The Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowships were established in 1938 in honor of Amelia Earhart, famed pilot and Zonta club member. The Fellowships are granted annually to women pursuing graduate Ph.D./doctoral degrees in aerospace-related sciences and aerospace-related engineering.

The Fellowship of $10,000 may be used at any university or college offering accredited post-graduate courses and degrees.

Ms. Farber is using her second fellowship to develop computer simulation methods for analyzing spacecraft entering the Earth's atmosphere at high sppeds, such as those returning from the Moon or Mars. Understanding the plasma formation and aero thermal environment associated with these re-entries is crucial for the design of future space vehicles. The types of flow conditions encountered are difficult to reproduce experimentally and it is necessary to develop accurate and robust modeling tools. After receiving her first Amelia Earhart fellowship, Ms. Farber has successfully implemented models for charge neutrality, charged species molecular interaction and chemistry, and boundary conditions into the DSMC code called MONACO. She is working to improve the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) chemistry model by incorporating accurate computational and experimental cross section data for reations involving charge species into the DSMC model. Ms. Farber is involved in recruiting students into engineering fields of study, participates in marathons and plays the piano.

Ms. Niavarani will use her second fellowship to continue her research of flow behavior in Micro-fluid devices for aerospace application. Her goal is to understand the specification of the boundary condition of the flow at the solid/liquid interface. Her research implements the molecular dynamics simulation for flow prediction in aeronautical devices such as micro-valves and micro-pumps in propulsion systems. Part of her work is to study the effect of surface roughness, shear rate and pressure on slip boundary conditions. This allows the frictional losses to be reduced while minimizing the device size and input power, which is an ultimate goal for aerospace application. Since receiving her first Fellowship, Ms. Niavariani has studied the effect of slip boundary condition for shear flow of polymer melts past atomically smooth and corrugated surface. Ms. Niavarani enjoys swimming, playing the piano and is an amateur astronomer. She is a member of the Society for Women Engineers, A1AA and APS (Persian Spartan Association) to encourage the youth and women to join the engineering and science fields.

The goal of the Zonta International YWPA program is to encourage more young women to participate in public and political life by recognizing a commitment to the volunteer sector, evidence of volunteer leadership achievements and a dedication to the advancement of the status of women. The ZI YWPA Subcommittee selects a district recipient from among the applications received from the clubs within the district. The ZI Foundation provides $1,000 for each district. Districts may then submit the recipient's application to International. ZI then selects five international recipients from the district applications.

Ms. Acker is a 2009 graduate of Midland High School. Because of her interest in learning about new cultures, Ms. Acker decided to spend her entire senior year studying in La Paz, Mexico with plans to share her positive experience in Mexico with others in order to diminish the growing sterotypes against Mexicans in the United States. Future plans include a return trip to Mexico or to travel to Latin America to participate in one of the many social service programs. Ms. Acker's course of study and career interests include economics, international relations, and political science.

Ms. Gilstad is a student at Alma College majoring in Business Administration specializing in Business Administration, Spanish and Public Health. Ms. Gilstad is not only the Resident Assistant, Spanish Teaching Assistant and a student who carries a 4.0, but she is also active in her community through advocating voter registration, supporting political candidates, and coaching in the Special Olympics as well as other community endeavors for her college and town.

This past summer Ms. Gilstad volunteered in Ecuador and Peru, growing her perspective on global issues including health care. She volunteered at the Baca Ortiz Children's Hospital in Quito Ecuador. She has a fellowship endorsement from the Center for Responsible Leadership and the Public Affairs Colloquium where she is exposed to the ideas of bureaucracy and organization among non-profit organizations for use in her future work. She has founded the "Active Minds at Alma College", a chapter of a national mental health awareness student organization. After her studies at Alma, Ms. Gilstad plans to obtain a masters degree in Health Care Administration.

Ms. Gilstad has a vision using Spanish and business with Public Health administration and continues to strive to raise the status of women through her leadership and desire for education and educating others, especially those who are on the outskirts of the mainstram of society. She is able to cross cultural boundaries using her language skills and her thirst to make this world a better place.