ALUMNI TEAMS
FALL 2019
Waylon Lee
ISP Lead
Senior Aerospace engineer
major at Texas A&M with
minors in Astrophysics and
Math. Outside of work, Waylon enjoys participating in
collegiate acapella and playing instruments
Ronald Ankner
Avionics Lead & Payload
Masters student at Stevens
Institute of Technology in
Electrical Engineering,
current Pathways intern at JSC and aspiring Astronaut.
Experience runs the gambit of SLAM, embedded systems,
robotics, image processing,
and RF engineering.
Carson Hula
Business & Procurement Lead
Carson is a junior Aeronautical Engineering student at
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, in his first USRA
internship working in XM on Artemis mission analysis &
integrated assessments.
Leveraging Rensselaer Rocket Society experience, he’s
excited for ISP’s funds and
efforts to soar.
Jack Steilberg
Recovery Lead
Jack is a fourth year studying Computer Science and
Mathematics at Northeastern University. He loves
linguistics, natural language
processing, and Artificial
Intelligence, and hopes to be a major contributor to the
eventual Skynet.
Khaled Allen
Flight Operations Lead
Khaled is returning to school
as a mathematics undergrad
at CU Boulder, changing
careers after working 9 years
as a freelance tutor and
developer. He has always been fascinated with flying
machines and learned about
orbital dynamics by playing
too much Kerbal Space Program, which has enabled him to
convince several people at
NASA that he knows what he's talking about. He lives in
Boulder, CO with his wife
Anna and cat Jaeger.
Precious Fadimiroye
Safety & Mission Assurance Lead
Precious is a junior at the
University of Houston-Clear Lake studying computer science. She received her AS
in Computer Science from
Houston Community College. She enjoys singing, going to
church, and athletic activities.
Dani Dorn-Meyer
Auxiliary Lead
Dani is graduating this
December with a Bachelor's of Computer Science and
Software Engineering from
North American University.
This is her second semester
interning in the ISS Safety & Reliability Engineering
Branch.
Sadie McCarthy
Airframe Lead
Sadie is a senior studying
Mechanical Engineering at NC State University where she is also a member of her school's High-Powered
Rocketry Club. At JSC this fall, Sadie works with the
Propulsion Systems group of
the Flight Operations
Directorate.
Jacob Nunez-Kearny
Propulsion Lead
Pathways Co-op in
Propulsion and Power
Division of Engineering at JSC. Aerospace engineering
student at Purdue University. Currently responsible for
propulsion, airframe, and
payload integration of ISP's
rocket.
Jessica Krenzel
Media Lead
Recent grad from The State
University of New York at New Paltz she majored in Digital
Media Production and
Communications with a
concentration in public
relations. She is currently
interning as a
media/communications intern under SMA.
Caitlin Becker
Avionics - Raspi Lead
John-Mark Readle
Avionics - Teensy Lead
My name is John Mark Readle and I am the Avionics Teensy Team Lead, and electrical
engineering at University of Colorado at Denver
Adrian Juarez
Payload Integration Lead
Denny Reed
Avionics - Ground Station
Adrian has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and is currently
pursuing a Master's Degree in Guidance, Navigation, and
Control at San Diego State
University. Outside of space
and engineering, Adrian
enjoys surfing, scuba diving,
hiking, reading, running,
working out, and trying fun
things like sky diving.
Grant Hevia
Airframe & Propulsion
Grant is a senior at the
University of Wisconsin -
Madison studying Aerospace
Engineering. He works in the Safety & Mission Assurance
directorate and moderates the local intern social committee meetings.
Matt Busch
Avionics - Teensy Lead
Matt is a senior at Georgia
Tech where he is studying
Computer Science. He was a member of the Yellow Jacket
Space Program at Georgia
Tech and enjoys building
drones.
Alina Rai
Airframe
Alina is currently a senior at
the University of California,
Berkeley where she is
pursuing her bachelor's
degree in Mechanical
Engineering. She decided to
join the Inter Space Program
in hopes of fulfilling her
curiosity about how rocket
systems work and. Outside of school and work, Alina enjoys sleeping as well as soaking in
the outdoors, whether its
hiking, camping, or
backpacking.
Ronnie Hutchison
Airframe
Ronnie is a junior at The
University of Alabama,
majoring in Aerospace
Engineering and Mechanics.
