OUR HISTORY

The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship was created in July 2020 by Will Pomerantz, Khristian Jones, Tiffany Lockett, and Alvin Drew.

Our program adapted the proven model of the Brooke Owens Fellowship, of which Will Pomerantz was a co-founder and Khristian Jones an alum. From the creation of the program until 2024, we operated under the Brooke Owens Fellowship's 501c3 non-profit entity.

Now, we have our own Alabama nonprofit corporation, the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship Foundation. Over time, Tiffany Lockett and Alvin Drew have rotated out of their executive roles on the team, and Caleb Henry, AJ Bekoe (a previous Patti Grace Smith Fellow herself), and Tahara Dawkins have joined.

Our Fellowship is named after Patti Grace Smith, a beloved leader in the aerospace industry. In addition to her incredible aerospace career, particularly her vital role in enabling today's commercial space industry during her time as the head of the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, we were inspired by Patti's unbelievable personal story as one of the students who integrated the public schools in Alabama during the height of the Civil Rights Era. We’re grateful to Patti’s family — Doug, Gene, Joyce, Simone, Wilma, and the rest — for allowing us to honor Patti in this way, and for sharing so generously of their memories of Patti.

To date, our program has awarded nearly $500,000 in scholarships, and helped 175 talented undergraduate students find their first steps towards careers in aerospace. Nearly all of our Fellows have come from historically underserved communities. Through our Fellowship, they are not only entering the industry, they are remaining and thriving: 80% of our alumni are now rising through the ranks of the aerospace industry, with an additional 10% in closely related industries such as robotics -- smashing the standard statistics for undergraduate programs.

We are incredibly proud of our Patti Grace Smith Fellows, and grateful for the role we get to play in helping inspiring aerospace companies connect with students and young professionals who possess extraordinary individual merit, aptitude, work ethic, and determination.