothe, will drive the program’s commitment to inspiring, recruiting, including, and uplifting underrepresented communities in aerospace.
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ABOUT THE BROOKE OWENS FELLOWSHIP
The Brooke Owens Fellowship is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to providing career opportunities and both personal and professional growth for women and gender-minority college and university students in the aerospace industry. The program offers paid internships at the nation’s leading aerospace institutions; executive-level mentorship from astronauts, CEOs, and more; and a community of supportive peers and industry leaders to an annual class of approximately 40-50 Fellows. Since the program’s founding in 2016 -- shortly after the death of the program’s namesake, beloved aerospace industry professional D. Brooke Owens -- the Brooke Owens Fellowship has been awarded to 296 deserving students representing thirteen countries. The program is run by a volunteer 5-person Executive Leadership Team and a full-time Operations Director. The Brooke Owens Fellowship is the recipient of the 2017 American Astronautical Society’s Patti Grace Smith Award, the 2018 Space Frontier Foundation’s Stakeholder Expansion Award, and both the Readers’ Choice and the Editors’ Choice for the Unsung Hero of the Year Award from the 2019 SpaceNews Awards for Excellence & Innovation.