Khalil Harruna, Lauren Leitch, Marquel Ollivierre, and Mersimoy Regassa are soaring to new heights this summer with exciting aerospace internships.
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering (AE) students Khalil Harruna, Lauren Leitch, Marquel Ollivierre, and Mersimoy Regassa have been selected as Patti Grace Smith (PGS) Fellows. The four students are among 35 undergraduate students to receive the prestigious honor across the country. In addition to scholarships, these students will intern this summer at top aerospace companies around the nation. They will also receive personalized mentorship, networking opportunities, and career guidance.
Khalil Harruna
Khalil Harruna is most interested in studying space, particularly space systems like satellites and rovers and will spend this summer at Millennium Space Systems in El Segundo, California.
“I’m looking forward to the summit and meeting everyone from different schools. I’m also excited about being a production engineer at Millennium Space,” Harruna stated.
The Ghana native grew up in Georgia and has close ties to alumnus Jesudunsin Awodele, AE 2023, M.S. AE 2024, who was a part of the inaugural group of PGS fellows in 2021. It just so happened that their sisters were friends. When he was considering Georgia Tech, Harruna’s mom called Awodele’s mom and asked if he could give her son a campus tour. Awodele was happy to do it, and he told him about the fellowship during the tour.
Khalil Harruna
The second-year praised the executive board of the student organization AeroAfroAstro for checking his essay and resume and giving him sound advice on how to interview successfully.
Thanks to an eighth-grade career prep exam, Harruna was steered towards engineering and math-based careers. It made sense because he excelled in both subjects. When he came across aerospace engineering, it sparked his interest. He hadn’t heard of it but found out what it was and liked the salary associated with the career. It planted a seed.
It wasn’t until his junior year in high school that he followed through on his interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). He joined the STEM club and robotics club and actually got to practice aerospace engineering. In the STEM club, he led a do-it-yourself project to build a wind tunnel where they also built and tested gliders. It led him to further research aerospace, and he was amazed at all of the career options in the aerospace industry.
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Lauren Leitch
Lauren Leitch
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Lauren Leitch, a New York native, was captivated by space and engineering at a young age. Her early interest in robotics laid the foundation for her career, but the 2016 film Hidden Figures truly ignited her passion for aerospace engineering.
Now a third-year aerospace engineering major with a minor in international affairs, she is also pursuing a French language certificate. She has begun to expand her horizons beyond engineering. She is exploring the legal side of the industry as she has found herself intrigued by the intersection of space law, policy, global collaboration, spacecraft design, and manufacturing. So, she plans on pursuing law school after completing her bachelor’s degree.
"Aerospace is a large field, and though I am focused primarily on the space side, I have been interested in space law in the last year. I’m currently taking classes in international law because I may want to work on the legal aspects of aerospace for large corporations," she said.
The third-year student will be interning with Barrios Technology in Houston, Texas. She will spend the first two weeks getting acclimated to the company, then she will receive her summer assignment. She heard about the fellowship from AeroAfroAstro and fellow AE student Nina Otebele, a Brooke Owens Fellow Class of 2024.
"I look forward to using my classroom knowledge and seeing another side of the aerospace industry. I am also excited about working with new people and gaining mentorship. I am excited about Houston, too," Leitch shared.
Though this is her first aerospace internship, she worked as a mechanical engineering intern with Salas O'Brien in New York City last summer. While there, she worked on energy efficiency projects aimed at helping the city become more carbon-efficient by 2050. She visited different sites around the city to test equipment and compile issue logs to ensure code compliance.
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Marquel Ollivierre
Marquel Ollivierre will spend the summer at Ursa Major in Berthoud, Colorado. Currently, he is interested in jet engines and propulsion systems but is still exploring. He can’t wait to meet the PGS fellows and mentors and be around students with the same passion for aerospace engineering.
“The award represents all of the hard work I’ve achieved throughout my life and I’m extremely grateful. I hope to inspire other students at Tech to apply because it will help them in their careers,” Ollivierre said.
He used Georgia Tech’s “The Three Pioneers” statute in Harrison Square near Tech Tower in his application essay because they represented the first three African-American matriculants at Georgia Tech.
“I wrote about how every time I walked past them, they inspired me to keep going and pursue my degree. For them, it was a greater struggle than it is now. I am grateful for where I am today,” Ollivierre shared.
He hails from Bowie, Maryland and spent his childhood plane spotting at Gravelly Point Park in Arlington, Virginia. He has fond memories of his parents packing a lunch, sitting in the picnic area, and watching airplanes take off from Ronald Reagan National Airport. Fast forward to today, the third-year is investigating all that aerospace engineering has to offer.
Marquel Ollivierre
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Mersimoy Regassa
Mersimoy Regassa
Mersimoy Regassa will spend the summer at Muon Space in Mountain View, California. He learned about the fellowship during an AeroAfroAstro fellowship discussion panel in 2023. He decided to apply because he wanted to join a community that uplifts and empowers students in aerospace because it is such a challenging field to study and pursue. He is also a member of the Ramblin’ Rocket Club. He is a part of the GNC propulsion sub-team, where he contributes to the formulation and characterization of propellants for rocket motor design.
“This award is life-changing for me because it will provide mentorship, industry exposure, and a pathway for me to meaningfully advance the aerospace field,” Regassa said.
The second-year was grateful for Georgia Tech alumnus Josh Ingersoll, an AE Mentor in Residence who helped him refine his resume and prepare for his interviews. He credits Ingersoll and his professor’s letters of recommendation for contributing to his success.
“I am excited about the mentorship that I will receive," Regassa said. "I’ve been navigating most of my college journey alone, so this fellowship will provide dedicated mentorship, which is really crucial for growth and success in this field.”
In fourth grade, Regassa was introduced to NASA and his love for space exploration was born. Over the years, his passion for aerospace deepened. He hails from Ethiopia and moved to Atlanta a few years ago. He considers Atlanta and Georgia Tech his second home.
The fellowship is named after aerospace pioneer Patti Grace Smith, a prominent commercial aviation leader. She led the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation early in the nation’s commercial space revolution. In 2021, she was selected posthumously as the recipient of Space Foundation’s General James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award, one of the highest honors available to aerospace professionals.
Previous Winners:
Inaugural 2021: Kojo Bekoe-Sakyi, Ciarra Ortiz, Jesudunsin Awodele, Jovanna Patterson, and Kailen De Saussure
2022: Jalen Cauley, Justin Connors, and Suraya John
2023: Maya Kinyatta Tyson
2024: Ihsaan El-Amin, Deshawn Johnson, Papa Quainoo, and Chanelle Taylor
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