He is a Navy veteran with 10
years of experience in nuclear power plant operations and
electrical systems.
Mike Bernard
Avionics - Navigation Lead
Mechanical Engineering
Undergraduate at UConn,
Pathways Co-op
in Orion Backup Flight
Software Navigation Team.
Robert Rodenberg
Airframe & Propulsion
Robert is a senior at the
University of Houston,
majoring in mechanical
engineering. Robert enjoys
skiing, travel, and working on challenging projects.
Tyler Fedrizzi
Assistant to the Solder-er Supreme
I am a 3 year old dog, adopted in Fayetteville, North Carolina and I really, really like to chase bunnies.
Carlos Amaya
Avionics - Ground Station
Carlos is a senior at the
University of Houston
pursuing a degree in
Computer Science with a
minor in Mathematics. He is
working as an intern for the
Space Radiation Analysis
Group, and is helping build a web application to monitor
the effects of radiation on
astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit.
Zac Carico
Avionics
Zac grew up in Friendswood
Texas and went to Brigham
Young University- Idaho for a B.A. in Computer Engineering.He enjoys exploring and
hiking when he isn't busy
trying to solve world hunger,
or designing a machine to
deliver snacks to you at a
moments notice. Zac also likes Pina Coladas and getting
caught in the rain (Rupert
Holmes, 1979).
Ryan Krull
Propulsion & Airframe
Ryan Krull is studying
aerospace engineering at the
Illinois Institute of Technology. He works in the Exploration Mission Planning Office with
the Mars Integration Group at JSC. He conducts mission-concept analysis along with
design of crewed surface/
space systems and vehicles for Mars. He also works on the
Artemis to integrate the Lunar and Mars systems.
Alexander Hillstrom
Propulsion - Airframe
Mechanical engineering student at the University of Texas at El Paso with minors in Physics and Mathematics. Here to change the world. Mexican American. Studies Korean, Russian and Japanese on his free time and lived in Ulsan, South Korea for one year.
SUMMER 2019
Joe Amar
Team Lead
A former USAF Staff Sgt with Craftsman skill-level
in Aerospace Propulsion, Joe’s long-time love of
space travel led him to
engineering at NASA.
Victoria Nelson
Vice President & Integration Lead
Victoria is pursuing a degree
in aerospace engineering at
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University. She has a passion
for things that go fast and
spends almost all of her free
time working on her school's
electric land speed vehicle.
Cameron Hood
Auxiliary Lead
Cameron studies Logistics at
The University of North Texas. He enjoys video games and
working in collaboration. Over the summer he is working
for the Center of Operations
in the Logistics sector of
NASA.
Reed Villarreal
Procurement Lead
Reed studies Finance at Texas A&M University, and work in
the Resource Integration
Office.
Morgan Novak
Avionics & Payload Lead
Morgan is an Electrical
Engineer majoring in dork at the University of North Texas.
Morgan has worked on
multiple Avionics and Flight
Operations Teams. Morgan's
favorite and inspiring quote is: “Lezz go launch this boi!!".
Elliot Briant
Avionics & Payload - Software
Developer
Elliot is a Senior at Make
School majoring in Applied
Computer Science and Data
Science. He is a creative and
ambitious software developer. Elliot approaches any
environment as an
opportunity to learn and
utilize his experience with
computer programming.
Kathryn Robertson
Avionics & Payload - Software
Testing & Development
Kathryn is a sophomore
majoring in Electrical
Engineering at Virginia Tech. This spring semester was her
first tour at JSC, and she is
excited for many more
challenging and fun
experiences to come!
Kolten Knesek
Avionics & Payload, FLOPS - Software Testing & Development
Kolten studies ESET at Texas A&M University. Strong and
silent cowboy type with
traditional values. Kolten loves repairing hardware and
soldering.
Allen Jiang
Avionics & Payload
Allen is an incoming UT Austin Freshman majoring in
Electrical Engineering. He is
an alumni of Dawson High
School and FRC Team 5414 in
Pearland, TX.
Anyssa Castorina
Avionics & Payload
Anyssa is an alum of Pearland High School and FRC Team
Pearadox. She is excited to
attend Rice University to
pursue a degree in Electrical
and Computer Engineering
this fall.
