Gladys Ngetich

Dr. Gladys Chepkirui Ngetich is a Rhodes Scholar and a Schmidt Science Fellow, currently working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Space Enabled Research Group. Her postdoctoral research focuses on studying wax-based propellants for the launch and in-space propulsion of small satellites. She leads the computer simulations and analysis part of the project to understand flow physics, and heat and mass transfer phenomena that occur when wax-based hybrid propellants are melted, rotated, cooled, and cast into annular fuel grains.

Gladys obtained her DPhil from the University of Oxford where she researched advanced techniques for cooling jet engines. Her doctoral research was in close collaboration with Rolls Royce Plc and it was a major part of the Transpiration Cooling Project - a multi-year engineering project in the UK. The Project aims to deliver novel state-of-art cooling technologies for both future jet engines and hypersonic vehicles. Before the University of Oxford, she pursued BSc in Mechanical Engineering at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. 

Gladys has been a recipient of many notable awards and recognitions including; International Astronautical Federation IAF Emerging Space Leader Award, International Gas Turbine Institute Young Engineer Award, UK Rare Rising Star, Skoll World Forum Fellowship, featured in Nature and BBC Science News.