FYE student selected as Patti Grace Smith Fellow
Meredith Clark was worried.
She didn’t have a job in high school, so how was she supposed to feel comfortable going from zero interviewing experience to speaking with major aerospace companies?
She had four interviews lined up, all within a week of her first final exams at Purdue.
The overload was a product of applying for the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, a prestigious opportunity to not only secure a paid summer internship with an aerospace company but also be paired with a mentor, receive a $2,500 stipend and trip to Washington D.C. and instantly be locked into an influential network.
So Clark just had to take a breath, get collected and let her personality and her passion for space shine. In doing so, Clark quickly realized the interview experience wasn’t only a valuable life-learning one but pretty fun, too.
“My interviewers were just as nerdy and keen to talk to me as I was to them,” the first-year engineering student said. “I felt immensely more comfortable. Every company I spoke to was really happy to be connected to the fellowship and held their old Patti interns in high esteem.”
After completing those several rounds of interviews, Clark could only wait to see if she’d be selected.
In December while at home in Houston over winter break, she got the call: She was one of 31 students in the 2023 cohort. Her internship would be with Astroscale, a private company with a vision to secure the safe and sustainable development of space.
She ran down the stairs and yelled the news to her parents.
“I was incredibly happy with being selected,” said Clark, who should be paired with a mentor in the coming weeks. “I was really happy to get the company that I did. I love their goals, and I felt like I clicked with the people I spoke to there.”
Clark has wanted to be part of the space industry for as long as she can remember. She has been fascinated with astronomy since she was a kid, and that paired with her being an “adventurer at heart” has led to space travel being her “biggest obsession.”
She heard about the Brooke Owens Fellowship while in high school, and that led her to learn about its spinoff focused on Black students interested in pursuing aerospace careers. Clark applied after pursuing Patti Fellow Noah Herbert, a Purdue classmate who gave her the confidence she needed to apply. And, months later, the payoff.
Clark will start at Astroscale in May, working at the company’s U.S. location in Denver. She will be on an electrical team making satellites that extend the life of low-Earth orbit satellites.
“More than anything, I’m hoping to contribute as much as possible to the tasks that are given to me while I’m a fellow,” she said. “Even though I’ll just be an intern and a mentee, I know that the work I do will be sent to space and have a tangible impact on the space industry, which is my entire life goal really. Through doing that, I know that I’d gain an immense amount of satisfaction and the foundation I need to continue into a strong career.”
The internship wraps July 28. By then, she’ll know when she heads back to campus which major she’ll pursue. Right now, she’s still in the process of transition-to-major, but Clark has her sights set on mechanical engineering next semester.
After graduating, the goal is to be part of advancing human space exploration, whether through building rovers or habitation systems.
“The idea of contributing to landing on the Moon again and eventually getting to Mars is really exciting to me,” Clark said.