Dillan McDonald
Avionics & Payload and Flight &
Launch Operations
Dillan goes to the University of Texas at Austin. He is the type of person who fills up all of
his time with space related
things. Self proclaimed nerd.
Eats Ice cream by the half
gallon, and survives off of
instant mac n cheese. I don't
know who let him in.
Connor Jakubik
Avionics & Payload
Connor is a senior at Texas
A&M University. He is an
Aerospace Engineering student with Minor in Astrophysics. He also likes hiking and bouldering.
Waylon Lee
Avionics & Payload
Waylon is a senior at Texas
A&M University majoring in
Aerospace engineering. He
works in ER-7 with SAFER
simulation. Outside of
engineering, he enjoys singing and beatboxing for a
collegiate acapella group.
Paulina Vazquez-Pena
Flight & Launch Operations
Paulina is a student at
University of Texas at Austin.
She is NASA Computer
Engineering Intern sponsored by CACI, employeed by LZ
Technology.
Shaun Quinn
Flight & Launch Operations Lead
Shaun is studing Engineering at Orange Coast College. With his years of experience in
solar photovoltaic design, he
brings experience in project
management and concept
realization to the team.
Alejandro Cantu
Flight & Launch Operations
Rising freshman from
Baytown, TX majoring in
computer science at
University of Texas at Austin. USRA intern in NS developing GIS systems.
Nicholas Houghton
Flight & Launch Operations
Nicholas studies Mechanical engineering at Michigan State University.
Over the summer he is
working in EC5 on xEMU
development.
Emma Jaynes
Recovery Lead
Emma is a senior studying
Aerospace Engineering at
North Carolina State
University. She is a member of the High-Powered Rocketry
Club at NC State, and has
many years of model rocketry experience.
Erika Storvick
Flight & Launch Operations and
Recovery
Rising senior at Columbia
University studying
Mechanical Engineering and
Physics. Current USRA intern at JSC working in the Crew
and Thermal Systems Division on the water technologies
team.
Amanda Graziosi
Recovery, Safety & Mission
Assurance
Amanda is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in
Business Administration at
University of Houston Clear
Lake.
Rajiv Ajodha
Recovery
Rajiv is a senior at University
of Houston. He is a Computer Science student with a minor
in Leadership Studies.
Shaurya Gupta
Airframe Lead
Shaurya is a Aerospace
Engineer student at The
University of Texas at Austin. He enjoys team work and
building rockets.
Yash Kadadi
Airframe
Yash is a rising junior at the
Westminster Schools of
Atlanta. He has a deep interest in machine learning and
artificial intelligence. In his
free time, he enjoys
filmmaking and composing
music.
Varsha Kumar
Airframe
Varsha is studying Computer Science and Robotics at
Carnegie Mellon University,
and she is really thankful for
the opportunity to help out
and learn from her experience at NASA.
Victor Yu
Airframe
Victor is Mechanical
Engineering Graduate Student at Binghamton University.
One of his interests is
astrodynamics. He enjoys
hiking, drawing, painting and
traveling.
Michael Boazzo
Propulsion Lead
Michael is studying Aerospace Engineering at the Ohio State University. He is currently
working in the Inventory and Stowage Group in the Flight
Operations Directorate.
Ruchi Shah
Airframe
Ruchi is a current high school student at Stephen F. Austin
High School. She wants to
major in computer science in college and she hopes to one
day work in the space
industry.
Gerardo Javier Barillas
Propulsion
Gerardo is graduate Aerospace Engineering student from
Texas A&M, class of '18. Also, he is a member of Operation
Space intercollegiate space
shot team.
Elliot Kann
Airframe
Elliot is a sophomore studying Mechanical Engineering at
Cornell University. Outside of
engineering, he is passionate
about rock climbing and other outdoor adventures.
Isaac Bensignor
Propulsion
Isaac is studying Aerospace
Engineering at The Ohio State University. Isaac is based
in the Simulations and
Graphics Branch and works on enhancing the Lunar Rover
simulation.
Jeffrey Young
Airframe
Jeffrey is a senior in
Mechanical Engineering at
Texas A&M University,
graduating in December 2019. When he is not working you
can find him playing
basketball, messing with
electronics, or at a Rockets
game.
Mark Daniel Tredway
Propulsion
Mark is a Aerospace
Engineering student at
University of Maryland.
