Bio

I was born in Delhi, India in 1999 to two loving parents, Vardhman and Ruchi, who have instilled in me the importance of family, honesty, optimism, and perseverance. I vividly remember the fictional stories that my father would share before bedtime, which were centered around the vastness and mysteries of the Universe. It was through these stories and the exposure that my parents gave me to various extra-curricular activities that sparked my interest in space.

In 7th grade, I started studying at the Step by Step School in Noida, India. The teachers, and astronomy and robotics clubs at the school played a key role in helping me realize my curiosity for space and engineering. I undertook multiple projects and participated in various activities and projects, viz a Transit of Venus campaign to China, asteroid hunts through IASC, and the FIRST robotics competition. Alongside, the launch and success of the Curiosity rover, especially the 7 mins of terror, bolstered my curiosity of aerospace engineering. In addition, in my junior and senior high school years, I was intrigued by coding challenges and I felt pure joy while programming, which enabled me to score the highest marks in computer science in my graduating class. The various experiences allowed me to hone my engineering skills and ascertain my future to pursue aerospace engineering. Besides my astronomy and engineering interests, the school enabled me to find my passion for playing badminton, table tennis and Tabla and cooking. I continue to pursue these passions with my newfound hobby of lindy hop dancing.

After high school, I was fortunate to pursue BS in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering (AAE) with a minor in astronomy at Purdue University, the cradle of astronauts. In my first semester at Purdue, I attended a keynote by Prof. Kathleen Howell on her research work in astrodynamics. I had a profound experience and I was hooked on to astrodynamics, so I made it my mission to learn about astrodynamics and get an opportunity to pursue research in multi-body dynamics under her guidance. My interest was reinforced by the movie Martian, and specifically how Rich Purnell saved Matt Damon’s character by designing an innovative trajectory for Hermes. Alongside, after spending my childhood in one of the most air-polluted city in the world and moving to West Lafayette, I gained a strong sense of responsibility to align my efforts to make use of my experience and learnings to sustainably ameliorate our lives on Earth. I had a fruitful undergraduate experience, where I made lifelong friendships, worked on novel astrodynamics research projects, and realized how to efficiently solve problems in a team and independently. I even had the pleasure of learning about the inner workings of the celestial bodies by taking 5 courses in astronomy. I learned a great many things about aerospace engineering and programming, but in the end, I realized how much more there is to know and that I was just scratching the surface. This realization propelled me to pursue MS in AAE at Purdue.

My graduate school journey of working towards my MSAAE was quite different than what I had anticipated. I have been lucky to get an opportunity to work under the guidance of Prof. Kathleen Howell on the complicated topic of formulating transfer trajectories design frameworks that leverage quasi-periodic orbits. The challenging research in graduate school has helped me learn to be more patient and consistent with my efforts, the need to focus on controllable inputs, and to believe in the process instead of the end goal. The research journey has been a very humbling experience and allowed me to realize the limitations of finite precisions and the capabilities of numerical methods. In addition, I have honed the art of scientific storytelling and the power of clear visuals. Furthermore, I held various assistantships that have enabled me to professionally develop by becoming a better mentor, communicator, agile thinker, and facilitator.

It has been a blessing and a privilege to pursue aerospace engineering and to learn about the complexities and wonders of the Universe. I am truly grateful to all my family and friends for their unwavering support. I am excited to continue learning and contributing to the technologies that enable the developments in robotics and space travel to sustainably improve our lives on Earth!