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Sanjana Tewathia

  • Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2020

  • Georgia Tech, Aerospace Engineering, ‘20

  • Host Institution: Ball Aerospace

  • Mentor: Meenakshi (Mini) Wadhwa

Throughout her childhood, Sanjana Tewathia has moved 12 times in 21 years of her life! Growing up with so much change was difficult at first, but after having read Spencer Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese!, she changed her perspective to view each move as a new adventure instead and started to spend more time exploring her new environment. This new perspective and the realization that not one state or country, but the entirety of Earth was her home, made her invigorated to now explore her neighborhood- the Solar System! So, she combined her interest in math, science, crafts, and robotics with her dream of exploring space to become an aerospace engineer.

Since starting her undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering, Sanjana has worked at Georgia Tech's Space Systems Design Lab and College of Computing as a part of the TARGIT CubeSat Mission and as a teaching assistant for CS 1332: Data Structures and Algorithms, respectively, and at GE Aviation as an Engineering Intern in the Fleet Support and Diagnostics group. By combining her minor in computing and intelligence with her major, she aspires to develop robust autonomous space systems in graduate school that will further humanity's reach across space.

Other than doing academic work, Sanjana spends her time trying to not just embrace, but also be an impetus for change. She uses her positions as President of Georgia Tech's chapter of Sigma Gamma Tau and a 4th Year Board Member for the Georgia Tech chapter as well as a committee member of the national organization, Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics (WoAA), to increase opportunities for all students pursuing aerospace engineering. She also volunteers for FIRST Robotics, after having mentored teams for two years, and loves doing K-12 outreach to encourage more kids to involve in STEM. In her free time, Sanjana can be found cuddling with her dog, reading a good book, hiking, camping, or having a new adventure!

As a Brooke Owens fellow, Sanjana is ecstatic to join Ball Aerospace as a systems engineering intern to apply and build new skills that will allow her to make a significant contribution to the space industry!