Tinevimbo Ndlovu is a senior studying aerospace engineering at Saint Louis University’sParks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology. Photo by Maggie Rotermund.
Ndlovu and fellow honoree Vaishali Shah, a senior at Washington University in St.Louis, are the first Missouri recipients of the award.
Ndlovu, who grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe, came to SLU after searching out aerospaceengineering programs and finding SLU among the short list of options.
“The U.S. Embassy had a program – EducationUSA – that helped students by providingaccess to study materials for the SAT and ACT,” she said.
Saint Louis University provided the best opportunity, she said, and receiving a MartinLuther King, Jr. scholarship made the decision easy.
“I’ve had a phenomenal experience at SLU,” she said.
Michael Swartwout, Ph.D., associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering,said Ndlovu has been a strong contributor in his classes.
“She always came prepared and wasn’t afraid to ask questions. It was clear to me thatshe worked to understand the material, rather than just memorizing equations and guessingwhich one to use,” he said. “I’m not surprised that she’s receiving this award – itis well-earned.”
Sridhar Condoor, Ph.D., professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, echoedSwartwout’s sentiments.
“Tine is smart and meticulous in her work,” Condoor said. “She is a great team playerand puts in the effort to involve everyone.”
Ndlovu said her ultimate career goal is to work in satellite monitoring for Africannations.
“Where I am from, we have droughts and floods,” she said. “I want to use satellitetechnology to measure soil moisture and other factors to help mitigate the damagefrom extreme weather.”
The Class of 2022 marks the sixth class of “Brookie” fellows and were selected fromthe Fellowship’s most competitive application year. More than 1,000 promising andtalented students applied worldwide, coming from Ivy League universities, major researchuniversities, historically black colleges and universities, liberal arts colleges,community colleges, and major international universities.
Fifty-one fellows were selected through a competitive application process involvingwritten and creative submissions, interviews with the Fellowship’s leadership teamand its close network, and interviews with 36 leading aerospace employers from acrossmultiple sectors in the US aerospace industry. The fellows were selected based ontheir commitment to their communities, stand-out creative abilities, record of leadership,incredible talent, and their desire to pursue a career in aerospace.
Each fellow is matched to an executive-level mentor in the aerospace industry whowill support and work with the fellow to help launch their career.
About the Brooke Owens Fellowship
The Brooke Owens Fellowship was founded in 2016 to honor the memory of industry pioneerand pilot D. Brooke Owens, who passed away in June 2016 at the age of 35, after ahard-fought battle with cancer. The program was co-founded by Lori Garver, the formerDeputy Administrator of NASA and now CEO of Earthrise Alliance; Cassie Lee, AdvancedPrograms Lead for Weather and Remote Sensing at Lockheed Martin Space; and WilliamPomerantz, the Vice President for Special Projects at Virgin Orbit.
The Brooke Owens Fellowship celebrates its ongoing mission and legacy of disruptingthe historical gender imbalance in the aerospace industry by continuing its missionto provide opportunities and access to talented young professionals from historically-underrepresentedgenders.
About Parks College
Saint Louis University’s Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology offersaviation degrees and engineering degree programs that enable students to study thesetechnical disciplines in a traditional university setting. As the first federally-recognizedflight school, Parks College has a rich history of creating well-rounded leaders inaviation and engineering fields such as civil, electrical, computer, mechanical, biomedicaland aerospace.
Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigiousCatholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the firstuniversity west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers nearly 13,000 students a rigorous,transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diversecommunity of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and preparesstudents to make the world a better, more just place.
