• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2024

• Colorado School of Mines, Mechanical Engineering, ‘25

• Host Institution: Sierra Space

• Mentor: Judith Hayes

• Brookie Mentor: Sydney Walthall

Tess Johnson is a Junior at the Colorado School of Mines, studying Mechanical Engineering with a focus in Aerospace. She is also earning a minor in Public Affairs through the McBride Honors Program. Tess is fascinated by the intricate intersections of culture, identity, and technology and hopes to use her career to advance human space exploration and a sustainable human presence in space.

Tess is passionate about advocating for women in STEM and fostering spaces for these women to grow community. She is involved with SWE (Society of Women Engineers) as the Mines Social Media Director and she is the Vice President of Mines WOAA (Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics).

During the summer of 2023, Tess interned at Maxar Technologies as a systems engineering intern, working on the Power and Propulsion Element project for NASA’s Lunar Gateway. She fell in love with both the challenge and the vision of returning to the moon. Over the course of her college career, Tess has participated in various projects with space applications, including performing a study with the Colorado School of Mines Center for Space Resources on an asteroid regolith mining prototype. Currently, Tess works in the Mines Mechanical Engineering Machine Shop, where she teaches machining and design to her fellow mechanical engineers.

Aside from her professional aspirations, Tess loves to explore the natural world, whether she is hiking, backpacking, or rock climbing. So far, she has been to 35 national parks! She also loves music and has played cello for 11 years and continues to perform with the Mines Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Tess will work at Sierra Space in the summer of 2024 as a test engineering intern.