After Hidden Figures, new program seeks to flood aerospace with women

By Eric Berger, Featuring the Brooke Owens Fellowship

Lori Garver had just boarded a plane last June when she heard that her young friend, D. Brooke Owens, had passed away. Owens, 35, had had terminal cancer for a long time, but the moment still stung Garver, the former deputy NASA administrator. She'd mentored Owens toward her dream of running an airport, and the two had become close.

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36 aerospace women win Brooke Owens Fellowships – including one at GeekWire

By Alan Boyle, Featuring the Chelsey Ballarte, 2017 Brooke Owens Fellow, and the 2017 Brooke Owens Fellows

Thirty-six women with a passion for aerospace have been selected to receive the first batch of Brooke Owens Fellowships – paid summer internships at a wide range of institutions across the country. One of the women, Chelsey Ballarte, will be spending the summer with us at GeekWire.

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AAE undergrads selected for Brooke Owens Fellowships

By Purdue University, Featuring Amy Comeau and Pau Pineda Bosque, 2017 Brooke Owens Fellows

Two AAE undergrads will receive paid summer internships under the Brooke Owens Fellowship Program. Amy Comeau and Ana Paula Pineda Bosque were 2 of approximately 30 women selected from across the country. Both students were recommended for the program by AAE Visiting Assistant Professor Sarag Saikia.

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A new aerospace industry fellowship for women aims to address the field’s gender inequality

By Tim Ferholz

While some women have beaten the odds and landed high-ranking positions in the sector—Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, and Garver herself, for example—the demographic makeup of the field “has been a challenge for so many of us, and while it has changed, it hasn’t changed enough,” Garver says.

To that end, Garver and a group of space industry veterans have founded a fellowship in memory of Brooke Owens, a pilot and space policy expert who died this year of cancer at the age of 36. The fellowship will provide undergraduate women interested in aerospace with substantive summer jobs and professional mentors who can help guide their careers. 

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