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Beimnet Shitaye

  • Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2020

  • Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ‘20

  • Host Institution: XPRIZE

  • Mentor: Charlie Bolden

Beimnet Shitaye is studying Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with certificates in Sustainable Energy and Robotics and Intelligent Systems at Princeton University. She has had a love for building and putting things together since spending time fixing little things with her dad around the house. Though she had her mind set on engineering, the concept of aerospace did not become a part of the equation until a second-grade science course that discussed the universe and revealed a world of new and exciting spaces for exploration. She did not revisit this initial introduction to the solar system and the concept of space until a high school astronomy course that further propelled an interest in not just the universe, but also the potentials for how we navigate through it.

For almost her entire Princeton career, Beimnet has worked for the Office of Sustainability attempting to make campus life less wasteful and raise awareness for how to make decisions that consider students' effects on the environment. She has also helped with organizing efforts to make Princeton's enormous and annual Reunions celebration less wasteful through the encouragement of the use of more reusable items and greater consideration of how to conduct such large celebrations while being mindful of environmental impact.

Beimnet has also worked passionately for Matriculate throughout her Princeton career. Matriculate works to provide mentorship for first-generation and low-income high school seniors applying to colleges. Both within the field of engineering and in general, she is incredibly enthusiastic about fostering diverse environments, especially in domains where there is a serious lack of representation.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, she looks forward to spending her summer with XPRIZE, a non-profit dedicated to solving important issues and supporting creative solutions to those issues. Even further, she is excited to contribute to a field she has loved since a young age in a manner and through an organization that positively recognizes the significance of equality and inclusivity.