• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2021

• Temple University, Mechanical Engineering, ‘22

• Host Institution: Made In Space

• Mentor: Mini Wadhwa

• Brookie Mentor: Morgan Irons

Isabel is a graduate of Temple University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and is interested in aerospace, coding, and robotics. She now works at the Space Telescope Science Institute as a Command Controller for the James Webb Space Telescope.

Isabel spent the summer of 2021 as an intern at Made In Space where she used additive manufacturing techniques to make mechanical prototypes. The projects she contributed to focused on developing new and sustainable manufacturing techniques in space. Previously, she held a position as an REU student with the software development team at the Green Bank Radio Astronomy Observatory. Here, she contributed to the development of pyCLEO, a program used to monitor and control the Green Bank Telescope. Despite the program being completely remote, she got to attend lectures given by radio astronomers, sit in on meetings about telescope additions, and speak to first generation college students about the REU application process. Isabel also spent a year working at the Temple Neural Engineering Data Consortium, where she scanned tissue slides and curated a database with which to train machine learning software.

Isabel’s fascination with the space industry solidified in high school as a member of the Lunar Planetary Club. The club members went on to win first place in the SSERVI ExMASS competition and a tour of the NASA Ames Research center. The experience of meeting professional aerospace engineers has stuck with her throughout the years and culminated in her current career trajectory. Thanks to experiences like these, her incredible teachers, and a brief stint as a camp counselor at the Green Bank Observatory, she has developed a passion for education and outreach.

A former member of Temple University Women’s Ultimate Frisbee, she spends her free time playing pick up games and throwing a disk with friends. She also enjoys reading and crochet.