Kaitlyn Ludlam
Kaitlyn Ludlam is a Sophomore at the University of Florida, dual majoring in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers where she is the Corresponding Secretary. Kaitlyn was an intern at Boeing for the summer of 2021. Kailtyn has earned many scholarships including Florida Bright Futures, Coke Scholarship, Chevron Scholarship, Wells Fargo Scholarship, and the Clay Gators Scholarship.
Kaitlyn's passion for STEMbegan in the 4th grade when she joined a new club at her school. It was there she learned about robotics, programming, and FIRST.Kaitlyn remained involved with robotics having had the opportunity to compete on multiple levels and retain leadership positions on the teams through high school graduation. Kaitlyn was a FIRST Dean’s List Finalist.Kailtyn still volunteers with FIRST Robotics.
Kaitlyn is an avid programmer. Currently she is taking MAT Lab and is a NREIP Fall Engagement Intern at the US Naval Academy. In high school she had taken college level Python, Java, and Fundamentals of Robotics as well as AP Computer Science. Kaitlyn has been awarded the National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing Award in both 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2020, she was a National Honorable Mention. In 2020 Kaitlyn was Collegiate Finalist for the NCWIT Award.
While in high school Kailtyn founded the SWE Next Club to encourage girls to pursue STEM careers. For Kaitlyn’s academics and outreach, she was awarded the SWE Next Global Innovator Award in 2019
Kaitlyn is a Lifetime Girl Scout and achieved Girl Scout Gold for her project AstroBot STEM. Kaitlyn founded a nonprofit to run an organization that shares STEM role models, activities, opportunities and scholarships with girls all over the world on Social Media and at AstroBotSTEM.org. AstroBot STEM hosted their first annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day in the winter of 2021 and plans to host another in 2022. Kaitlyn has been on social media as AstroBot Kaitlyn since 2017, spreading outreach to girls in STEM. Kaitlyn is a member of the Steam Squad at Steamsquad.org and on twitter.
“Being the only girl in STEM can be difficult. I don’t want girls to give up. I want them to find a sisterhood in STEM and network to meet more girls in STEM. That is why I founded a SWENext Chapter at my school. Mentoring goes both ways. Find a mentor and be a mentor.”
