Patti Grace Smith Fellowship

Last updated
Patti Grace Smith Fellowship
Founded2020
Founders B. Alvin Drew, Jr.
Khristian Jones
Tiffany R. Lockett
William Pomerantz
Focus Aerospace Engineering
Location
Area served
United States
Website www.pgsfellowship.org/.org

The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship is an award-winning [1] [2] [3] non-profit program in the United States that provides a paid internship, scholarship, and executive mentorship to exceptional Black undergraduate students seeking a career in aerospace. [4] [5] The fellowship is named after Patricia Grace Smith, a United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official whose regulatory work helped lay the foundations for commercial spaceflight. [6] The program was founded in her honor in 2020. [7]

Contents

Motivation and Overview

The Patti Grace Smith Program seeks to connect exceptional Black students with the resources to begin their careers in aerospace, with the goal of increasing the visibility, participation, and retention of Black students in order to enrich the historically homogeneous aerospace industry. [8] [9]

This program's mission is directly inspired by Smith, who at age 16 served as a plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case that integrated public schools in Alabama. [10] She graduated from Tuskegee University with a bachelor's degree in 1969 and worked for the US Senate Commerce Committee, US Department of Defense, and the Federal Communications Commission. She joined the Office of Commercial Space Transportation and rose to the position of Chief of Staff and then to Associate Administrator of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). [11] She was also appointed by President Obama to serve on the NASA Advisory Council and the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Smith fostered the growth of the nascent commercial space industry through deregulation, with the construction of the Mojave Air & Space Port and 2004 flight of SpaceShipOne occurring under her tenure. According to Elon Musk, Smith "helped lay the foundations for a new era in American spaceflight.” [12]

The fellowship was founded by NASA Astronaut B. Alvin Drew, Virgin Galactic engineer Khristian Jones, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center lead engineer Tiffany R. Lockett, and Virgin Orbit Vice President [[William Pomerantz] in 2020. [13] It is closely modeled after the successful Brooke Owens Fellowship.

The program offers students their first paid summer internship at top space companies (including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, etc.), [14] travel stipends, and mentorship from notable Black aerospace leaders, including former NASA administrators (e.g. Charles Bolden, astronauts (e.g. Robert Curbeam, academics (e.g. Daniel E. Hastings, and company executives. [15] Fellows are also paired with peer mentors [16] and are flown out to the annual summit in Washington, D.C. to network and meet industry leaders.

Alumni

As of 2022, the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship has 80 alumni across two cohorts hailing from 40+ different universities, including Ivy League colleges, HBCUs, community colleges, and major public universities

Each year, dozens of students from around the United States apply. [17] Approximately forty are selected through a holistic evaluation of merit, passion for aerospace, and community involvement. [18] This is done primarily by means of interviews and essay responses, with academic achievement and volunteer activities also weighted. Finalists are matched with host companies, who independently conduct interviews and award offers.

2021 Cohort

[41]

2022 Cohort

[42]

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References

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  13. "Our Founders". Patti Grace Smith Fellowship. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  14. "Our Employers". Patti Grace Smith Fellowship. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  15. "Our Executive Mentors". Patti Grace Smith Fellowship. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  16. "Our Near-Peer Mentors". Patti Grace Smith Fellowship. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
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  21. "Two UCF Aerospace Students Receive Fellowship's First Awards -". mae.ucf.edu. University of Central Florida. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
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  24. "UMD Aero Students Awarded Patti Grace Smith Fellowship". eng.umd.edu. University of Maryland - College Park. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  25. "UMD Aero Students Awarded Patti Grace Smith Fellowship". eng.umd.edu. University of Maryland - College Park. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
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  27. "Penn State Engineering: Aerospace engineering undergraduate joins inaugural Patti Grace Smith class". news.engr.psu.edu. Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
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  29. "Schenectady grad earns spot in new national aerospace scholarship program". dailygazette.com. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  30. "Spark! Fellow Ready to Soar | BU Spark!". www.bu.edu. Boston University. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  31. "Student Megan Jordan selected for inaugural Patti Grace Smith Fellowship". The University of Alabama in Huntsville. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
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  33. Duncan, Kelsey. "UAH student Megan Jordan selected for inaugural Patti Grace Smith Fellowship". https://www.waff.com . University of Alabama, Huntsville. Retrieved 6 February 2022.{{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
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  36. "Ciarra Ortiz '19 Awarded Patti Grace Smith Fellowship | John F. Kennedy Catholic Preparatory School, Home of the Gaels". John F. Kennedy Catholic Preparatory School. 26 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
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  38. SENTINEL, SPECIAL TO THE. "DCHS grad Jovanna Patterson named a Patti Grace Smith Fellow". Douglas County Sentinel. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  39. Claremont, Pomona College Mailing Address: 333 N. College Way (23 March 2021). "Anaelle Roc '24 Awarded Patti Grace Smith Fellowship to Pursue Aerospace Career". Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College. Retrieved 6 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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  42. "39 Exceptional Undergrads Earn Prestigious Patti Grace Smith Fellowships, Bringing More Black Excellence to Aerospace". First Mode. Retrieved 6 February 2022.