Rachel is pursuing a Master’s degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering after graduating with her Bachelor’s degree from UC Davis in 2023. Her current research in the HRVIP Lab focuses on the motor controller and electrical hardware development of Hard Disk Drive Reaction Wheels to be used in CubeSat applications.

As an undergraduate in the lab Rachel worked on the CHANGES project, which aims to design and validate a wearable device to prevent and counteract feelings of motion sickness induced by varying gravitational environments. Her work on this project included developing eye-tracking experimental procedures as well as incorporating an adjustable motion sickness threshold controller into the device prototype. She validated these features on a set of Zero-G parabolic flights in June 2022, and will be floating with the CHANGES team again on the project's final flight campaign in August 2024.

Rachel is a NASA Pathways intern at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL, where she works as a systems engineer to assist with launch and integration efforts. She also previously interned at Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, where she studied the behavior of shape memory polymers and composites and their applications to deployable structures as a solution to cost and mass limitations of future space habitats.

During her undergraduate degree Rachel was also a member and team captain of the UC Davis Swim & Dive team, where she specialized in the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke events. When she isn’t working on school or research she likes to swim, run (despite her constant battle with shin splints), read books, and play viola in the lab band, The Frangible Nuts.