Meet the SGAC_Decode 2022 organizing team!
Event Manager – Roxy Williams
Roxy Williams studies Software Engineering in ULACIT – Latin American University of Science and Technology in Costa Rica. She is currently the National Point of Contact (NPoC) for Nicaragua. Roxy received the SGAC Pioneer Award 2021 and also the NPoC of the year for the North, Central America and the Caribbean region in SGAC for her contributions in SGAC and the space sector. She was also selected as a student Scholar for the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest gathering of women in computing. Currently she is working as a lead of the Command & Data Handling and Comms subsystems on a Mercury Sample Return Mission Design for the SGAC Space Exploration Project Group RAISE team. Roxy is the president of the Society of Women in Space Exploration Costa Rica. She is a young female passionate about space, who is driven by diversity and inclusion and who strongly promotes space education in her homeland Nicaragua.
Roxy worked on a CubeSat design with the Brazilian National Institution of Space Research – INPE, she worked on the design of a Lunar Hospital using Lava tubes during her virtual Analog Astronaut training. She recently co-designed, supervised and produced a web app solution to determine the safest and most suitable sites for shelters for the Caribbean coast in Nicaragua. The team used Sentinel-1, elevation and land cover derived from FAO’s SEPAL cloud platform and Google Earth Engine to derive low, medium and high shelter suitability.
Deputy Manager – Cheyenne Polius
Cheyenne Polius is a small island girl with big dreams. In 2015, she left St Lucia to pursue an Integrated Masters degree in Astrophysics in the UK. Cheyenne’s passion for Space came full circle back to her home island when was appointed as St Lucia’s first National Point of Contact (NPoC) in the Space Generation Advisory Council. Her efforts as NPoC led to co-founding St Lucia’s first national Astronomy Association (LUNAA) to provide an avenue for Space and Science enthusiasts to connect. In her capacity as President of LUNAA, she is also continuing her SGAC mission to raise awareness of the benefits of Space technology to St Lucia and the rest of the Caribbean region.
Day-to-day, Cheyenne is using her love for numbers and problem solving in the Finance Technology industry as an Analytics Specialist. Outside of work, she is still very active in the space community as an international speaker, mentor and science communicator. This dedication stems from a wider career goal of increasing gender and ethnic diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, especially Physics.
Communications Team:
Isaiah Thomas
Isaiah Thomas is a National Point of Contact for Trinidad and Tobago that has various interests like Ethical Decision Making, Climate Change, Public Policy, and Astrobiology.
He is also a member of the UN Office for Drugs and Crime’s YouthLED Anti-Corruption Advisory Board and IEP Peace Ambassador.
Ariann Duncan
Ariann currently works in the Caribbean ICT industry, in the area of Digital Transformation. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
She presently serves as the Regional Coordinator for Central America and the Caribbean at the Moon Village Association (MVA) and as a National Point of Contact for Trinidad and Tobago at the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC).
Decoders team:
Dominique Campbell
Dominique Campbell is an astronomy and space enthusiast. She studied Physics at the University of the West Indies and she represents Jamaica for the Space Generation Advisory Council. Dominique was also part of the organizing team of the webinar series What Space Can Do for WI in SGAC.
Verrol-Ann Scott
Ms.Scott holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Biochemistry with Psychology from The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus. Her Biochemistry thesis focused on inhibitors and activators of Biofilm Growth in various strains of Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli with focus on antibiotic resistance and pathogen variance. Psychology thesis focused on The relationship between Sleep, Sleep Deprivation and Academic Performance, Age and Gender with direct focus on the University of the West Indies Cave hill Campus Science & Technology Students. She is currently pursuing studies in Waste Water Management as well as International WasteWater Certifications. She is also an Entrepreneur owning a business called LeScov MUA which is a Make up Artistry and Skin Care Beauty Consultancy for over 7 years. She is also part owner of a Regenerative Agricultural business in Barbados called Red Diamond Compost Inc.
Miss Scott is currently the Industrial Waste Inspector at the Barbados Water Authority . In November 2020 she was honored to be selected to represent her country as the National Point of contact for Barbados with SGAC ( Space Generation Advisory Council). With this new role she is eager to raise awareness locally about SGAC and expose more young Barbadians to the endless opportunities available for them to get involved in the Space Sector. She intends to ensure that Barbados has a seat at the table as it relates to advancing humanity through the peaceful uses of space.” While affording her the opportunity to expand her knowledge of international space policy issues as well as space topics of a scientific or even technical nature.
