Fellowship helps Regan O’Neill’s aerospace career take flight

Regan O’Neill’s dream of helping humanity set foot on Mars has received a rocket-fuel boost– a Brooke Owens Fellowship that will connect her with aerospace-industry leaders.

O’Neill, the first Clemson student to win one of the fellowships, aspires to work on rocket engines as a propulsion engineer. She wants to help make space flight safer and repeatable and to lower the cost.

“I’m really excited,” the mechanical engineering major said. “‘I’ve wanted to work for NASA since I was a kid, and I didn’t realize that was something that was realistic for me. Once I came to college, I started working a lot with NASA research, and getting the Brooke Owens proves that I’m on the right track to get where I want to go.”

As part of the fellowship, O’Neill will work as an engineering intern on the special projects team at Analytical Mechanics Associates. She plans to focus mainly on nuclear propulsion research.

Each fellow is also matched with an executive-level mentor and a past recipient, known as a Brookie Alumni Mentor.

O’Neill was among 44 students from across the nation chosen for the fellowship, which is named for pilot and aerospace pioneer D. Brooke Owens, who died of cancer in 2016 at 35 years old. The program received more than 400 applications, according to the non-profit that administers the program.

“The 2025 Fellows were ultimately selected based on their incredible talent, desire to pursue a career in aerospace, stand-out creative abilities, strong record of leadership, and most importantly, a commitment to their communities,” according to a press release from the non-profit.

Robyn Curtis, director of the Office of Major Fellowships at Clemson, said the Brooke Owens Fellowship’s focus on both internship and mentorship makes it an invaluable experience for undergraduates in aerospace.

“Regan’s selection is a testament to her talent, dedication and drive,” Curtis said. “This is a well-deserved honor that will connect her with industry leaders and propel her toward her goal of advancing space exploration.”

O’Neill, a junior Honors student, is the daughter of Gregg and Kristina O’Neill of Mount Pleasant. Her younger brother, Finnegan, is a pre-med biological sciences major at Clemson.

In addition to the Brooke Owens Fellowship, O’Neill has been nominated for the Goldwater and Astronaut scholarships.

O’Neill said she first became interested in engineering when a middle school science teacher in Washington, D.C., where she then lived, arranged for her to speak with astronaut and biochemist Peggy Whitson.

O’Neill and her family later moved to Mount Pleasant, where she pushed a little closer to her dream as a student at Wando High School. She had leadership roles on two separate NASA projects that received national recognition– one to develop a radiation-blocking helmet and one to develop a blood-capture system for Blue Origin.

O’Neill graduated from Wando High in 2022 and was drawn to Clemson by its strong engineering program and low tuition compared to other schools.

She has kept her eyes on the stars since arriving in Tiger Town.

O’Neill collaborated with a team of students overseen by Steve Kaeppler, an associate professor of physics and astronomy, to develop mechanical systems for a probe.

She had the chance in August 2024 to watch the probe, aboard a sounding rocket, launch from Virginia’s NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility into the ionosphere, where it measured electrical activity.

O’Neill plans to head to Norway in November for another launch, this one to take measurements in the northern lights.

Assuming the launch happens on the day it is planned, she will get to celebrate in a fitting way—pushing the boundaries of space exploration on the very day she turns 21.