• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2019

• University of Oklahoma, Aerospace Engineering, '22

• Host Institution: Sierra Nevada Corporation

• Mentor: Tory Bruno

Kaley grew up in the small town of Prairie Grove, Arkansas and graduated from Prairie Grove High School. While at PGHS, she participated in a four-year pre-engineering program, where she fell in love with engineering and aerospace. After high school, she decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering with a minor in entrepreneurial business at the University of Oklahoma.

At the University of Oklahoma, Kaley participates in multiple activities. She has served as the chief aerodynamics engineer on the Formula SAE Sooner Racing Team, which designs and builds a formula-style race car to race at competitions. She has also participated in undergraduate research with the rocketry program, where she helps manufacture and launch high powered rockets for unique payloads. Kaley has also been an active mentor and leader in the university community, serving in leadership positions in her sorority: Alpha Sigma Kappa-Women in Technical Studies, as Secretary of the Oklahoma Chapter of AIAA, as a mentor on the College of Engineering’s Dean’s Leadership Council, as well as others. Recently, she has been selected as an OU Start Hub Fellow, participating in a selective entrepreneurial program and incubator for students of all disciplines, as well as selected as a BLAZE Space Entrepreneurs Fellow, an accelerator for entrepreneurial ventures focusing in the space industry.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Kaley spent her summer as a systems engineering intern on the Dream Chaser spacecraft team at Sierra Nevada Corporation. She worked issues relating to systems integration, implementation, and data management.

After working at Sierra Nevada Corporation, Kaley completed two tours at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as an intern with L.Z. Technology in SPARTAN, the flight controller team for exterior electrical and thermal systems on the International Space Station. During her tours, she was able to complete introductory flight controller training, as well as obtain her certification to send commands to the ISS. She also worked with the Orion MPO team to create interfaces for future Artemis flight controllers.

Kaley will be spending the summer of 2021 working at United Launch Alliance in Denver, CO.