Gender representation — it’s not rocket science, right? For Sophia Crowder, second-year Engineering student, Rodman Scholar and Jefferson Scholar, this classic phrase is not just a cliché. It is a challenge to create opportunities for women and girls in STEM.
As a young woman breaking into the space industry, what began as a childhood fascination has now grown into a way to uplift fellow young women to reach for the stars. Crowder’s passions have led her to found the organizations STEM Squad and ITGirls, which offer supportive networks and resources to areas without adequate representation for young people aspiring to enter the space exploration industry.
“Representation truly matters, especially in fields where female perspectives and contributions are still somewhat underrepresented,” Crowder said. “It’s so important to me to show young girls what they’re truly capable of if they set their minds to it.”
Since she was young, Crowder had an affinity for all things STEM. This passion quickly narrowed to a particular fascination with all things outer space, leading her to launch multiple science start-ups, attend various international space conferences and more.
“A lot of astronauts say when they go up, they have this “overview” effect,” Crowder said. “They go up as a citizen of their country, but then they come back down as a global citizen because when you go up in space, you don't see the borders anymore.”
A key motivator for Crowder’s empowerment initiatives, which include her self-founded start-ups STEM Squad and ITgirls, is that she was once a little girl enamored by the possibilities of STEM. Nurturing that curiosity, she explained, was a large part of her influence in the space industry today.
“When I was little, I was a dinosaur kid, and I was obsessed with paleontology,” Crowder said. “Eventually, I had the question when my parents took me to the zoo — Why aren’t the dinosaurs there? Why can't I see them? That kicked me down the rabbit hole of space because I learned about meteorites and asteroids. I grew a love and passion for it, and it stuck ever since.”
In 2019, Crowder followed her astronomical aspirations to Higher Orbits’ “Go For Launch!” program, traveling from her small hometown of South Hill, Va. to Durham, N.C. Higher Orbits, founded by former NASA missions operations leader Michelle Lucas, is a nonprofit aiming to spark curiosity in STEM education. The organization created the multi-day Go For Launch! Program, which features prominent space industry speakers and hands-on learning opportunities to inspire students like Crowder to enter the field.
“[At Go For Launch!], I met my first astronaut, Don Thomas, and then they put us into a bunch of teams with the prompt to create some sort of experiment that could make art in space,” Crowder said. “I love that they fused STEM and art. My team ended up winning.”
Though the launch of her prize-winning project was delayed in 2020 due to weather issues and a company buy-out, Crowder remained hooked on the space industry. The opportunity to pursue cosmic interests, however, was harder to come by back in her small hometown. This barrier, along with the historical lack of representation for women in scientific fields, prompted Crowder to collaborate with her local library and community college in 2019 to create STEM Squad — a start-up focused on bridging the gender gap and showing boys and girls that they can work together in STEM.
“I'm from a really rural part of Virginia, and there's not a lot of STEM opportunities,” Crowder said. “For Higher Orbits and some of the other things I did, I always had to travel two to three hours away. I wanted to bring [STEM] back home.”
Crowder furthered these efforts to connect her community with science while she was still in high school, launching yet another empowerment-centered organization, ITGirls, that focuses especially on inspiring adolescent girls. She was able to bring a panel of women in the space industry to various high schools to share their academic and professional experiences that led them to their career. The panel was sponsored by Microsoft, which helped facilitate both in-person and virtual programs involving the mentors.
“I created ITGirls to show girls, especially in middle and high school, that if they want to do STEM, there's a place for them,” Crowder said. “That was really well-received …The panel really helps these girls envision what their futures could be like if they choose to pursue STEM — you can’t be what you can’t see.”
Through these trailblazing initiatives, Crowder earned the UniPhi Space Agency’s 2024 Astronaut Rockstar Gold Award, which is given to students working to advance STEM education with an emphasis on space. Just months later, Crowder’s achievements and sustained relationship with Higher Orbits led to a trip to Milan, Italy for the International Astronautical Congress, an event put on annually by the International Astronautical Federation to highlight what's going on in space.
Once again aligning her accomplishments to the greater aim of representation, she joined the advisory board of Être Girls, a female empowerment platform that connects girls to resources and role models in their field of choice.
“Anything I can think of, there's someone in [Être Girls] that does it,” Crowder said. “It’s been a really great support system and inspiration.”
Through Être Girls, Crowder had the opportunity to expand her positive influence on girls and women in STEM even further by giving an online TEDX Talk in 2020, where she detailed her journey with both STEM and space and emphasized the key roles that her various female mentors have served.
Looking toward her immediate future with space and women’s empowerment, Crowder hopes to get Higher Orbits and Être Girls involved with the University community. As for what comes after college, her ambitions seem likely to send her to the stars and beyond.
“My ultimate dream is to become an astronaut and leave my footprints on the moon — or maybe even Mars,” Crowder said. “I want girls everywhere to see me chasing this wild, crazy dream and think, ‘If she can do that, what can’t I do?’ I want them to know the sky isn’t the limit — it’s only the beginning.”
Read More
Call your family
By Xander Tilock | 3 days agoWhether it be on my way to class, Harris Teeter or a miscellaneous side quest, these walk-and-talk sessions allow my family and me to thoroughly catch up.
Dealing with desire difference
By CD Life Staff | 6 days agoLet’s get honest, real and raw and talk about managing a healthier relationship by balancing these differences in desire.
Top 10 icons you didn’t realize are fellow Hoos
By Sam Saks | February 25, 2025From politicians to poets and playmakers to playwrights, University graduates run the gambit of the professional world.
