• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2022

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.S. Aerospace Engineering, ‘22

• Host Institution: Sierra Nevada Corporation

• Executive Mentor: Zack Krevor

• Brookie Mentor: Aarti Patel

Erika Jarosch is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pursuing a major in Aerospace Engineering and a minor in German. When she was young, Erika hung blueprints around her walls and dreamed of becoming an inventor. She was obsessed with reading biographies of activists and scientists, and was inspired to pursue Aerospace Engineering after reading Ashlee Vance’s biography of Elon Musk. In her free time Erika loves to stay active and explore, and participates in bouldering, hiking, surfing, yoga, and playing soccer.

Erika found her passion for space exploration at UIUC, particularly after becoming involved with her university’s SEDS chapter- the Illinois Space Society (ISS). Through this club, she has been involved in the Space-Grant High Powered Rocketry, RASC-AL, NASA Student Launch, and the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition technical projects. Additionally, Erika has served on the Executive Board as Director and Assistant Director. Through these roles she has learned a lot about what it takes to be a leader and a teammate, and hopes to continue uplifting space-lovers everywhere through her career and beyond. On campus, she works as an Engineering tour guide and is also involved with GirlUp UN, Women in Aerospace, Books2Prisoners, and Engineering Council.

Erika’s first job in the aerospace industry was at Collins Aerospace, as a Systems Engineering Intern working on flight management systems. This past summer, she worked as an Automation and Operations intern working on satellites at SpaceX. This upcoming summer, she will be working as a Test Engineering intern at SNC! In the future, Erika hopes to explore career opportunities in space policy and law.