People

Andy Eskenazi (he/him)
Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment
​Contact: andyeske@mit.edu

Hi! I’m Andy, a self-proclaimed avgeek. I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and completed my undergraduate and masters degrees at the University of Pennsylvania, after which I worked for a brief period of time in the semiconductors industry in Texas. Outside of plane spotting and researching the airline industry, I enjoy playing tennis and squash, biking long distances, and playing my beloved euphonium and piano!

Alex Chipps (he/him)
Star Lab
​Contact: achipps@mit.edu

Alex Chipps is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at MIT, pursuing a master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics. His work centers on spacecraft thermal systems, with an emphasis on satellite thermal design, modeling, and analysis. In 2023, Alex earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, where he designed, prototyped, and tested systems for planetary science and space exploration.

Brandon Hadfield (he/him)
ICAT
​Contact: hadfiel5@mit.edu

Brandon is in his second year at MIT working toward his PhD in Aerospace Systems Engineering. Specifically he looks at the design of arrival and departure procedures through the lens of noise emissions, especially with the advent of advanced air mobility serving some of the demand. Previously he’s spent time working in numerical methods, data science, and software consulting between Bachelor’s/Masters degrees and a brief stint in industry. When he’s not sitting in the lab collecting, analyzing or simulating aviation operational data, you can find him serving as a board member on GA^3, throwing fourth on the MIT curling team, or trying to go snowboarding.

Mollie Johnson (she/her)
Engineering Systems Lab
Contact: mojohn23@mit.edu

Mollie Johnson is a PhD candidate in the Strategic Engineering Research Group within the Engineering Systems Laboratory, researching under Dr. Olivier de Weck. She obtained her MS from MIT and BS from Georgia Tech. Her experience with spacecraft operations has taken her from the Moon to Mars and beyond, as she was involved with the Lunar Flashlight, Curiosity rover, and Psyche missions. As a graduate student at MIT, she focuses on extended mission optimization and valuation using systems engineering and economic theories.

Mich Lin (they/them)
Human Systems Lab
Engineering Systems Lab
​Contact: shuyulin@mit.edu

Mich Lin is a 5th year PhD candidate in the Human Systems Lab and Engineering Systems Lab. Their research focuses on designing space architecture to improve behavioral wellbeing in long-duration missions. Before MIT, Mich earned their M.S. in AeroAstro at MIT, and B.S. degrees in Aerospace Engineering Sciences + Applied Mathematics at CU Boulder. They are happy to chat about: multidisciplinary research, federal grants (NSF, NASA), teaching, being a resident advisor. Outside of MIT, they love creating (ceramics, fiber, film, writing) + practicing moving in/on various forms of water (SCUBA/freediving, snowboarding, surfing, swimming, sailing, crewing).

Carly Fridlin (she/her)
Engineering Systems Lab
​Contact: fridlin3@mit.edu

Carly Fridlin is an SM candidate in the Strategic Engineering Research Group advised by Professor Daniel Hastings and Professor Eric Evans. She received a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Purdue University in 2022. She is a SMART Scholar working in space operations for the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Her research interests include space situational awareness, orbital debris mitigation, and space policy.

Christopher Zareck (he/him)
Human Systems Lab
Contact: czareck2@mit.edu

Christopher Zareck is a graduate student in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics pursuing an S.M. in Aerospace Engineering. His interests include human spaceflight, mission design, and in-space servicing, mobility, and logistics, with current research focused on rover-based lunar magnetic field measurements and mission architecture. Prior to MIT, Christopher earned a B.S. in Astronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy and now serves as an active-duty U.S. Space Force officer. He currently serves as Vice President of the Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Dominique Regli (she/her)
Model-based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group (MERS)
Contact: dregli@mit.edu

Dominique is a second year graduate student in the Model-based Embedded and Robotic Systems (MERS) Group studying Human Activity Recognition for eldercare and healthcare applications. She is the current Diversity and Outreach Chair for the Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (GA^3), and an active member of the Graduate Women in Robotics Community (GWiRC) and the Graduate Association of Mechanical Engineers (GAME). Outside of MIT, she volunteers as an Emcee and Game Announcer at FIRST Robotics events, fosters cats with Black Cat Rescue, and enjoys activities like skiing and yoga!

