Talcott Mountain AcademyCahoy, like many others, began asking cosmic questions as a starry-eyed youngster. Her interest began during a fourth-grade science project and grew exponentially. “Somewhere amidst the encyclopedias, the crayons, the paste, the blue-lined paper and the scissors, I was also crafting the beginnings of my lifelong passion for space exploration,” Cahoy said. “I want to help explore new frontiers and answer, ’Are we alone? Are there other worlds out there like ours?’”
Kerri L. Cahoy, Boeing Assistant Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics at MIT, received her B.S. (2000) in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and her M.S. (2002) and Ph.D. (2008) degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University working with the Radio Science Team on Mars Global Surveyor.
From 2006 to 2008, she was a Senior Payload and Communication Sciences Engineer at Space Systems Loral in Palo Alto, CA. From 2008 to 2010, Dr. Cahoy was a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow in Exoplanet Exploration at NASA Ames Research Center. From 2010 to 2011, she was a Radio Science research scientist on the MIT Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar mission team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Currently, Dr. Cahoy leads the MIT Wavefront Control Laboratory, part of the Space Systems Laboratory. Prof. Cahoy’s group has three research focus areas: Nanosatellites, Wavefront Control Systems, and Space Weather.