• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2021

• University of Southern California, Astronautical Engineering, ‘21

• Host Institution: Astranis

• Mentor: Jennifer Young

• Brookie Mentor: Nina Arcot

Ava Badii is a senior pursuing a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Astronautical Engineering at the University of Southern California. As a child, she loved math, literature, and all things space. With her high school’s rocketry team, she advanced to the Team America Rocketry Challenge national finals in 2016 and 2017.

In her freshman year of college, Ava joined the USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory. She tested and integrated the recovery subsystem of Traveler III and Traveler IV, the latter being the first student-designed, student built rocket to reach space. Currently the propulsion lead, she is responsible for the development, manufacture, and integration of the laboratory’s solid rocket motors.

Ava is the president of her university’s branch of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics and enjoys organizing professional development events and speaker series. She has also been a mentor in her university’s Women in Engineering program. Currently, she is a project integration lead at the USC Space Engineering Research Center, researching low-temperature solid rocket propellant characterization and applications.

Outside her academic pursuits, Ava writes poetry and short prose pieces, power-walks, and makes her grandma laugh. She enjoys witty banter, well-timed memes, and long-form articles about politics, tech, and the financial sector.

As a 2021 Brooke Owens fellow, Ava will join Astranis as an engineering intern. She is humbled to be a part of the Brooke Owens Fellowship Program and to have peers and professors who have offered advice and encouragement.