The Impact of the Girls in Aerospace Foundation

The Girls in Aerospace Foundation is a global nonprofit dedicated to providing young women with opportunities to pursue STEM and aerospace careers. Visit www.girlsinaerospace.org and @girlsinaerospace on Instagram to learn more.

This article serves as a continuous and rolling impact report and is updated as new programs are released and announced. Last updated Sep 2023.

BY THE NUMBERS 📜

• 15,000+ young women reached per year (40,000+ total)
• 5,000 registered members from over 20 countries
• Involvement in fundraisers collecting over $10,000 in tuition assistance for GIA members
• Within the Aerospace Connect program, 200+ girls were matched one-on-one with a mentor in the aerospace field

PROGRAMS 🏫

Aerospace Connect Mentorship Program

The Aerospace Connect program is a freeform mentorship program — it’s up to the mentor and mentee to decide how they want to interact or collaborate.

• The first edition of GIA Aerospace Connect mentorship program successfully paired 100 high school and college girls from over 20 countries around the world with 100 women working or studying the aerospace field.
• The second edition repeated the feat above, now with a more involved Discord community.
• The third edition is running from Oct — Dec 2023.

Notable mentors include:

• Samantha Falucci (@seaspacesam) — tech professional, analog astronaut, and science communicator.
• Dr. Anna Chrobry (@astropolerina)— highly respected Polish physicist working in the German space sector
• Agnieszka Elwertowska (@space.dark.horse) — Polish analog astronaut and researcher regularly working missions in Brazil and the Polish Lunares habitat
• Zaida Hernandez (@thespacelatina) — aerospace engineer well-known for her social media presence and science communication
• Rikhi Roy (@rikhiroy)— aerospace engineer and science communicator

WEBINARS 📺

Space Law Webinar — Lauren Killam

Lauren Killam spoke about Space Law and her experience blending the legal field and STEM. 90+ signups, 80+ attendees, and hundreds of views on the recording.

Meet-and-Greet with Bonnie J. Dunbar

GIA partnered with the Redmond Astronet, a school-based club, to organize a meet-and-greet with Museum of Flight CEO and prominent former NASA astronaut Bonnie J. Dunbar. Astronaut Dunbar flew on 5 missions throughout her space shuttle career. This event was streamed to over 100 attendees.

Aerospace in College Panel — Sabrina Khan, Toni McLaughlin, Riley Havela, Fiona McCarthy, and Sarah Alshamaily

GIA invited 5 women majoring in aerospace-related degrees at UCLA, MIT, University of Victoria, and University of Glasgow. They answered questions from panelists about what it’s like being a collegiate woman in aerospace.

Astrobiology — Jade from Never Trust an Atom

GIA welcomed Jade from Never Trust an Atom to speak about principles of astrobiology, finding alien life, discovering exoplanets, and more bio-related questions that intersect into the aerospace field.

In addition to this, GIA has also provided aerospace speakers to a number of events organized by other groups. If you are interested in sharing your story at a GIA event, please email karolina@girlsinaerospace.org.

PUBLICATIONS 📖

Urania — June 2022

Karolina Dubiel was interviewed by Urania, a Polish astronomy portal, on the work done by Girls in Aerospace. The article covered her personal drive regarding the initiative as well as specific programs that GIA runs.

Facebook PL Meet the Future — June 2021

The Girls in Aerospace Foundation was featured in Facebook PL’s 2021 Meet the Future report for our work with girls in Poland. Only 7 people were selected for the prestigious recognition, including GIA founder Karolina Dubiel.

She the Change Podcast — April 2021

Etasha Donthi featured Karolina as a guest on her podcast, which was previously featured in Forbes.

GIA Magazine Issue I — December 2020

We published a 40-page issue about all things Girls in Aerospace, including an interview by Girl Security founder Lauren Buitta and Women’s Republic founder Sai Shesadri.

Women’s Republic — June 2020

Only a few weeks after GIA’s initiation, Zarnab Tufail drafted an article about teen entrepreneurship and running a nonprofit centered around Girls in Aerospace and Karolina Dubiel.

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS 💟

#WeAreGIA

A social media campaign ran over the summer of 2020, garnering over 30,000 interactions. It featured the “everyday” women of aerospace, including aerospace engineers, launch technicians, computer scientists working within aerospace, and analog astronauts.