February 2, 2024
By Ashley Ritchie

Emily Winters, an undergraduate student in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has received a Brooke Owens Fellowship for 2024. Winters is studying mechanical engineering while minoring in industrial design. She enjoys combining the two disciplines to create human-centered designs to benefit the aerospace industry.

The Brooke Owens Fellowship is a nationally-acclaimed nonprofit program recognizing exceptional undergraduate women and gender minorities with space and aviation internships, senior mentorship, and a lifelong professional network.

Winters was one of 47 fellows selected based on her incredible talent, desire to pursue a career in aerospace, stand-out creative abilities, record of leadership, and most importantly, commitment to her community. Over 450 promising and talented students applied worldwide.

At Georgia Tech, Winters is the driver controls lead for her school’s FSAE Motorsports team, GT Motorsports, and one day dreams of designing cockpits and spacesuits for astronauts to operate safely in space. She is also an avid member of Outdoor Recreation at Georgia Tech (ORGT), a service organization aimed to get students outside and facilitate adventure trips. She enjoys backpacking, caving, and canyoneering any free chance she gets.

Winters has previously interned at SpaceX and KLA Technologies, gaining experience engineering in both industry and research settings. This summer, she will intern at Blue Origin as a Brooke Owens fellow structural engineering intern in Kent, Washington.

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 2016, after a hard-fought battle with cancer. 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.