• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2021

• Illinois Institute of Technology, Aerospace, ‘23

• Host Institution: Stratolaunch Systems

• Mentor: Rob Meyerson

• Brookie Mentor: Shannon Gatta

Andy de Fonseca is a non-traditional student, returning to school after ten years in the workforce for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering. In 2008 she graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale with degrees in History, Theatre, and Cinema/Photography but ended up volunteering at the Adler Planetarium a few years later and falling back in love with her first fling: space. She started the Chicago branch of The Planetary Society and grew it to the second largest branch in the world. She is now a TPS Worldwide Outreach Coordinator.

During maternity leave, she watched the SpaceX booster land on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship and [thought that was the coolest thing ever] knew she had to be a part of that. She combined her love for space exploration with her love for building and applied to Illinois Tech for aerospace engineering. She will graduate with her Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering in Aerospace Engineering in May 2023.

Andy is the founder and president of SEDS@IIT—Illinois Tech’s rocketry club through Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, and Flight Club—Illinois Tech’s flight maintenance club. She is the Mechanical Lead for Scarlet Spacehawks, the robotics team that competes in the NASA RMC Lunabotics challenge. She is on a research team doing thermal analysis for electric motors in order to find more efficient cooling methods. Andy is a USRA Distinguished Undergraduate, an AIAA Diversity Scholar, and a recipient of the NASA Illinois Space Grant and Society of Women Engineers scholarship.

Passionate about space exploration through her years with The Planetary Society, Andy is working toward a career in deep-space propulsion and off-world habitats. Her goal is to get to the lunar surface to help set up the base that will take us further into the unknown.

Andy is hoping her success encourages other mothers to go back to school for their dream STEM degree.