Announcing the 2025 Patti Grace Smith Fellows: 35 Future Leaders in Aerospace

FEB 12, 2025 – HUNTSVILLE, AL – Thirty-five undergraduate students from twenty-four universities across the US have been selected as Patti Grace Smith Fellows, making them the latest class of students to participate in the award-winning program designed to accelerate the careers of future aerospace leaders.

By being selected for the prestigious program, each student has earned a challenging summer aerospace internship at one of America’s leading aerospace companies, as well as a scholarship worth thousands of dollars, personalized mentorship, and entry into a tight-knit community of high-achieving Black students and young professionals. The majority of Patti Grace Smith Fellows are engineers, but the program also includes rising stars in aerospace business, science, and policy.

The selection process for the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship is one of the most rigorous in the country. Candidates undergo all of the standard interviews and meet all of the standard requirements necessary to land their internships at the nation’s most sought-after aerospace employers, as well as two additional rounds of screening. This ensures that selected Fellows show extraordinary professional aptitude, proven leadership qualities, and a strong commitment to community. For the Class of 2025, the applicant pool nearly doubled from prior years, a testament to the growing recognition of this program and the high caliber of its participants.

“These students are simply incredible,” said Patti Grace Smith Fellowship co-founder and commercial space executive Wiliam Pomerantz. “They have already shown their talent in the classroom, and many of them already have accomplishments through their college rocketry clubs or Design-Build-Fly teams that I wouldn’t have taken on until I was ten years into my career. As talented, hard-working, and driven as these young students are, though, they were on the outside of our industry looking in. I’m delighted that the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship is helping open the door for them. Now that these Fellows have a foot in the door, there is no stopping them.”

Including this newest class, a total of 176 students nationwide have been honored as Patti Grace Smith Fellows, receiving a total of nearly $500,000 in scholarships. In addition to helping these top-rated students get their start in aerospace, the program is also helping the industry better connect with the Black and African-American population, which statistically remains highly underrepresented in aerospace relative to its talent and interest level. 

The program is managed by the non-profit Patti Grace Smith Fellowship Foundation, based out of Alabama, which was home to the program’s namesake. As a young girl, Patti Grace Smith (then Patricia Jones) was one of a dozen Black students to integrate Tuskegee High School, and was a plaintiff in a landmark case that integrated the public schools in Alabama, as upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. Her illustrious career was highlighted by her role leading the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation in the early days of the nation’s commercial space renaissance. In 2021, Smith was selected posthumously as the recipient of the prestigious General James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award, one of the highest honors available to aerospace professionals.

The 2025 Patti Grace Smith Fellows are:

• Foladayo Akinbi, a Freshman at the University of Virginia studying Electrical Engineering;

• Abi Areche, a Sophomore at the University of Michigan studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Courtney Baker, a Sophomore at Lehigh University studying Mechanical Engineering;

• Omoniyi Bankole, a Sophomore at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Jaden Behringer, a Sophomore at Texas A&M University studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Mariela Cepeda Santiago, a Freshman at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez studying Mechanical Engineering;

• Michaela Fuller, a Sophomore at Tuskegee University studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Tyler Galloway, a Sophomore at Roanoke College studying Computer Science and Data Science;

• Asaiah Gifford, a Junior at the University of Colorado Boulder studying Mechanical Engineering;

• Khalil Harruna, a Sophomore at Georgia Institute of Technology studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Josiah Hickman, a Sophomore at the University of Southern California studying Astronautical Engineering;

• Noah Howell, a Sophomore at California Institute of Technology studying Mechanical Engineering;

• McKenzie Jean-Baptiste, a Senior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University studying Software Engineering;

• Jayson Johnson, a Junior at Howard University studying Mechanical Engineering;

• Langston Johnson, a Sophomore at Cornell University studying Mechanical Engineering;

• Michael Jordan, a Junior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University studying Homeland Security & Intelligence;

• Sonia Kekeh, a Sophomore at Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Timothy "TJ" Kidd, a Freshman at Harvey Mudd College studying Engineering;

• Lauren Leitch, a Junior at the Georgia Institute of Technology studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Bethany Long, a Senior at Tuskegee University studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Chad McElroy, a Junior at Claremont McKenna College studying Government;

• Fadhimah Mohamed, a Junior at Washington University in St.Louis studying Mechanical Engineering and Physics;

• Tatiyyanah Nelums, a Senior at Syracuse University studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Marquel Ollivierre, a Junior at Georgia Institute of Technology studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Daniel Opara, a Senior at Tufts University studying Astrophysics and Computer Science

• Jonathan Pierre, a Sophomore at Columbia University studying Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics;

• Ashton Pierre-Louis, a Junior at the University of Florida studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Mersimoy Regassa, a Sophomore at Georgia Institute of Technology studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Daniel Rojas, a Sophomore at Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying Aerospace Engineering;

• Isabella Singleton, a Sophomore at Columbia University studying Mechanical Engineering;

• Claudio Solano, a Senior at Columbia University studying Mechanical Engineering;

• Alexis Tañón Martínez, a Sophomore at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez studying Mechanical Engineering;

• Jamar Whitfield, a Junior at Louisiana State University A&M studying Computer Science and Mathematics;

• Xavier Williams, a Junior at Purdue University studying Astronautical and Aeronautical Engineering; and

• Caleb Woldemichael, a Freshman at the University of Colorado Boulder studying Mechanical Engineering.

For more information about the Fellows or to support the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, please visit www.pgsfellowship.org.