Chad McElroy ’26 is pursuing a public service career in space policy, fueled by a dream to benefit planet Earth.
Along the way, the CMC Government major is earning accolades, most recently the prestigious Patti Grace Smith Fellowship and the top student position at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government.
The pursuit began when, as a rising sophomore with a burgeoning interest in space policy, McElroy met with Freya Hurtado ’09, associate director at the Soll Center for Student Opportunity, who connected him with two CMC alumni, Miles Lifson ’13, a research engineer at the Aerospace Corporation, and Jeremy Grunert ’09, a legal advisor with the U.S. Air Force.
Both alumni illuminated “various potential pathways towards a career in aerospace,” McElroy recalled, but the connection with Lifson proved crucial, leading McElroy to enroll in CMC’s Washington Program.
Crediting his experiences with CMC’s Summer Research program, the Rose Institute, and his leadership role with ASCMC as chair of the Administrative Affairs and Appropriations (AAA) committee, McElroy said he felt prepared for his semester in D.C.
McElroy, who hails from Concord, Calif., landed a spot with NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce in Fall of 2024, where he attended significant conferences and symposia, took part in networking opportunities, and played a key role in the writing of the Department of Commerce’s contribution to the 2024 “Aeronautics and Space Report of the President.”
“On an intellectual level, I gained an incredibly deep understanding of the realities faced by the space industry,” McElroy said, reflecting on his time in D.C. “I learned about everything from the prospects of space-based nuclear power, discovered the policy implications of lunar dust propagation on future human settlements, and grasped the intricacies of space export control legislation. Furthermore, I have come to understand pressing policy issues such as the need for spaceflight mission authorization reform, the importance of space traffic coordination, and the enduring role of the government in driving the commercial spaceflight revolution.
“Yet more than anything else,” McElroy continued, “I left the Office of Space Commerce with a greater appreciation for the human element of policymaking. From the outside, ‘space policy’ can sometimes look like an opaque arena of monolithic stakeholders vying for authority over incomprehensibly technical problems. But at the end of the day, every agency, company, department, and research institution is made up of hardworking people who are passionate about what they do and who want the best for their organizations.”
And, he continued, “without working at the Office of Space Commerce, I may not have known of the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship.”
The fellowship, named for aerospace trailblazer Patti Grace Smith, “provides extraordinary Black students with their first work experience in the aerospace industry, personalized mentorship, and a cohort of similarly driven and talented young Black people pursuing aerospace careers.”
As part of the fellowship, McElroy earned the opportunity to work this summer at BryceTech, an analytics and engineering firm that specializes in areas such as the new space economy and national security. “I’m excited to return to Washington, D.C. and continue to explore the ever-evolving world of commercial space and spaceflight policy!” he said.
And when he returns to CMC in Fall 2025, McElroy will take his place as Student Manager of the Rose Institute, where he will be responsible for “cultivating and managing the academic community of the Rose, and collaborating with the Rose senior staff in the development and execution of the Institute's research agenda.”
The role builds upon McElroy’s previous involvement with the Rose as a founding member and project manager of the Data Team, and provides McElroy the opportunity to “give back to an organization that has given so much to me over these past three years.”
Overall, McElroy hopes that “these experiences will lead me to [a career] within the space industry, one where I can play a role in ensuring that the next frontier can be explored and utilized effectively, efficiently, and responsibly.”