I am a first-year master’s student in the department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, under the advisorship of Dr. Christopher Walker. I received my bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Arizona in May, and will be continuing my work researching spacecraft and instrument development for my NASA Space Grant Fellowship.

 I am currently the student director for CatSat, an orbiting satellite designed to probe variations in Earth’s ionosphere and to test an inflatable antenna technology. In addition to CatSat flight operations, I’ll be conducting orbital analysis and refining the design for LunaCat, a spacecraft designed to detect molecular water vapor from the lunar surface. Over multiple orbits, LunaCat could measure the global distribution of water on the Moon, assisting future missions to the lunar surface. My professor is also designing a terahertz chirp radar instrument meant to study ocean worlds by detecting biologic and complex organic molecules at low concentrations. I have a minor in astrobiology, and hope to use this knowledge, with my aerospace experience, to help develop this instrument. 

As I direct CatSat operations and share data the spacecraft receives, I plan to hold outreach events and create online modules focused on getting undergraduate students and K-12 students interested in space research and ongoing missions. The assembly, test, and launch operations of CatSat are a great way to get younger students interested in spacecraft construction and flight operations, and my outreach work aims to inspire students to pursue more STEM and space-oriented fields of study.