• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2022

• Université Internationale de Rabat, Aerospace Engineering, ‘22

• Host Institution: Zipline

• Executive Mentor: Debbie Senesky

• Brookie Mentor: Rikhi Roy

Born and raised in Morocco, Soukaina Tachfouti is at her final year at the Université Internationale de Rabat studying Aerospace Engineering. Soukaina’s interest in space developed during early childhood, her favorite past time being stargazing, and only grew deeper with time.

Through summer experiences and research projects, Soukaina explored multiple engineering disciplines ranging from controls and dynamics, mechanical design to non-destructive evaluation. She took part in numerous competitions such as ActInSpace and NASA space Apps Challenge that not only honed her technical knowledge but also allowed her to develop strong interpersonal and leadership skills.

Passionate about quality education and bringing more youth into STEM, Soukaina previously founded Code for Change, a social initiative to improve access to Computer Science in elementary public schools. She also served as a mentor for high school students participating in Technovation Challenge. Currently, she is a member of the Human Resources team within the Space Generation Advisory Council; helping in spreading the benefits of space to the world.

In her free time, Soukaina enjoys devouring a good book and listening to Vivaldi concertos. She studied music for six years and played violin for four and she would love to work on the intersection of arts and space one day.

As a 2022 Brooke Owens Fellow, Soukaina is excited to join Zipline in San Francisco and delve deeper in the field of UAVs and explore how they can be used for social good.

She is looking forward to learning about the US aerospace industry.