Announcing the 2020 Class of the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program

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ANNOUNCING THE ASPIRING SPACE INDUSTRY LEADERS SELECTED FOR THE 2020 CLASS OF THE MATTHEW ISAKOWITZ FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

Thirty College and Graduate Students Chosen for Highly-Selective Fellowship Program that Connects Exceptional Individuals with Internships and Mentors in the Commercial Spaceflight Sector

The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program—a summer internship and executive mentorship program inspiring the next generation of commercial spaceflight leaders—announces the 30 individuals selected for its 2020 class. Now in its third year, this highly-selective program awards exceptional college juniors, seniors, and graduate students pursuing aerospace careers with paid internships at cutting-edge commercial space companies around the nation. Fellows also receive one-on-one mentorship from accomplished members of the space community, including astronauts, engineers, entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and others. The program culminates in a memorable two-day summit in Los Angeles during which the Fellows will network with top leaders in the industry, visit space start-ups, and develop entrepreneurial skills.

For the 2020 class, the program received more than 130 applications from 68 colleges in 25 states. From that list, program coordinators rigorously screened the applicants for academic excellence, relevant experience, and, most importantly, a demonstrated passion for innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercial space. Upon completing the summer internship, the Fellows will remain among an elite group of alumni who will have the opportunity to continue to network with this Program, assigned mentors, and past and future Fellows, on the path to becoming future space icons.

See below for the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program’s Class of 2020, including each Fellow’s current school and Summer 2020 host company. A full bio for each Fellow and more information is available online.

• Hossain Ahmad (Rutgers University) — Virgin Orbit

• Millen Anand (Columbia University) — Planet

• Michael Barton (North Carolina State University) — Stratolaunch

• Julia Bigwood (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) — OneWeb LLC

• Becca Browder (Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology) — The Spaceship Company

• Douglas Chin (Princeton University) — Astra

• Thomas Collins (University of New Hampshire) — Rocket Lab

• Alex Coultrup (Florida Institute of Technology) — XPRIZE

• Harrison Delecki (Georgia Institute of Technology) — The Aerospace Corporation

• Bernadette Haig (Stanford University) — ABL Space Systems

• Joshua Harvey (Tufts University) — Roccor

• Michael Hauge (Princeton) — OneWeb Satellites

• Eric Hinterman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) — Blue Origin

• Meredith Hooper (Princeton University) — SpaceX

• Amy Huynh (University of California, Irvine) — Astra

• Megan Jones (University of Colorado, Boulder) — Iridium

• Abhishek Khandal (Georgia Institute of Technology) — The Spaceship Company

• Jonathan Li (Yale University) — Astranis

• Alex Liem (University of Colorado, Boulder) — Virgin Galactic

• Michelle Lin (University of Colorado, Boulder) — Blue Origin

• Michael Luu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) — The Aerospace Corporation

• Patrick McKeen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) — Accion

• Max Newport (Stanford University) — Relativity Space

• Cadence Payne (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) — Millennium Space Systems

• Calvin Phillips (Purdue University) — OneWeb LLC

• Daniel Shorr (Stanford University) — Planet

• Mitchell Wall (University of Wisconsin-Madison) — SpaceX

• Thomas White (Stanford University) — Blue Origin

• Aaron Zucherman (Cornell University) — Starburst Aerospace

Additionally, the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program’s classes of 2018 and 2019 are continuing to excel in their academic and professional careers as they network with one another and their mentors, receive job offers from host companies, and further their academic pursuits. The list of past Fellows is available online.

The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program thanks its supporters, host companies, mentors, and the following partners: Brooke Owens Fellowship Program, The Future Space Leaders Foundation, and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

ABOUT THE MATTHEW ISAKOWITZ FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization honoring the memory of an engineer, entrepreneur, and extraordinary individual whose passion for commercial space exploration led to great strides in the industry and inspired all who knew him. The Program seeks to instill that same enthusiasm into the next generation of commercial spaceflight leaders by providing impactful career training to those who embody Matthew's drive for exploring our universe to help better humankind. Ad Astra.

Learn more at matthewisakowitzfellowship.org and on social media (@mattfellowship).

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Four GT Aerospace Engineering Students Receive 2019 Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship

Source: GATech.edu

Four Daniel Guggenheim School students have just learned that their summer 2019 internships at commercial aerospace companies will also include a year of one-on-one mentorship from an aerospace industry professional.

The four -- Sahaj Patel, Shravan Hariharan, Patrick Miga, and Josh Ingersoll – were named as 2019 Matthew Isakowitz Fellows.

Now in its second year, the Isakowitz Fellowship annually recognizes exceptional undergraduate and graduate students pursuing aerospace careers.

This year, four of the 25 Isakowitz Fellows come from Georgia Tech’s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. Their summer internships will culminate in Los Angeles at a two-day Isakowitz summit where they will meet and network with other fellows, tour several commercial aerospace companies, and learn more about the latest developments in commercial spaceflight from top innovators in the field.

