Two AAE student ambassadors, Abigail Frank and Shivani Patwardhan, have been selected as 2025 Brooke Owens Fellows. This nationally acclaimed fellowship, made available by a third-party organization outside Purdue, awards exceptional undergraduate students pursuing careers in the space and aviation industries.

The 2025 Brooke Owens Fellows are the ninth class of "Brookies." The program is partnered with major aerospace companies, pairing fellowship recipients with internships that best match their achievements and career goals. Fellows are also matched to an executive-level mentor in the aerospace industry who will support and guide them as they launch their careers.

Fellows are selected through a highly competitive application process, involving technical and creative submissions, interviews with the Fellowship's leadership team and Brookie alumni, and review by leading aerospace companies. 

Frank and Patwardhan were notified of their selection through a phone call from Sirisha Bandla (AAE ’11, OAE ’21), an executive team member of the fellowship and vice president at Virgin Galactic. 

"It was so exciting to get a call from Sirisha Bandla telling me that I was selected, especially since she's a Purdue alumna!" Patwardhan says.

Fellows will embark on their internships in the summer. Patwardhan will be working at Lockheed Martin Space, and Frank will be joining Amazon Project Kuiper.

Brookies reunite in July for the annual Brooke Owens Summit. Patwardhan and Frank join a network of more than 350 alumni, spanning various sectors of the space and aviation industries, including engineering, scientific research, policy, journalism, and entrepreneurship.  

"Being at Purdue has been absolutely pivotal in receiving this award! I've connected with mentors who have encouraged me to apply and built my confidence through engineering programs here," Frank says.

"Additionally, the experience from technical clubs like Purdue Space Program and internships through the amazing industry connections gave me the experience necessary to be a competitive applicant.” 

The Brooke Owens Fellowship received 400 applications from talented students across many highly ranked international universities. Only 44 students total, including Patwardhan and Frank, were chosen for this opportunity in 2025.