Annika is a second-year PhD student working with Professor David Klaus on the Habitats Optimized for Missions of Exploration (HOME) project. Her PhD research will focus on optimizing the infusion of smart technology into habitat design and modeling those interactions.
Annika graduated with a B.S. in aerospace engineering with a minor in creative writing from MIT in 2018, where she rowed at the division I level for four years. Her undergraduate research spanned multiple fields, including human factors, controls, and aerodynamics. For her MS research at CU, Annika worked with Professor Bobby Braun on the aerodynamics of aerocapture for entry, descent, and landing.
During her undergraduate career, Annika spent two summers working at NASA JPL - first with their early concept development team and later on operations for the Juno spacecraft. She also spent one summer at Aurora Flight Sciences working on MDO scripts for flight vehicle optimization and other design tools. In the summer of 2019, Annika was part of the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship, where she interned at Blue Origin as part of their guidance, navigation, and control team for the New Glenn rocket. 
In her free time, Annika loves taking in all that Colorado has to offer. She loves to hike, trail run, bike, snowboard, and rock climb, but she won’t say no to a cozy day for reading.