• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2024

• The University of Alabama, Aerospace Engineering, ‘24

• Host Institution: SES

• Mentor: Kim Macharia

• Brookie Mentor: Thendral Kamal

Sindhu Belki is a senior at The University of Alabama (UA) majoring in Aerospace Engineering. She was born in Qatar to Indian immigrant parents, and was raised in a rich fusion of Indo-Qatari culture. She found her love for aerospace in her childhood. but growing up in a country with no space industry, she made the sacrifice of leaving her home to pursue her passion.

She was recognized as one of 16 esteemed fellows as part of the 2023 cohort of the Zed Factor Fellowship. Her community service project involves partnering with Zed and the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) to deliver a series of seminars in high schools and universities across Qatar, sharing her story and inspiring folks to pursue careers in aerospace. As a third time applicant and Qatar’s first Brookie, Sindhu hopes to pave the way for Qatari women by establishing a Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics (WoAA) chapter in Qatar.

On campus, Sindhu served as the Project Manager at Alabama Rocketry Association, UA’s rocketry club. Under her leadership, her team represented UA at the NASA Student Launch competition for two years and placed 18th nationwide. She also represented her university on an international platform at the 74th International Astronautical Congress, where she co-chaired two sessions on planetary defense and presented her first paper on Small Satellite Launch Services in the Asia – Pacific region. She also serves as a mentor on the International Peer Advisory Council, to help fellow international students find their place in UA's global community.

This summer, Sindhu will be interning with SES as a Gateway Operations Engineer in Manassas, VA. She enjoys Bharatanatyam, novels and escape rooms!