• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2024

• University of California - Los Angeles, Aerospace Engineering, ‘25

• Host Institution: Blue Origin

• Mentor: Cristie Iacomini

• Brookie Mentor: Shreya Bhat

Myrsini San Marchi is a third-year student at UCLA studying aerospace engineering. She decided to study engineering because of her fascination with space, and her eagerness to be part of space exploration technology advancement.

Myrsini is part of the UCLA Rocket Project. In her freshman year she was the hybrid team’s Vehicle Engineering sub team lead, where she oversaw the design of the rocket’s structural components, flight simulations, and recovery system. In her sophomore year she was the external structures component lead on the liquid team, where she designed and manufactured a completely monocoque aeroshell. Seeking a new exciting challenge, she made a switch and is currently the head of Propulsion where she is spearheading the design of a throttleable engine that will allow UCLA to become one of the first programs to reach an apogee of 30,000 ft. The results have been nothing short of spectacular where she has achieved the deepest collegiate throttle of 17% and is providing an engine with the capability to reach a maximum apogee of over 33,000 feet, a 50% apogee increase from the previous year.

One of her favorite things to do is go to the Mojave desert on the weekends to do static fire testing. Through this passion for testing, her propulsion team has been able to conduct 7 static fire tests in one quarter, and throttled the engine for the first time in club history. Outside of school, Myrsini enjoys going on road trips to be in nature, hiking, and doing handstands. She also enjoys going to Greece to visit her family.

Myrsini was a Department of Energy SULI intern in the summer of 2022, receiving valuable mentorship from Dr. David Couch at Sandia National Laboratories, and is looking forward to the mentorship opportunities through the Brooke Owens fellowship. She also interned at Relativity Space as a test engineering intern in the summer of 2023.

Myrsini is super excited to work at Blue Origin this summer as a fluids intern. Having opportunities to contribute to humanity’s efforts in space exploration and travel has been a lifelong goal and Myrsini is grateful to have the mentorship of the Brooke Owens fellowship to help her along her career path.