Jasmine Jerry Aloor (she/her)
DINaMO
Contact: jjaloor@mit.edu

Jasmine Jerry Aloor is a PhD candidate in autonomous systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, whose research seeks to address the challenge of balancing efficiency and fairness in multi-agent aircraft fleets using reinforcement learning. At MIT, Jasmine pursues studies of system- and fleet-level objectives, including fairness and efficiency for highly decentralized execution settings, such as those enabled by multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) methods. She completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Mina Cezairli (she/her)
International Center for Transportation (ICAT)
Contact: cezairli@mit.edu

Mina is a PhD student in ICAT advised by Professor John Hansman. Her projects focus on evaluating the noise impacts of flight procedures, pilot response to system malfunctions, and assessing operational fuel efficiency in the global air transportation network. Prior to MIT, Mina studied Mechanical Engineering at Yale University and worked as an economic consulting analyst for two years. She is interested in human systems and the intersection of aviation and data science. Mina has a private pilot’s license and enjoys flying, running, and reading in her free time.

Maggie Rongaus (she/her)
Engineering Systems Lab
Contact: rongaus1@mit.edu

Maggie Rongaus is a current S.M. student working with Prof. Daniel Hastings in the Engineering Systems Laboratory. Her research focuses on mission design for on-orbit servicing of satellites in space. Maggie graduated summa cum laude from Marquette University with a B.S. in Computer Science and minors in Astronomy and Mathematics. She also commissioned into the U.S. Space Force as an active-duty officer. Maggie currently serves as Co-President of the Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Aneesa Sonawalla (she/her)
Aerospace Controls Lab (ACL)
Contact: aneesa@mit.edu

Aneesa is a third-year graduate student in the Aerospace Controls Lab with Professor Jonathan How. She is currently interested in representations of changing environments for small mobile robots operating in outdoor, unstructured spaces. She has also studied distributed graph optimization for multi-agent SLAM. Prior to starting at MIT, Aneesa worked at the neighboring Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, where she developed alternative inertial navigation systems for GPS-denied environments, such as vision-aided and gravity-aided solutions. Aneesa received her B.A. in Physics from the University of Chicago (’16) and her M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech (’18). Other than research, she is happy to talk about life in Cambridge outside of MIT, returning to grad school after industry, powerlifting, and a totally objective ranking of all the coffee shops in Camberville.

Kevin Gauld (he/him)

Contact: kgauld@mit.edu

Kevin is a first year PhD student in the Varon Lab, working on high-resolution remote sensing for atmospheric applications. Currently, he is developing a model to quantify global emissions from fuel-burning power plants at facility scale. Before arriving at MIT, Kevin studied Electrical Engineering (BS/MS) at Caltech working on sensing technologies applied to medical engineering, robotics, and astrophysics. Outside of research, he is one of the GA^3 social chairs, manages the grad lounge, and enjoys glass flameworking and woodworking in the on-campus makerspaces.

Niya Hope-Glenn (she/her)
Aerospace Plasma Group
Contact: niya@mit.edu

Niya is a second year AeroAstro SM student. She received her Bachelor of Science from Howard University in Chemical Engineering and has research experience in electrochemistry, space mission engineering, and co-crystallization. She’s extremely intrigued with learning more about quantum chemistry, plasma physics, and building on her knowledge of power systems for spacecraft. In her free time, Niya enjoys reading, taking nature walks, and playing with her dog, Bella!

Maison Clouatre (he/him)
WINS Lab
Contact: clouatre@mit.edu

I am a Ph.D. student in WINSLab and LIDS at MIT. Prior to my graduate studies, I earned undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics from Mercer University. My research interests span control theory, statistical inference, and quantum information; and I am particularly interested in using theory to develop better quantum sensors and quantum receivers.

Nic Lee (she/her)
Human Systems Lab
Contact: nhlee@mit.edu

Nicole (Nic) Lee is a graduate student in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics pursuing dual S.M. degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Technology & Policy. She conducts research in the Human Systems Lab, where she develops wearable systems to mitigate musculoskeletal and cardiovascular deconditioning during long-duration spaceflight and extreme environments. Nic’s interests include novel spacesuit design, integrated astronaut systems, and education and outreach. Prior to MIT, she earned a dual B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Business, Economics, and Management from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She currently serves as Co-President of the Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics.