• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2020

• University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, M.S.E. Aerospace Engineering, ‘23

• University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, B.S.E. Aerospace Engineering, ‘22

• Host Institution: SpaceX

• Mentor: Debra Facktor

Camber Hortop is an aerospace engineer. Having spent over a third of her childhood abroad, Camber had a very multilingual and multicultural upbringing. In addition to four years of German public school, she also had the unique chance to spend a summer assisting with research at a university in China, and she is fortunate to have been to about fifty other countries across four continents. Camber continues to be passionate about languages and traveling, and she has always hoped to one day expand that travel to outer space, because the more she travels on Earth, the smaller it feels.

As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Camber was involved with the FIRST Alumni Network and taught several sections of the introductory engineering class. She also pursued minors in computer science and Russian. During her freshman year, Camber pursued her Private Pilot License, ultimately fulfilling a long-lasting dream the following summer. That same summer, Camber had the opportunity to intern on the Powertrain Team at Rivian Automotive, an electric adventure vehicle company. It was there that she developed her enthusiasm for the fast-paced startup culture. As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Camber worked on crewed spaceflight at SpaceX. She returned to SpaceX the following two summers to support the Starship Booster Propulsion team.

Camber stayed on at the University of Michigan to complete her master’s. Her graduate research focused on facility effects related to the testing of electric propulsion systems. Following graduation, she embarked on a 3-month, 27-country backpacking trip through Europe before starting as a propulsion engineer at Northrop Grumman. She then joined the Parachutes Team at Blue Origin.