I love building rockets...
I am a member of the Lehigh University Rocketry Association (LURA), a student-run rocketry team founded in 2024 at Lehigh University. The team designs, builds, and launches solid and liquid-propellant rockets and competes annually in the International Rocketry Engineering Competition (IREC). In addition to competition work, LURA engages with the broader collegiate rocketry community, collaborating with teams from Rutgers, Maryland, and Florida, and supporting regional rocketry outreach and knowledge-sharing. Our members learn rocketry by building real hardware, and everyone has the opportunity to get high-power certified through the NAR or Tripoli and specialize across the full range of rocketry disciplines.
I have been part of LURA for two years. In my first year, my primary technical focus was payload and structural engineering, culminating in serving as lead payload engineer for IREC 2026. That work centered on LAIKA, a robotic quadruped payload designed to autonomously explore the desert after deployment from our 16-foot competition launch vehicle. My work spanned payload architecture, mechanical integration, structural interfaces, and system-level design to meet flight and recovery constraints. Beyond engineering, I supported the team's organizational growth through grant proposals, sponsor communications, mentoring, and helping establish the first dedicated rocketry laboratory on Lehigh's campus.
Starting in the 2026-2027 year, I serve as president of a team of over 120 active members. LURA now runs multiple divisions spanning liquid propellant development, solid staging, and several independent build teams, all operating out of our dedicated laboratory space. Our members range from first-year undergraduates to master's students, pursuing research across propulsion, structures, astrophysics, life sciences, biology, and software and automation. As president, my focus is on instilling a culture of extreme ownership and the confidence to build with your hands early, so that foundational engineering knowledge is matched from the start by the experience of actually making something work.
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The International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC)
IREC is the largest collegiate rocketry competition in the world, drawing over 150 teams each year to the Texan desert. The summer of 2026 was my first time competing.
Leading payload for this mission, Laika the robotic dog was developed. Laika was launched at 1,200 ft AGL and descended under chutes to expore the terrain. After nearly two days in the desert, battling sandstorms and floods, we recovered the vehicle and payload in good shape. Our team Placed 14th in the technical report, 56th in in the general competition, and won the Technological Relevancy award from the Space Dynamics Laboratory.
