Makena Young is a student majoring in Aeronautic and Astronautic Engineering at Purdue University, with minors in Political Science and Environmental Engineering.
She had an early passion for film and science, which resulted in her becoming a four-time honoree of the ‘CSPAN Student Cam’ documentary film competition, as well as a 2011 honoree of the international ‘My Hero Project’ Film Festival. She soon began to establish a fascination with STEM programs, eventually captaining a FIRST Robotics team with mentors from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who inspired her to go into engineering.
Her projects in university have varied, from programming an in-flight management system to website development to sustainable industry solutions. She also enjoys a continued involvement in the Purdue chapters of Students for Exploration and Development of Space and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Makena currently works with local youth, supporting fundamental STEM education, and is currently interning with the NBH Studio as Studio Manager Assistant.
