ALESSANDRO VERNIANI
Matthew Isakowitz Fellow, Class of 2022
University of Colorado, Boulder, Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering
University of California, Irvine, Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Host Company: Virgin Galactic
Alessandro Verniani is a first-year graduate student at CU Boulder studying Aerospace Engineering with a focus in bioastronautics. A first-generation student, his passion for human spaceflight culminated in an internship at SpaceX, where he worked on spacecraft development. At the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), he researched hypervelocity impact plasmas to develop more sensitive spacecraft instruments. As an intern at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he applied his undergraduate research on self-deploying origami space structures to the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) project. Alessandro previously worked on satellite constellation design at Northrop Grumman and cold gas thruster development at Varda Space, a microgravity manufacturing start-up that ignited his passion for commercial space. In his free time, Alessandro enjoys backpacking, photography, playing piano, and late-night Wikipedia spirals.