• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2019

• Arizona State University, Ph.D. Systems Engineering and Instrumentation, B.S. Physics, '18

• Host Institution: DigitalGlobe

• Mentor: Scott Parazynski

Angelica Berner is a Ph.D. student at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University focusing on Systems Engineering and Instrumentation. Shortly after she graduated from ASU with her B.S. in Physics in December 2018, Angelica was awarded the Brooke Owens Fellowship and moved to Colorado to work on Maxar’s Spacecraft Engineering team where she stayed until she started graduate school in Fall 2020.

During her undergraduate career, Angelica became very involved in her institution through Sundial, a program dedicated to creating a support system and community for first year, out of state, and minority students in Physics and Earth & Space Exploration. First acting as a mentee, Angelica was paired with mentors each semester who encouraged her to explore things that interested her even if she had no experience in them, and she soon found herself applying to an abundance of opportunities each year. Because of her mentors’ support and confidence in her, Angelica was awarded various internships, including an REU at the College of Wooster, the ASU/NASA Space Grant, and an internship at NASA Langley. Angelica is very fortunate and grateful to have plenty of mentors who believe in her and aims to incorporate that same type of support and motivation in her own mentoring.

Outside of Sundial, Angelica became heavily involved in another student organization, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space - ASU chapter (SEDS-ASU). During her time with SEDS-ASU, Angelica became the social media coordinator, later served as President, and eventually successfully co-hosted the largest student-led space conference, SpaceVision, in 2019. Her time with SEDS-ASU helped her discover the aerospace world, something she quickly became passionate about.

Angelica was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and has always been a question-asker. In her youth, she bounced from hobby to hobby searching for things that captivated her, something she finds herself doing today. Her desire to learn and her constant stream of questions allows her to find a wide array of projects and opportunities to get involved with in all aspects of her life. When she can, Angelica enjoys reading comics and books, going to cons, and helping out at her Mom’s restaurant.