UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Julianne Owen Named UF's First Isakowitz Fellow
Senior Wins National Spaceflight Fellowship
One Honors student with her eye on the stars recently became one step closer. 21-year-old aerospace engineering senior Julianne Owen was awarded the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship, a program for undergraduate and graduate students studying spaceflight. The fellowship, which began in 2017, connects its yearly cohort to a paid summer internship and mentor within a commercial space company. Owen, the first UF student selected for this fellowship, will be working at SpaceX.
During her time at UF, Owen has explored spaceflight through a variety of experiences – three internships with NASA, an internship with a geospatial analytics company called HawkEye 360, research in the Active Perception and Robot Intelligence Lab, the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, Freshman Leadership Engineering Group and Swamp Launch Rocket Team. These activities have educated her on topics such as flight operations, lunar regolith (rock and dust) sensing, satellite production and innovative engineering. A Benacquisto scholar, Owen took off two semesters of courses for internships.
“I took a pretty unconventional path in school … I'd love to encourage other students to not be afraid to take risks and do the same if they see an opportunity that interests them,” she said.
This summer, Owen will be working on environmental controls and life support systems for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. She is particularly excited for the aspect of the Isakowitz fellowship that connects her to an executive mentor in the company, she said. The internship will not only develop her technical skills, but also foster communication with industry leaders.
“One of the biggest takeaways I had from my past experiences was that good mentorship and good leadership can shape your passions in industry … Overall, I'm excited to learn from the engineers at SpaceX, to support Dragon, and to gain insight into the space industry through the eyes of current commercial space leaders,” Owen said.
Her excitement comes alongside gratitude for her family, friends, Honors faculty and mentors at past internships. She appreciates having her parents and sisters as a constant and being able to learn in different ways.
“I developed the belief that the best way to learn – and to experience life in general – is to surround yourself with people who energize you,” Owen said. “That's what I'm hoping to continue to do in the fellowship program this summer.”
Written by UF Honors Communications Fellow, Bari Weiner.