Aerospace Sophomore Selected to be a 2025 Patti Grace Smith Fellow

Aerospace Engineering sophomore Abigail Areche has been selected as one of 35 undergraduate students from across the country to receive the prestigious honor of being a 2025 Patti Grace Smith Fellow. This award-winning program is designed to accelerate the careers of future aerospace leaders, allowing recipients a summer internship at one of the nation’s leading aerospace companies. This Fellowship provides winning students with world-class mentorship opportunities and entry into a tight-knit community of high-achieving Black students and young professionals.

Upon receiving the Fellowship, Areche commented, “Being given the opportunity to be a part of this Fellowship is incredibly exciting and such an honor. I’ve always wanted to be involved in something that puts me with others who look like me and are passionate about the same things. I’m eager to not only gain experience in the aerospace industry but also get to meet other incredible people and students like myself from across the country.”

From a young age, Areche developed a passion for aerospace. Originally from Rhode Island, her pursuit of this passion led her to the University of Michigan where she discovered even more areas of exploration within the aerospace engineering program. Throughout her undergraduate career, she has found mentors and has networked with various aerospace engineering communities, clubs and peers, helping her navigate her degree and look towards a future career in engineering.

“My experience within the aerospace program has been both challenging and rewarding. The rigorous coursework has pushed me to think critically and electives outside of class have helped me apply these concepts and get to be more hands on. While it has been a difficult journey, every step of the way has been fulfilling. I’ve been finding ways to adapt and make up for the many skills I felt I lacked when transitioning to undergrad from high school,” she commented.

So far in her undergraduate career, Areche has focused on expanding her technical expertise through hands-on projects within the x88 course series. Through the x88 courses, she expressed gratitude and enjoyment from learning how to navigate topics such as working with stakeholders, learning how to research and embracing skills that will be needed in the future when deciding which career path she wishes to pursue. She also stated that the course series has pushed her to learn more about group dynamics and working with different people in professional settings.

In the future, Areche aspires to work in the space industry, contributing to missions that advance human space exploration, whether through satellite technology or spacecraft control systems. She stated, “I want to be at the forefront of designing and developing technologies that enable deep space missions. My goal is to work at a company like NASA, SpaceX, or a leading aerospace startup focused on space exploration.”

In addition to her academic pursuits, she is also actively involved in the Black Students in Aerospace (BSA) student organization and Michigan Drone Technology (MDT) student team. She explained that she is particularly interested in autonomous aerospace systems, spacecraft guidance and control, and mission design for space exploration. Her work with drones has deepened her interest in autonomy and control algorithms, and she explained her eagerness to expand her research interests to applications for planetary exploration.

“I’m extremely grateful for all the opportunities I’ve been given to pursue my current Aero passion. I hope that if there is anyone like me struggling with the challenging workload, and the imposter syndrome, they will know that they’re not alone. While the struggle is very real and valid, pushing through is so rewarding and you gain so much from asking for help when needed. I hope that the future of Aerospace becomes more diverse and that little by little everyone feels represented within the field,” Areche explained.