Sahaj Patel

Professional networking is something Sahaj Patel knows a thing or two about.

The AE third-year undergrad networked his way into his current internship, at Blue Origin, by impressing recruiters at Sigma Gamma Tau's 2017 AE Career Fair.  Now, as an Isakowitz Fellow, he has been matched with Accion Systems in Boston, where he will be working with a team that is creating a new ion engine to bring electric propulsion to satellites of all sizes. 

"I’m not sure what I’ll be doing just yet, but I’m excited to get the experience and I've wanted to try out a startup-like work environment."

Patel is excited to meet his Isakowitz mentor Joe Landon, vice president of Advanced Program Development at Lockheed Martin, who has both an aerospace engineering degree and an MBA. 

"I think he can teach me a lot about the business of aerospace," he said.

He is also excited to meet the other Isakowitz fellows and mentors at the summit, scheduled for the end of summer.

"I'm looking forward to learning more about the business and development side of commercial space and being face-to-face with a real astronaut," said Patel.

As an intern, Patel is not in formal classes this semester, but he hasn't forgotten the need to challenge himself.  He's found himself reading "Rocket Propulsion Elements," a popular rocketry book recommended by some of his friends in the Yellow Jacket Space Program (he's a member).

This is not his first foray into commercial space, and it will likely not be his last. During the summer of 2018, Patel interned at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in flight avionics. He also researched new flight computer programs used on CubeSats to allow them to go further into space and offer more radiation protection than current models

Shravan Hariharan

For aspiring astronaut Shravan Hariharan, the Isakowitz Fellowship is filling a huge void in an already impressive resume.

The third-year undergrad from New Jersey has already had space-related internships at NASA, Northrop Grumman, and (this semester) Blue Origin. He’s attended every lecture given by an astronaut on the Tech campus. He’s even started studying Russian during his free time because that’s a language that all astronauts have to learn.

But the Isakowitz Fellowship is offering him an opportunity that outpaces even his wildest dreams.

“They matched me with a former astronaut for my mentor - John Grunsfeld, who flew on five Space Shuttle missions,” said Hariharan, whose Isakowitz internship will send him to Seattle’s Spaceflight Industries this summer.

“I want to ask him [Grunsfeld] what I ask every astronaut: to describe the feeling of being in space. Every astronaut has a different way of putting it into words, and it’s interesting to hear how they do it… I’d also like to ask him about the astronaut training and selection process, to hear what helped him prepare.”

Knowing the competition for those coveted space suits is fierce, Hariharan is careful not to hang all his dreams on that outcome. His current and previous internships – on the engine team at Blue Origin, developing membrane telescopes at NASA, and as a systems engineer for the Cygnus Spacecraft Team at Northrop Grumman – have already given him a great deal of satisfaction.

“I like to learn in classes and in the lab, but there’s nothing like bringing it into industry, where it goes to work,” he said. “I can’t wait to work with the mission management team at Spaceflight this summer. I’ll be developing engineering plans and integration testing for their customers.”

Patrick Miga

Chicago native Patrick Miga is looking forward to his Isakowitz-sponsored internship at Altius Space Machine, where he’ll work on space habitat systems. He’ll also meet a professional mentor who needs no introduction on the AE School campus.

“I’m really excited. I get to work with Bobby Braun, [former AE professor and the current dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder],” he said.

“He’s doing exactly the kind of stuff I’m interested in – planetary exploration and systems engineering. And he was chief technologist at NASA…”

This will not be the first time that Miga has tried his hand at real-world problems. The AE undergrad previously did two co-op rotations with ATA Engineering in San Diego. During his first rotation, he did finite element modeling for a variety of aerospace systems. On his second stint, he worked with the company’s clients, installing strain gauges and accelerometers on vehicles.

He also interned two summers at the University of Tennessee’s Space Institute, where he assisted in the development of their new wind tunnel – the hypersonic Mach 4 Ludwieg Tube.

Long-term, Miga is eyeing grad school and a possible career in the space exploration industry or in national defense.

“And, yeah, I really do want to go into space, but probably not on a long mission, like one to Mars,” he said. “I think in the future, it’s possible that I’ll be able to go to the Moon and back, for work.”

Josh Ingersoll

New York native Josh Ingersoll will be spending his summer interning with OneWeb Satellites, a joint-venture between One Web and Airbus that is building a network of satellites to provide affordable high-speed Internet access the globe. He’ll be working with the systems engineering team to perform trade studies and finalize the designs for the network of satellites that will soon be launched into space.

Through the fellowship Ingersoll was matched with mentor John Gedmark, co-founder and CEO of Astranis – a satellite telecommunication company located in San Francisco.

Ingersoll has known he wanted to study aerospace at Georgia Tech since he was a high school sophomore. He earned his undergraduate degree here in May of 2018 and is currently working in the Space Systems Design Lab (SSDL) with Prof. Brian Gunter as a graduate student.

