Embry-Riddle Aerospace Engineering Student Named to Glamour’s ‘College Women of the Year’ 2024 Class

During her academic career at Embry-Riddle, Madison Newbell has completed three top internships, including one at the Federal Aviation Administration, and has been named a prestigious Patti Grace Smith Fellow.

Even with these stellar accomplishments, the Aerospace Engineering student was still surprised when she was one of six women selected for Glamour’s 2024 College Women of the Year.

“When I found out, I was utterly shocked,” Newbell said. “It just felt really good to see that everything I have done really has been paving a way for the future.”

Glamourhas celebrated exceptional college women for more than six decades through its annual College Women of the Year Awards. This year, the publication honored young women making an impact in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

“I feel like engineering is literally able to make you to do anything you want in the world and more, like make a rocket,” Newbell said.

She also hopes to inspire more girls and women to seek STEM careers.

“Girls and women need to realize just because a field is male-dominated doesn’t mean we can’t fit ourselves into it,” Newbell said.

Finding Her Trajectory

Newbell, who is from Nashville, Tennessee, became interested in engineering after attending a technology camp, where she learned 3D printing and computer-aided design.

“My older brother went to college in mechanical engineering,” she said. “I figured anything he could do, I could do.”

At Embry-Riddle, Newbell majored in Aerospace Engineering with a concentration in Astronautics.

In addition to excelling at her studies, she secured multiple internships. Her first internship was with Masten Space Systems in Mojave, California. There, she built and launched her first rocket — a high-powered, class-H motor rocket capable of reaching an altitude of 5,000 feet.

“My first internship really put it into perspective that I am in the aerospace industry working to build rockets,” she said.

Her next internships provided her with other angles on the aerospace industry, she said. A more research-based internship at BryceTech, based in Alexandria, Virginia, involved the logistics of launches, while an internship at the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety authorization branch dealt with rules and regulations for commercial space companies.

“Over the past three years, I’ve had club and internship experience to help me grow as a person,” said Newbell. “So, I now know many of the different aspects involved in the aerospace industry.”

Newbell was also accepted in 2023 as a federal government intern through the Future Leaders in Public Service Internship Program. She credited the Black Students Association and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) at the Daytona Beach Campus with helping her discover opportunities, including the Patti Grace Fellowship.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the Black Students Association,” she said. “And NSBE has definitely helped me grow as an engineer and professional.”

Newbell is still considering her future goals, which include attending graduate school, working in the commercial space industry and eventually starting her own business.

“I want to gain as much education and knowledge as I can,” she said. “And hopefully become my own boss one day.”

Posted In: Engineering | Space