Loubensky Baine, 19, has won a Patti Grace Smith fellowship which gives him a $2,000 award and an internship with an aerospace firm.
Baine graduated from Miami Lakes Educational Center and is a sophomore at the University of Central Florida.
He is studying aerospace engineering and is one of 43 Black aerospace majors in the country to win the fellowship, the university said.
“I am honored that the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship is making this investment in me and providing the resources to help push me forward in my career,” Baine said in a press statement.
Born in Haiti, Baine was 5 years old when he moved to Miami Lakes with his mother, Uranie Charlot, who now lives in North Miami Beach, and his father, the late Lubain Baine.
Baine is part of the UCF EXCEL program within its Propulsion and Energy Research Lab and is a research assistant for a professor, the university said.
The fellowship is named for the late Patti Grace Smith, an African-American woman who fought for civil rights in segregated Alabama.
She was a mentor and is credited with helping develop commercial space transportation during her career with the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the fellowship website.
--Linda Trischitta

Photo courtesy of the university.