3/27/2026 Debra Levey Larson
Written by Debra Levey Larson
Although the number of applicants this year for a competitive fellowship program was over 400, only 28 fellowships were awarded this year — two being aerospace engineering undergraduates Emily Kyroudis and LaMya Powell. The paid summer fellowships include a professional internship component. Each recipient is paired with two senior or executive-level mentors.
Emily Kyroudis is a sophomore at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is pursuing dual degrees in aerospace engineering and in innovation, leadership, & engineering entrepreneurship. She will intern this summer with Rocket Lab as a manufacturing engineering intern in Long Beach, California.
Kyroudis’ childhood interests in building and understanding how things work just naturally led her to aerospace topics in college in structures, advanced materials and reusable launch vehicles.
"As the structures fabrication lead for Illinois Space Society’s Spaceshot team, I teach others how to manufacture composite rockets while fostering a culture of creativity and collaboration,” Kyroudis said. “Leading this team has taught me that engineering isn’t just about precision, it’s about people. The best launches come from teams that trust one another, where everyone feels confident taking initiative and sharing ideas. That’s what I love most about Spaceshot: our team is a community built on curiosity, persistence, and care for one another — the same qualities that defined by this fellowship program.”
In addition to her leadership on the Spaceshot team, Kyroudis conducts aerospace materials science research on cure kinetics through the REMAT project in the Baur Research Group with Morgan Scott, B.S. ’25.
She also had a unique experience relating to her dual degree.
“This past winter break I had the privilege of attending the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship Workshop with the Technology Entrepreneur Center.”
Kyroudis also served as her team’s principal investigator in NASA’s L’SPACE Proposal Writing and Evaluation Experience, which was selected to lead a multidisciplinary team in developing and pitching a novel technology for review by a NASA panel. The experience strengthened her systems-level thinking and deepened her interest in technology commercialization
LaMya Powell is a senior at Illinois. She will intern this summer with Joby Aviation as a Powertrain Mechanical Engineer Intern on the Battery Team.
Powell attended a magnet high school in Chicago. In her application for the fellowship, she described her initial thrill, interacting with people from vastly difference backgrounds, who brought unique collaborations and opportunities to learn. Her excitement changed as she began to be aware of extreme discrepancies in students’ access to resources, food, and compute times, for example.
“Seeing this every single day for four years made me we must do everything in our power to take care of our planet and each other. It taught me real empathy and that as engineers we have a responsibility for humanity,” Powell said. “That engineering is not just about building things, but about building equity. I learned to value collaboration, perseverance, and using my knowledge to uplift communities that are too often left behind. This is what got me into problem solving and engineering, then, eventually led me to sustainable and accessible aviation.”
Powell has already put her convictions into action as an undergraduate researcher in the Laboratory for Electric Aircraft Design and Sustainability, studying jet noise. She has also explored projects with the university’s Center for Sustainable Aviation.
She has already had several professional opportunities in sustainable aerospace: internships with Southern Company, Exelon, Emerson Professional Tools, and Pentair, working in operations, sustaining engineering, and R&D.
“I enjoyed researching and testing systems, identifying areas for improvement, and iterating on designs to boost efficiency and reliability for end users,” Powell said. “These experiences have given me clarity in my desire to work towards sustainability and societal impact.”