• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2026

• University of Colorado Boulder, Aerospace Engineering, ‘26

• Mentor: TBD

• Brookie Mentor: TBD

Bárbara De Figueiredo grew up in Caracas, Venezuela dreaming of becoming an astronaut since she was 4 years old. Even as Venezuela descended into crisis and her path took unexpected turns, she kept pursuing that dream, eventually immigrating to the United States, serving in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, and working while studying to put herself through college. Over the course of that long and unconventional journey, she gained more than three years of combined full-time experience in the aerospace industry at NASA, Sierra Space, and GE Aviation. Most of her work has focused on flight hardware integration and testing across NASA’s Artemis campaign, including the Orion spacecraft and the VIPER rover, as well as Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spacecraft. She has also conducted bioastronautics research at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she is currently a senior in aerospace engineering, and has presented her work at NASA’s Human Research Program conference.

Motivated by how difficult it was to access these opportunities herself, Bárbara founded Mission i, a nonprofit connecting talented high school students across Latin America with mentors, hands-on projects, and pathways into the global STEM community.

This summer, she will join a.i. solutions to work on the FreeFlyer program as a Brooke Owens Fellow. Bárbara is excited to become a Brookie and looks forward to learning from and contributing to the extraordinary community the fellowship brings together.