“Georgia Tech was my number one school. After I was notified that I 'got in' I made my first deposit two hours later. I was ready to go."

And he hasn’t stopped yet.

Previously, Ingersoll interned ay NASA Ames where he helped to publish “State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology," a report that catalogs all the CubeSat parts - and their specs - that are in development. The second half of his internship was spent in the technical education satellite lab on CubeSat manufacturing.

Ingersoll also interned with General Electric Aviation in the configurations management team working on test engines and updating designs on a large-scale project that involved more than 300 engineers and more than one million engine parts.

“It was nice to work physically on an engine and be arm deep in an engine checking out the specs and making sure clearance was met every day,” said Ingersoll.

Before he leaves for his Isakowitz internship, Ingersoll will spend a week in Scotland with the Georgia Tech Glee Club on a country-wide singing tour.

“The Glee Club is what helps me manage the stress of school, and I always love to share how much the Glee Club means to me with others," said Ingersoll.

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Announcing the 2019 Class of the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program

Click here to download a PDF version of the press release.

ANNOUNCING MATTHEW ISAKOWITZ FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM CLASS OF 2019

Twenty-Five College and Graduate Students Chosen for Highly-Selective Fellowship Program Inspiring Future Commercial Spaceflight Leaders

The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program—a summer internship and executive mentorship program inspiring the next generation of commercial spaceflight leaders—announces the 25 individuals selected for its 2019 class. Now in its second year, this highly-selective program awards exceptional college juniors, seniors, and graduate students pursuing aerospace careers with paid internships at cutting-edge commercial space companies around the nation. Fellows also receive a full year of one-on-one mentorship from accomplished members of the space community, including astronauts, engineers, entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and others. The program culminates in a memorable two-day summit during which the Fellows will network with top leaders in the industry, visit space start-ups, and develop entrepreneurial skills.

For the 2019 class, the program received more than 100 applications from 60 colleges in 24 states. From that list, program coordinators rigorously screened the applicants for academic excellence, relevant experience, and, most importantly, a demonstrated passion for innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercial space. Upon completing the summer internship, the Fellows will remain among an elite group of alumni who will have the opportunity to continue to network with this Program, assigned mentors, and past and future Fellows, on the path to becoming future space icons.

See below for the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program’s Class of 2019, including each Fellow’s current school and Summer 2019 host company. More information is available online.

• Nina Arcot (Princeton University) — Accion Systems 

• Parker Buntin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) — Virgin Orbit 

• Manwei Chan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) — NanoRacks 

• Konark Chopra (Virginia Tech) — SpinLaunch 

• Lilly Clark (University of Southern California) — The Aerospace Corporation 

• Cameron Flannery (University of California, Los Angeles) — Astranis 

• Andrew Gatherer (Stanford University) — Planet 

• Nakul Gupta (University of California, Los Angeles) — Lockheed Martin Ventures 

• Shravan Hariharan (Georgia Institute of Technology) — SpinLaunch 

• Joshua Ingersoll (Georgia Institute of Technology) — OneWeb Satellites 

• Emily Jewell (Stanford University) — Blue Origin 

• Lewis Jones (California Institute of Technology) — Millennium Space Systems 

• Gary Li (University of California, Los Angeles) — The Aerospace Corporation 

• Kai Marshland (Stanford University) — LTA 

• Patrick Miga (Georgia Institute of Technology) — Roccor 

• Maya Naphade (Princeton University) — Virgin Galactic 

• Richard Nederlander (Vanderbilt University) — XPRIZE 

• Charlie Nitschelm (University of New Hampshire) — Rocket Lab 

• Sahaj Patel (Georgia Institute of Technology) — Accion Systems 

• Aaron Pickard (Columbia University) — OneWeb LLC 

• Annika Rollock (University of Colorado, Boulder) — Blue Origin 

• Anjali Roychowdhury (Stanford University) — SpaceX 

• Madeline Vorenkamp (Princeton University) — Stealth Space 

• Daniel Zanko (Johns Hopkins University) — The Spaceship Company 

• Jayden Zundel (Stanford University) — OneWeb Satellites

Additionally, the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program’s inaugural class of 2018 is continuing to excel in their academic and professional careers as they network with one another and their mentors, receive job offers from host companies, and further their academic pursuits. The list of 2018 Fellows is available online.

The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program thanks its host companies, mentors, and partners: Brooke Owens Fellowship Program, The Future Space Leaders Foundation, and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

ABOUT THE MATTHEW ISAKOWITZ FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization honoring the memory of an engineer, entrepreneur, and extraordinary individual whose passion for commercial space exploration led to great strides in the industry and inspired all who knew him. The Program seeks to instill that same enthusiasm into the next generation of commercial spaceflight leaders by providing impactful career training to those who embody Matthew's drive for exploring our universe to help better humankind. Ad Astra.

Learn more at matthewisakowitzfellowship.org and on social media (@mattfellowship).

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