Olivia Langenderfer selected for the 2022 Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program

For the second time ever, an Ohio State University engineering student has been selected to be part of the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program.

Olivia Langenderfer, a third-year in mechanical engineering, was one of 30 individuals selected out of over 200 applicants from 90 different colleges for the summer internship and executive mentorship program inspiring the next generation of commercial spaceflight leaders.

The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program is now in its fifth year, the highly selective program awards exceptional college juniors, seniors, and graduate students pursuing aerospace careers with paid internships at cutting-edge commercial space companies.

“I am so honored and excited to be a part of such an amazing group of young engineers, scientists, and explorers. Ad Astra!” Langenderfer said. “To me, being selected means that I am enough. I have fought with anxiety and doubt for many years, so this selection proves to me that I am smart enough, strong enough, and hard-working enough to successfully pursue my dreams.”

Langenderfer learned of this opportunity from Raghav Bhagwat, a 2021 Matthew Isakowitz Fellow and the first-ever recipient to attend Ohio State. Bhagwat forwarded the opportunity to the admin of the Buckeye Space Launch Initiative, a club Langenderfer is vice president of.

Langenderfer’s 12-week internship will be hosted by Rocket Lab in Long Beach, California. She will be an engineering intern in their Manufacturing Engineering Department working on projects related to production, quality and supply chain aspects of the small- and cube-sat rocket.

Fellows also receive one-on-one mentorship from accomplished members of the space community, including astronauts, engineers, entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and others. Langenderfer’s mentor during her fellowship is Suzi McBride, the chief operations officer and board member at Iridium Communications.

Langenderfer is inspired on where commercial space flight can take all of humanity.

“Commercial space flight is the future of human space flight,” she said. “Medicine, agriculture, engineering, and so many other disciplines benefit from research conducted in space.”

After the fellowship, she hopes to pursue more internship opportunities before she graduates in May 2024. Post-graduation, Langenderfer plans to secure a job in the aerospace industry and stay connected with the 2022 fellowship class.

Read more about the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program and meet the rest of this year’s cohort.