CHLOE LONG
Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2018
Binghamton University, Mechanical Engineering, ‘19
Host Institution: Airbus
Mentor: Charity Weeden
Chloe Long is an aerospace engineering Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Boulder. They have an inherent captivation with the science behind the Universe and a steadfast commitment to sustainable space development - actualizing engineering solutions that work in opposition to inequity and support a self-advancing society in space. They are currently working in the Orbital Research Cluster for Celestial Applications lab in the Astrodynamics and Satellite Navigation focus area. Their research will be related to sustainability in deep space exploration - currently, they are investigating trajectory optimization for spacecraft assuming water-based propulsion and refueling technologies.
Chloe’s passion for space exploration started in their undergraduate career. They founded BINGSPACE, the first aerospace organization at SUNY Binghamton, with the intent of providing students from all academic and personal backgrounds with space-related opportunities. As president, they ran two student space chapters (SEDS and The Mars Society), laid the groundwork for a local space educational radio show, instigated the departmental consideration of aerospace and astrophysics minors, and inspired STEM interest in students from a large breadth of academic disciplines. Through BINGSPACE, they coordinated and hosted the first New York State Space Symposium (NYSSS), an annual conference promoting accessibility, diversity, and sustainability of space endeavors.
Chloe is also passionate about educational accessibility. They cherish being able to share an appreciation of physics and math with other people through collaborative research and teaching opportunities. When you’re in love with something, you want to share it with the whole world. In addition to tutoring and course assisting, they served as a student representative on two undergraduate student boards at SUNY Binghamton (MESAC, EDDSAB). They currently serve as the outreach coordinator on the Aerospace Graduate Student Organization at CU Boulder. On these boards, they strive to improve the educational experience of themselves, their peers, and the generations of students to follow.
The Brooke Owens Fellowship was the most impactful summer of Chloe’s life. From this experience, they were empowered by meeting so many other incredible womxn in aerospace and inspired by all the support received from the Founders and other industry leaders. They felt compelled to take action to support and uplift younger women in aerospace. Sophia, Carson, and Chloe all worked together that summer to launch an outreach program called Ask A Brookie (AAB) for students in aerospace that connects incoming inquiries with mentors, speakers, and other academic opportunities. The AAB tab can be found on the top of the BOF website page.
During the summers, Chloe interned at NASA Kennedy Space Center (high power rocket research) and Airbus Americas (unmanned aerial vehicles with refueling capabilities research). The summer after getting their B.S. at SUNY Binghamton (major in Mechanical Engineering, minor in Sustainable Engineering), they backpacked through Europe and Asia for a few months before starting their Ph.D. program. Outside of space stuff, they like writing poetry, painting, watching Youtube videos of hedgehogs taking baths, theatre, intramural volleyball, sharks.