As American Sally Ride said, “The stars don’t look bigger, but they do look brighter.” And some people just shine brighter than the rest of us!

Dr Norilmi Amilia Ismail is a School of Aerospace Engineering lecturer at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and she is admirably the only Malaysian to be chosen as a mentor in the Space4Women programme.

This project is an effort to promote women’s empowerment in space by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). It gives women and girls an opportunity to play active and equal roles in space science, technology, innovation, and exploration as well as work towards addressing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN including gender equality.

At the programme, Dr Norilmi will be amongst 100 participants selected from all over the world who will be sharing experiences and guiding mentees made up of young women interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to move ahead in the space field. As listed on her profile for the UN, her goal is ‘to help Malaysia to return back to the space race and give opportunities to the young generation to be involved in the space industry.’

Speaking about being chosen by the UN for the programme, she remarked, "Alhamdulillah, I am excited in being able to expand my network in the field relating to space after working hard to put the name of the country in the international arena for the past 10 years. Becoming a mentor is indeed an acknowledgement to me, as to become one, requires deep knowledge and experience in the area, simultaneously yielding results to all my efforts.”

The 41-year-old hailing from Kuala Selangor has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Glasgow. Besides teaching, she is the CEO of SpaceIn, a spin-off space technology company by USM that specialises in the provision of low-cost commercial space exploration.

She was also previously a president of Malaysia Space Initiative, an NGO for space enthusiasts in Malaysia that aims to create awareness about the industry in the country. Earlier this year, she mentored 11 USM engineering students who were the first team from our country to participate in a rocket-launching competition organised by Spaceport America Cup 2022.

To infinity and beyond, Dr Norilmi! We’re rooting for you!

Image credit: ActionVance on Unsplash