• Patti Grace Smith Fellow, Class of 2025

• University of Colorado Boulder, Mechanical Engineering, ‘26

• Host Institution: Airbus

Asaiah Gifford is a mechanical engineering student at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is passionate about making a positive impact on her community and pursuing engineering allows her to better understand how to create meaningful solutions to complex problems. As someone often drawn to leading teams, Asaiah aims to bridge gaps between groups that might not otherwise connect, fostering collaboration to create systems that benefit humanity as a whole. Asaiah's focus in aerospace lies at the intersection of humanity, advanced technology, and our exploration of the next frontier.

Asaiah is committed to developing innovations that not only improve life on Earth but also enable us to explore and understand worlds beyond the one we know and love. In 2018, she attended the WorldDenver National Women's Day convention, themed "Women in Space." Listening to the women on the entrepreneurship panel share their journeys of overcoming scrutiny in the male-dominated aerospace industry while founding their own ventures-from consulting firms to manufacturing enterprises-was profoundly inspiring. Mae Jemison's keynote speech at the event further encouraged Asaiah to honor their legacies by contributing to the growing presence and achievements of women in space exploration.

Asaiah is continually learning to be a better engineer by engaging with diverse people and environments. As the Spanish lead for her Engineers Without Borders team's final trip to Guatemala, she helped analyze the water distribution system and conduction line we had implemented in the Caserío Totolya community. Drawing on her engineering expertise and cross-cultural communication skills, Asaiah helped connect the community's 400 residents and the technical knowledge they needed to access potable water. This experience profoundly shaped Asaiah and strengthened her passion for centering people in all her engineering endeavors. This summer, Asaiah is thrilled to develop her aerospace-specific technical skillset as a Patti Grace Smith Fellow. She looks forward to continuing to seek opportunities where she can leverage her skills to create innovative technologies and deliver engineering solutions that are accessible and impactful for all.