The University of Colorado Boulder is strongly represented in the 2021 Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program.
Two current Smead Aerospace undergraduates and one alumnus are 2021 fellows. The initiative provides summer internships and executive mentorship to inspire the next generation of commercial spaceflight leaders.
The 2021 honorees are:
Now in its fourth 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. Fellows also receive one-on-one mentorship from accomplished members of the space community, including astronauts, engineers, entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and others.
The program culminates in a summit where fellows network with top leaders in the industry, visit space start-ups, and develop entrepreneurial skills.
The 2021 honorees
Anthony Danna
Host Company: Relativity Space
Anthony Danna is studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder and will graduate in May 2022. Anthony also holds a bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of Oklahoma and has worked in the Oil and Gas industry as well as serving in the United States Navy. Last year he interned with The Aerospace Corporation in the Propulsion Sciences department where he evaluated methane decomposition in regeneratively cooled rocket nozzles. When not thinking about rocket engines Anthony enjoys backcountry snowboarding with his fiancé, and training with his German-Shepherd pup, Laika.
Chava Friedman
Host Company: Commercial Spaceflight Federation
Chava Friedman is an aerospace engineering undergraduate at the University of Colorado Boulder. She currently works at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research assembling and testing satellite flight hardware. For the past two summers, Chava has worked on science and instrument operations for deep space missions at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Chava is passionate about safeguarding the human future, and hopes to contribute toward solving the climate crisis and expanding the human presence in space. She sees dismantling systemic racism, within both the aerospace industry and the U.S. at large, as a central priority of her career. In her free time, Chava loves hiking in the Rocky Mountains, yoga, reading, and cooking international cuisines. An aspiring astronaut, senator, and stand-up comedian, Chava is delighted to be joining the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship class of 2021.
Gautham Viswaroopan
Host Company: Aerospace Corporation
Gautham Viswaroopan is a first-year graduate student at UCLA pursuing his PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering focused on structures and materials. He earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. His experience includes internships and research at university, labs, corporations, and DoD focused on structural health monitoring and plasmaspheric electron activity in both spacecraft and launch vehicles ranging from university cubesats to corporate launch vehicles. In his free time, Gautham dedicates his time to the growth of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), where he sits as international advisor developing STEAM opportunities for 35+ countries and in process, developing subsectors in space policy focused in commercial space and space education. His dream is to make sure that opportunities for space should be accessible to all for the growth of humankind. Outside of STEM, he enjoys snowboarding, hiking, playing music, and watching Food Network.