Her Story
About Gowri
Gowri Santosh is an aerospace engineering student currently enrolled in a bachelor's program at the University of Texas at Arlington, with aspirations to pursue a PhD in aerospace engineering. She began her journey in the field during her junior year of high school, approximately three to four years ago, and has since developed expertise in speaking and bringing awareness to important issues while participating in speech and debate as well as delivering a TED Talk. Santosh is an active member of the AIAA student organization for aerospace. She attributes much of her success to the supportive encouragement of her parents, whose excitement motivates her to achieve further. Santosh values authenticity in both her professional and personal life, aiming to maintain a clear sense of self amid external influences. She has volunteered with nonprofits focused on providing education to women in rural areas lacking access to such opportunities. Among the advice she offers to young women entering engineering is the importance of maintaining a clear goal and persisting through challenges, particularly in demanding fields like aerospace.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Gowri
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute a lot of my success to my parents, who have been supportive with everything that I do. They're quite surprised at how far I can go, and that excitement in them kind of pushes me to go further and see how far I can surprise them in a way. It's just a fun way to see how excited they get for me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One thing in the engineering field specifically is that you can't just give up because it's hard. Especially in such a hard field like aerospace, it's gonna get really, really hard, and there's gonna be so many people that are gonna tell you to just quit, especially as a woman. You should have a very clear goal for yourself, and do every single year power to keep going.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It is very important for young students, not even just in aerospace, but any industry, to be audacious and ambitious. Mainly audacious in the way that you don't just think that it's impossible. Mainly just to think that everything can happen no matter what. Just to try, even if you might fail, you learned something from it. It's the privilege that you have as a young person that you can be as audacious as you want.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the hardest things for everyone in aerospace would be working towards the degree with the intense math and so many projects. After that it lightens up because then you can network with people and work towards your actual goal.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Authenticity. I want to be myself and have a very good idea of who I am so I don't have other people telling me what to do, especially early on in your career when a lot of people are gonna try to get to you.
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