LILLIAN TSO 
(she/her)

  • Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2022

  • Georgia Institute of Technology, B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ‘23

  • Host Institution: Blue Origin

  • Executive Mentor: Vanessa Aponte Williams

  • Brookie Mentor: Jane Gilette

Lillian Tso is currently a junior at the Georgia Institute of Technology studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Aerospace Engineering. In high school, she participated in a NASA summer academy organized by her space grant where she worked with a team to design its very own NASA mission. A year later, the Parker Solar Probe launched with similar science goals to the one she had created. This cemented her passion for aerospace because she realized the industry was not as elusive as she had originally thought.

In college, Lillian has joined the Georgia Tech Experimental Rocketry team which seeks to launch a two-stage, solid motor rocket past the Karman Line. On the team, she has been the engineer primarily responsible for flight testing and recovery systems. She is also heavily involved in the Invention Studio— the largest student-run makerspace in the nation— where she is currently serving as the President of the organization. She also helps maintain, operate, and train students on sewing machines, CNC embroidery machines, and vinyl cutters. She is also an active member of the Society of Women Engineers, loves to mentor younger engineers, and has mentored a high school FIRST robotics team. Just as she became interested in aerospace through outreach, she hopes to incite a similar passion in younger students. Previously, Lillian has interned at Northrop Grumman Space Systems as a Systems Engineer and the NASA Ames Research Center working on wind tunnel testing and the next generation Mars Science Helicopter.

When not gazing up at the stars, you can find her deep underground caving with Georgia Tech’s outdoor recreation club or hiking to the top of mountains— her goal is to hike to the highpoint of every state! Additionally, she loves traveling, sewing, woodworking, and reading.

Lillian is thrilled to join Blue Origin in Seattle on their New Glenn Test Engineering team as a 2022 Brooke Owens Fellow!