• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2022

• Western New England University, Industrial Engineering ‘23

• Host Institution: Relativity Space

• Executive Mentor: Raha Hakimdavar

• Brookie Mentor: Rachel Thomas

Carly Schneider is an Industrial Engineering student at Western New England University. Originally, she is from Fishkill, NY, a quiet Hudson Valley town about an hour north of New York City. Throughout her life, she has been drawn to the two places yet to fully be explored…the oceans and outer space. As a lifelong boater and rower, she has been able to explore her love of the water in many ways. As an engineer, Carly plans to pursue her passion for space exploration in her career.

Carly discovered her love of engineering through her high school’s partnership with Project Lead the Way. In one of her PLTW classes, Carly was randomly assigned to present on Industrial Engineering, and instantly fell in love with it. Her efficiency-oriented outlook had found a place to thrive inside the scope of Industrial Engineering. From her earliest memories of entering the local planetarium on a Girl Scout trip, Carly’s curiosity for the stars is ever-growing. Her decision to pursue her dreams in aerospace, however, was nurtured by the dedicated faculty of the physics department in her high school.

Throughout her college life, Carly has worked with multiple faculty members within the University. From giving tours as a student ambassador, to teaching alongside the professors as a teaching assistant in introductory engineering courses, Carly enjoys helping other students succeed in their studies. She also works as a research assistant for the Civil Engineering department and Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. Her research will help the PVTA to optimize and rework their paratransit and dial-a-ride systems to help better serve the community. She also has helped to create the new curriculum for incoming freshmen IEs alongside the Chair of the IE department and the Student Advisory Board.

In her free time, Carly enjoys being by the water, playing fetch with her dog, and playing board games with her friends! She is also heavily involved in her TEDx program on campus, helping to create the very first TEDxWNEU talk last spring.

Carly’s goal is to use her skills in process improvement, simulation, and design to propel the space industry towards a manned mission to Mars in the future!
As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Carly will be working as a Materials Engineering and Additive Development Intern at Relativity Space!