KAYLA WATSON

• Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2018

• The Ohio State University, Aerospace Engineering, '19

• Host Institution: Amazon Prime Air

• Mentor: Erika Wagner

Kayla’s love for aerospace started in the 8th grade in an aerospace science class. Enamored by the galaxy she would go home and watch the NASA channel for fun. With a little push from her 10th-grade chemistry teacher, she decided to pursue a degree in Aerospace Engineering at Ohio State University as a Morrill Diversity Scholar recipient. During her time in college, Kayla served as President of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP). In that position, she helped lead an effort on the UAV Safety City project, a low cost, low regulatory footprint UAV testing facility in the state of Ohio along with fellow Brooke Owens Fellow Sidney Bihn. Kayla was also a member of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) at Ohio State where the group designed a glovebox container for a suborbital flight. Kayla’s senior capstone project was created to tackle the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation by enabling drone delivery of Narcan (opioid overdose antidote). Her internship experience includes two internships at General Electric Aviation as well as one at Amazon Prime Air. Currently, Kayla is a System Reliability Engineer at Amazon Prime Air.

A quote that drives her career is one by Diane Von Furstenberg “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I knew the woman I wanted to become”. Kayla couldn’t quite put her finger on exactly what she wanted to do, but aerospace allows her to be the type of woman she wants to become.