• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2025

• Washington University in St. Louis, Mechanical Engineering, ‘25

• Host Institution: Relativity

• Mentor: TBD

• Brookie Mentor: TBD

Estela Villacis is a fourth-year mechanical engineering major at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) and was raised in Brooklyn, NY. From a young age, she has been captivated by engineering, space, and exploring what is beyond our planet. Her passion for engineering began by creating miniature LEGO spaceships and rockets, envisioning what it was like to be an engineer. Falling into a loophole in science-fiction movies, she fell in love with The Martian and Interstellar and realized she wanted to be like those engineers depicted in the films. 

At WashU, Estela is the President of WURocketry, a student organization consisting of designing, building, testing, and launching an 8-10 foot reusable rocket used to compete in the NASA Student Launch Competition. As President, Estela oversees a club of 61 talented individuals and ensures that all team efforts are coordinated toward the NASA Student Launch Competition. Previously, she had served as the Structures subteam lead responsible for designing, manufacturing, and building the structure of the team’s rocket for competition. 

Additionally, Estela is a TA for Thermodynamics and serves as a Peer Ambassador for Study Abroad. In the spring of 2024, Estela studied abroad in Dublin, IE at University College Dublin (UCD). At UCD, she served as a student representative for the Institute of Study Abroad Ireland Program. In her study abroad experience, Estela got to experience a variety of different cultures, travel to multiple countries, and explore her passions outside of engineering. Her experience has motivated her to serve as a Peer Ambassador for Overseas Programs at WashU, encouraging other students to study abroad. 

Last summer, Estela worked in the Bayly Lab at WashU conducting undergraduate research in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Her research focused on finding a phantom material to calibrate magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) to study the properties of brain tissue noninvasively by imaging.  

In her free time, Estela loves going to cycling classes, exploring new places, watching K-Dramas, going to concerts, going to art museums, and playing the guitar! Estela is thrilled to join Relativity in Long Beach, CA as a Propulsion Engineering Intern in the Propulsion Engineering Department. As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Estela is beyond excited to exemplify who Brooke Owens was - not just as an engineer but as someone passionate about breaking industry standards!