Makiah Eustice, a junior in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected as a Brooke Owens Fellow. The Brooke Owens Fellowship Program awards internships and senior mentorships to exceptional undergraduate women seeking careers in aviation or space exploration.
The program was founded in 2016 to honor the memory of space industry pioneer and accomplished pilot D. Brooke Owens, who passed away in June 2016 at the age of 35 after a battle with cancer. The program helps address historical underrepresentation of women in aviation and space exploration by identifying and training world-class talent.
Each candidate is evaluated on the basis of her technical excellence, creativity, commitment to service and career growth potential. After completing a rigorous and highly competitive application and multi-phase interview process, each Fellow is placed into a paid summer internship at one of the nation’s leading aviation or space companies. Eustice will intern this summer with The Aerospace Corporation.
In addition to their paid summer work experience, each Fellow has been paired with two carefully selected senior aerospace professionals who serve as mentors. One of those mentors will be from the Fellow’s host company or institution, while the other will be from a different part of the industry.
"I'm honored to not only be selected to work with Aerospace and receive mentorship from industry leaders, but to have a team of passionate, bright women making positive change across the nation,” says Eustice. “They motivate me to continue what I'm doing and take my future aerospace career to its fullest potential, like Brooke did."
Eustice works with Dr. John Valasek in the Vehicle Systems and Controls Laboratory. She has served as industry chair of the Texas A&M chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and is an active member of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space and the Aerospace Student Advisory Board. As a member of the Corps of Cadets, Squadron 12, she plans on commissioning in the U.S. Air Force and working in flight test engineering.