• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2021

• University of Edinburgh, BSc (Hons) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, ‘21

• Host Institution: Loft Orbital

• Mentor: Kathy Laurini

• Brookie Mentor: Samarie Wilson

Sarah Lappin is originally from Scotland, where she got her Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh. Since completing her BOFP internship at Loft Orbital in France, she has remained in a full-time role as a Data Scientist at Loft Orbital, San Francisco.

Sarah is an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM. At university, Sarah held multiple roles in student groups, including Secretary and President of Edinburgh University Women in STEM. On the Women in STEM committee Sarah co-founded Hello World Hack, a beginner-oriented annual hackathon, and Directed the hackathon for 2 consecutive years. She also volunteered on the Diversity Team for UKSEDS. Sarah believes it is important to document indivudals experiences of EDI in order to create change. As an undergrad, Sarah co-authored a report on STEM students’ experiences of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) at the University of Edinburgh, using this to campaign for the university to improve EDI awareness and education. Since graduating, Sarah co-authored another report for the IAF Young Professionals Workshop on the ‘Role of Middle Management in the Implementation of EDI as a Business Catalyst.’

Sarah was drawn to a career in the space industry after attending the UKSEDS National Student Space Conference and similar events, where she realised the diversity of opportunities for computer scientists in the industry. It was the Space Placement in Industry (SPIN) program, funded by the UK Space Agency, which solidified her desire to work in the Aerospace industry. Through SPIN, she was able to intern at Pixalytics Ltd, a small Earth observation and remote sensing company, and present a poster at the UK National Space Conference. It was at Pixalytics where she began to see the positive impact she can through space technologies. Sarah returned to Pixalytics Ltd for another summer internship, where she worked on machine learning for Earth observation applications.