Mechatronics student wins her dream fellowship in space industry

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

An engineering undergraduate at the University of Waterloo who has dreamed of working in the space industry since she was a young girl took a big step in that direction today with her selection for a national fellowship program.

Elizabeth Drew, a third-year mechatronics engineering student, is one of 10 fellows in the inaugural class named by the Zenith Canada Pathways Foundation (ZCPF), a non-profit organization created to advance equity, diversity and inclusion in the space sector.

Fellows from universities across the country will work at a Canadian space organization, get paired with a senior industry mentor, receive professional development training and meet with other fellows throughout the year-long program.

Drew wanted to be an astronomer before attending a space camp in Houston when she was 11 and learning about the James Webb Space Telescope, which launched late last year with goals including observation of the first stars and finding potentially habitable planets.

“From there I was set,” she said of a presentation on the telescope. “Engineering for space robotics was the goal.”

Go to 'Much more than a job' for the full story.