Congratulations to Caitlin O'Brien, a fourth-year undergraduate at The Ohio State University (OSU) majoring in Astronomy and Astrophysics with a double major in Physics. She is pursuing a minor in Science and Engineering in the Public Interest, intending to combine her love for space with her interest in public policy. Caitlin serves as the Assistant Director of SciAccess, Inc., an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in STEM. She acts as the Commercial Space Liaison for Mission: AstroAccess, applying universal design principles to space architecture toward the future of human space exploration.

Her love for the stars began with her father, who brought her on stargazing trips and introduced her to Carl Sagan's Cosmos, instilling a deep appreciation for the night sky. As a college student, she sought to immerse herself in space inside and outside the classroom. She began giving planetarium shows at the Arne Slettebak Planetarium, sparking her love for outreach. She became president of her university's Astronomical Society by the end of her freshman year, providing an academic and social connection between undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty within the astronomy department.

In 2020, she met Anna Voelker, Brooke Owens Fellow Class of 2018, who introduced her to their mission of promoting accessibility in STEM. Together, they founded the SciAccess Zenith Mentorship Program, working with blind and low-vision high school students interested in space science from around the world. Caitlin helped run the SciAccess 2020 conference and served as Deputy Director for the SciAccess 2021 conference. She has co-authored several publications and traveled worldwide speaking at conferences about best practices for accessible science communication. In 2021, she was nominated for the American Astronautical Society Molly K. Macauley Award, recognizing her space policy proposal advocating for the inclusion of a Deaf person as part of NASA's astronaut corps.

During her summers as an undergraduate, Caitlin has served as an astrophysical research assistant outside of Ohio State. In 2021, she studied massive star clusters using Hubble Space Telescope and Magellan-Clay Telescope data at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 2022, she worked with the University of Florida to study galaxy clusters using the IllustrisTNG magnetohydrodynamical simulation. She has presented her research at the American Astronomical Society and intends to continue studying theoretical or observational cosmology in graduate school.

At Ohio State, Caitlin competes on the Collegiate DanceSport team in rhythm and Latin ballroom dance. She is also an avid photographer, musician, and theater technician. She is currently applying to graduate school, intending to pursue a Ph.D. in astrophysics while continuing her work to improve accessibility in STEM.

Caitlin will be working with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as a space policy intern for the summer of 2023.

Caitlin's profile at Brooke Owens can be found here.

Brooke Owens Fellowship

The Brooke Owens Fellowship—a nationally-acclaimed nonprofit program recognizing exceptional undergraduate women and gender minorities with space and aviation internships, senior mentorship, and a lifelong professional network—announces its Class of 2023 Brooke Owens Fellows 

The Class of 2023 marks the seventh class of “Brookie” Fellows. The 47 Fellows were selected through a fair and extremely competitive application process involving written and creative submissions, interviews with the Fellowship’s leadership team and its close network, and interviews with leading aerospace employers from across multiple sectors in the US aerospace industry. Almost 1,000 promising and talented students applied worldwide, coming from Ivy League universities, major research universities, historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s), liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and major international universities. The Fellows were selected based on their incredible talent, desire to pursue a career in aerospace, stand-out creative abilities, record of leadership and most importantly commitment to their communities.

The Brooke Owens Fellows will each be matched to an executive-level mentor in the aerospace industry who will support and work with the Fellows to help launch their careers. This summer, the Fellows will start their internships and come together for the annual Brooke Owens Summit in Washington, DC. The Class of 2023 will also become part of the network of 249 Brookie alumni spanning all aspects of space and aviation including engineering, scientific research, policy, journalism, and entrepreneurship.

The Brooke Owens Fellowship was founded in 2016 to honor the memory of beloved industry pioneer and accomplished pilot D. Brooke Owens, who passed away in June 2016 at the age of 35, after a hard-fought battle with cancer. The program was co-founded by Lori Garver, the former Deputy Administrator of NASA; Cassie Lee, CEO of Sound Future; and William Pomerantz, the Vice President for Special Projects at Virgin Orbit. The Brooke Owens Fellowship celebrates its ongoing mission and legacy of disrupting the historical gender imbalance in the aerospace industry by continuing its mission to provide opportunities and access to talented young professionals from women and gender minorities from all backgrounds. 

Today, the Brooke Owens Fellowship is led by the 5-person Executive Team that includes Caroline Juang, a Ph.D. Candidate at Columbia University in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences; Emily Calandrelli, a science communicator and host of Netflix’s Emily’s Wonder Lab; Kayla Watson, a System Reliability Engineer at Amazon Prime Air; Lori Garver, co-founder of the Brooke Owens Fellowship and former Deputy Administrator of NASA; and Will Pomerantz, co-founder of the Brooke Owens Fellowship and Vice President of Special Projects at Virgin Orbit. Earlier this month, Diana Trujillo, Former Mars Perseverance Mission Lead at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, transitioned off the team after two years of service, and Garver was welcomed back into the day-to-day activities of the Executive Team. During this transition, both Trujillo and Garver were active members in selecting the newly-announced class of 2023 Brookies.  

On behalf of the Executive Team, Garver says, “We are overjoyed to welcome our seventh class of ‘Brookies’, to the Fellowship, which is now providing nearly 300 women and gender minorities access to the ever more important aerospace industry. The program is expanding the diversity of the workforce in the sector and the experience and knowledge gained by these talented individuals will help it deliver a better future for humanity.”

To read more about the Brooke Owens Fellows selected this year, click here for the full press release.