Valerie Mrotzek named Amelia Earhart Fellow 2025

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932 and is considered a pioneer of aviation. Today, this fellowship, named after Amelia Earhart, honors aspiring female researchers in the aerospace sciences. Each year, Zonta International presents this award to 30 early-career female scientists selected through a global competition. Valerie Mrotzek from the Institute of Aerospace Thermodynamics (ITLR) was the only German to receive an award in 2025. She accepted the award on February 18, 2026, during a ceremony held by the Zonta Club Stuttgart. The scholarship is endowed with 10,000 US dollars. In this interview, Valerie Mrotzek provides insight into her research. 

I was thrilled to receive international recognition! I looked at the previous winners, and so I am very proud to now belong to this group. Being an AE Fellow has also made me reflect on the importance of female role models in my own life. I would therefore like to express my special thanks to my supervisor PD Grazia Lamanna, who recommended me, made my research possible, and has always supported me. I hope to be able to inspire and support other women in science in the future, in the same way that I have been supported. The award also inspired me to give something back: I am now a mentor at StartScience. The program is aimed at female students at the University of Stuttgart. The aim is to motivate women to pursue a career in science. I have been assigned a wonderful mentee and hope to be able to support her in her career.

I conduct basic research in the field of thermodynamics: I am investigating the injection of so-called near-critical fuels, such as those used in rocket or propulsion systems. These fuels are injected under pressure and temperature conditions close to their critical point, thereby assuming a state in which it is no longer possible to distinguish between the liquid and gaseous phases.

What interests me about these fuel sprays are the complex and as yet only partially understood processes that take place during injection. An important indication of what is happening inside the system is the phase state of the fuel: It can be liquid, gaseous, or supercritical. If the fuel is in liquid form, droplets are formed. The position and size of these droplets allow conclusions to be drawn about which physical mechanisms dominate during injection.

Since approaches used for “conventional” (non-near-critical) sprays are ineffective, we have further developed a measurement method that allows us to determine droplet sizes in these near-critical fuel sprays. We probe the spray using a very thin, modulated laser beam. The measured signal provides us with reliable information about the location and size of the liquid phase. In the analysis, we take into account the properties of the incident light, which in turn allow conclusions to be drawn about the size of the droplets.

Knowledge of near-critical injection processes helps, for example, to make the mixing process of fuel and oxidizer in an engine more stable and efficient. In addition, this enables us to provide important boundary conditions for numerical simulations and theoretical models.

Yes, as a child I had a model of the Space Shuttle Discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope. Back then, I was fascinated by everything between Earth and space: Rockets, airplanes, the atmosphere, clouds, and so on, regardless of whether they were technical or scientific in nature.

At school, I always enjoyed math, physics, science, and technology. During an internship, I met pilots who further strengthened my interest in aviation. I didn't want to become a pilot because I had always dreamed of an academic environment at university. After graduating from high school, I studied aerospace engineering in Stuttgart. I wrote my Master's thesis in measurement technology at KU Leuven in Belgium, but I already knew then that I wanted to go to ITLR afterwards. I enjoyed the thermodynamics lectures during my studies, worked as a tutor, and laid the foundation for my current work through a student assistant position in the laboratory.

During my school years, I always found university open days to be a valuable source of guidance. I hope that we can use a low-threshold offering to help girls overcome their fear of science and encourage them to pursue what drives and interests them – ideally, of course, in thermodynamics. Thermodynamics sounds strange and daunting at first. In the Girls' Day workshop, we want to show that thermodynamics is present in everyday objects, such as a hot cup of tea. This fundamental understanding provides the basis for later addressing the complexity of an aircraft engine.