• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2023

• California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, M.S. Aerospace Engineering, ‘24

• California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, B.S. Aerospace Engineering, ‘23

• Host Institution: Sierra Space

• Mentor: Erika Wagner

• Brookie Mentor: TBD

Payton Porter is a senior at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (SLO) studying Aerospace Engineering with a concentration in astronautics. She will be continuing her education by participating in her school’s 4+1 graduate program, where she plans to receive a master’s degree in aerospace engineering.

Payton’s love for engineering stems from her passion for science, math, teamwork, creative thinking, and hard work. The field of aerospace specifically excites Payton because of her natural curiosity with space, and the innovative and complex problem solving required to design anything for the space environment. Payton enjoys her personal time outdoors. She finds joy in hiking, running, surfing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, camping, playing soccer, and exploring new places!

She currently serves as the Vice President of Corporate Relations for Cal Poly SLO’s Society of Women Engineers, the 3rd largest SWE section in the country. In this role, Payton leads and organizes a variety of different types of events to aid SWE members in their professional development. Prior to this role, Payton dedicated her time to plan and organize various outreach and corporate SWE events.

In the true spirit of her school’s motto – “Learn by Doing” – she has developed collaboration and leadership skills by volunteering her time to support the enrichment of new students, especially those pursing engineering. Payton has been a college of engineering ambassador at Cal Poly SLO since her freshman year. Within this role, she has provided in person engineering tours to more than 1,000 prospective students. She enjoys talking to students about the awesome world of engineering, as well as personalizing each tour, both with creativity and humor! She has received many compliments on the ways which she makes tours fun and engaging and has felt most rewarded when newly admitted students have shared with her that her tour and related interaction were one of the main factors in their decision to come to Cal Poly SLO, specifically in the pursuit of a profession in engineering. On top of engineering related service, she has also enjoyed dedicating her time to the New Student Transition Program, serving as a leader and mentor to incoming students and helping them transition into the college lifestyle.

Over her four years, she proactively applied her aerospace engineering knowledge and skill set outside of the classroom. As a Beacon Research Scholar under one of her aerospace professors, she analyzed the natural frequencies and free vibrations of low aspect ratio aircraft wings and prepared a poster summarizing her findings that she presented at an end of year research symposium. Payton was also a member of a small satellite club named ETOILES, working to improve her understanding of the aerospace design process for a small satellite. Additionally, she has been a teaching assistant to professors for multiple mechanical and aerospace engineering classes.

Payton has dedicated her time to learn and grow as a summer intern at Northrop Grumman. During her first summer internship, she worked as a Test Engineering Intern to aid in obsolesce and component sustainment testing for a missile warning system at the Northrop Grumman facility in Northridge, CA. While at her second summer internship at Northrop Grumman (“Space Park” site in Redondo Beach, CA) she worked as a Systems Engineering Intern to assess and compare the resiliency of commercial proliferated LEO constellations to support military requirements in benign and contested environments.

She is very grateful for many mentors, role models, and teacher at these two Northrop Grumman sites who provided inspiration and support on her journey.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Payton is thrilled to be interning with Sierra Space in Broomfield, Colorado, where she will be working on their Orbital Reef program in the summer of 2023!