Noah Vasquez
Safety & Mission Assurance Lead
Noah is majoring in
Mechanical Engineering at
University of Houston. Noah is interested in space program and he is also
passionate about cars and
flight.
Michael Angel Rivas Valadez
Auxiliary
Michael is a Chemical
Engineering student at
University of California,
Berkeley. He is working as an
intern on water recovery
systems for future exploration missions.
Rafael Gonzalez
Integration
Rafael is a senior at The
Citadel The Military College of South Carolina, majoring
Mechanical Engineering.
Rafael is extremely passionate about sports and
bodybuilding.
William Young
Flight & Launch Operations
William is a grad student at
Texas A&M. This summer he worked in FOD with the ADCO group and also did EVGNC
work for future space
missions.
SPRING 2019
Mateo Atwi
Team Lead
Mateo is an aspiring rocket
scientist. He studies
Mechanical Engineering at
Georgia Institute of
Technology.
Joe Amar
Co-Team Lead
A former USAF Staff Sgt with Craftsman skill-level
in Aerospace Propulsion, Joe’s long-time love of
space travel led him to
engineering at NASA.
Morgan Novak
Avionics & Payload Lead
Morgan is an Electrical
Engineer majoring in dork at the University of North Texas.
Morgan has worked on
multiple Avionics and Flight
Operations Teams. Morgan's
favorite and inspiring quote is: “Lezz go launch this boi!!".
Michael Boazzo
Safety & Mission Assurance -
Integration Analyst
Michael is studying Aerospace Engineering at the Ohio State University. He is currently
working in the Inventory and Stowage Group in the Flight
Operations Directorate.
Michael works on Stow Track, a new application the
astronauts will use to assist
them in packing and
unpacking items
on-board the ISS.
Elliot Briant
Avionics & Payload - Software
Developer
Elliot is a Senior at Make
School majoring in Applied
Computer Science and Data
Science. He is a creative and
ambitious software developer. Elliot approaches any
environment as an
opportunity to learn and
utilize his experience with
computer programming.
Shaun Quinn
Flight & Launch Operations Lead
Shaun is studying Engineering at Orange Coast College. With his years of experience in
solar photovoltaic design, he
brings experience in project
management and concept
realization to the team.
Mikaela Peters
Safety & Mission Assurance Lead
Mikaela study Business
Analytics & Information
Technology and Russian at
Rutgers University in New
Jersey. This semester was her first time working with a team to build a rocket.
Reed Villarreal
Procurement Lead
Reed studies Finance at Texas A&M University, and work in
the Resource Integration
Office.
Kathryn Robertson
Avionics & Payload - Software
Testing & Development
Kathryn is a sophomore
majoring in Electrical
Engineering at Virginia Tech. This spring semester was her
first tour at JSC, and she is
excited for many more
challenging and fun
experiences to come!
Kolten Knesek
Avionics & Payload, FLOPS - Software Testing & Development
Kolten studies ESET at Texas A&M University. Strong and
silent cowboy type with
traditional values. Kolten loves repairing hardware and
soldering.
Alex Kafer
Graphic Designer
Alex is majoring in Computer Science at the University of
Minnesotta. He is a driven and ambitious developer, with
interest in autonomous
systems.
Rafael Gonzalez
Airframe Lead
Rafael is a senior at The
Citadel The Military College of South Carolina, majoring
Mechanical Engineering.
Rafael is extremely passionate about sports and
bodybuilding.
Lee Cantu
Airframe - CAD Manager
Lee Cantu is a Senior at The
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, with his intuition and
creativity he’s able to excel
through his skills of Computer Aided Design and Fluid
Dynamics.
Daniela Rocca Bejar
Airframe & Analyst Lead
Daniela is originally from
Peru. She obtained her
bachelor's degree in
Mechanical Engineering at
FIU. Currently, she is pursuing
her Master's in Mechanical
Engineering at Pennsylvania
State University.
Amanda Graziosi
Recovery Lead
Amanda is currently pursuing my Master’s Degree in
Business Administration at
University of Houston Clear
Lake. She is responsible for
leading and executing the
recovery system of the rocket.
Noah Vasquez
Flight & Launch Operations
Noah is majoring in
Mechanical Engineering at
University of Houston. Noah is interested in space program and he is also
passionate about cars and
flight.