Logistics team:
Chad Skinner
Chad Skinner graduated from the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad and Tobago in 2020. It was there where he obtained his Legal Education Certificate, held the position as Treasurer of the Cultural and Entertainment Committee, and participated in both the Intellectual Property and Alternative Dispute Resolution specialist clinics. After graduating Chad was awarded the privilege of an internship at The Barbados Supreme Court. Prior to attending the Hugh Wooding Law School, Chad obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree with Honors from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus in 2018, and his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Law with Honors from the same in 2016. Whilst at university he was an active member of UWI STAT Cave Hill and held the position of Treasurer of the Guild of Students Union.
Chad’s interests beyond the law include finance, in particular securities and derivatives, science and technology, with a focus on its potential impact on the Caribbean region. His interest in science and technology was further nurtured when he held the post of National Point of Contact for the Space Generation Advisory Council. Currently Chad is an active member of the Space Generation Advisory Council Caribbean team has worked on the Caribbean space webinar series “What Space Can Do for WI”.
Taton David
Taton David is from Saint Lucia and is also the current National Point of Contact for Saint Lucia. Currently, he is pursuing a Masters of Philosophy in Physics at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus. Taton is passionate about volunteerism and engaging others in the rich knowledge of science.
Training Team:
Daniel Wischert
Daniel holds a M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He works as a space system engineer for the European Space Agency (ESA) where he is responsible for performing feasibility assessment and conceptual design of future space missions and new spacecraft concepts for all ESA programmes.
Daniel has been involved in SGAC since 2017 and over the years has held various positions within the organization. Since 2020 he is the co-lead of SGAC’s Small Satellites Project Group (SSPG).
Laura Manoliu
Laura Manoliu received the bachelor degree in electrical engineering from the Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania, in 2015 and the M.Sc. title in telecommunications from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, in 2017. She is passionate about space science since she participated during her bachelor studies in the ESA’s REXUS programme, with the Low Gravity Team, with whom they launched their experiment with Rexus16 sounding rocket. Laura is currently pursuing her PhD degree at the Institute of robust power semiconductor systems (ILH) at University of Stuttgart in the field of high-data rate communications systems.
She is involved in the EIVE project, where they aim to demonstrate the feasibility of a 71-76 GHz downlink from a nanosatellite to a ground station and showcase Earth observation applications. She is the project leader of the EIVE-T and the data scientist of the W-Cube satellite. Her research pushes the boundaries of future satellite broadband communications and aims to model the transmission climate, analyze the atmospheric effects and impairments on radio frequency signals at new frequency bands (E/V/W-bands) and develop innovative data transmission algorithms to overcome the transmission losses. Laura is the SGAC Small Satellites project group co-lead.
Marcos Rojas
Marcos is a Space Systems Engineer working at the French engineering school ISAE SUPAERO and the French Space Agency (CNES) on Space Exploration and Human Spaceflight projects at the French Operations Center for Science and Exploration. He is also part of the Near-Earth Objects and Space Exploration Project Groups at SGAC.
Edwin Cruz
Edwin F. Cruz Martinez is a Robotics Engineer, specialist in Mechanical Design, certified by Dassault Systemes. He is currently a full-time student in the Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering at the Metropolitan Polytechnic University of Hidalgo, his research work focuses on the design of new structures for nanosatellites, his lines of research are: Structural and computational mechanics, finite element and frontier method (FEM), Orbital mechanics, Space robotics, Aerospace mission design and satellite systems. He is also an active member of Space Generation Advisory Council.
Adolfo Chaves
Dr. Adolfo Chaves is a lecturer and researcher in the Electronic Engineering School at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology. Dr. Chaves has specialized in Attitude and Determination Control System in the Dutch Institute of Systems and Controls (DISC). Becoming the second astronaut from Costa Rica Dr. Chaves will go onboard the New Shepard rocket from Blue Origin’s company for the suborbital flight in the mission ESAA-01 EX SOMINUS AD ASTRA, a mission part of the program Latcosmos-C.
Genaro Grajeda
Genaro currently works as a pre-sales engineer at Eutelsat Americas (a French company) where he works with different teams to design the satellite and hybrid networks at a global level. At Eutelsat, he works with new technology teams to bring OTT and IoT services to the Americas, among many other new technologies. Genaro is in love with Mars and participated in the first analog mission to Mars with a 100% Mexican crew that bore the name MEx-1 (Exploration Mission 1).
Mclee Kerolle
Mclee is a space law and policy analyst making the world a better place through space while working with the Space Court Foundation, Caribbean Space Society, Space Generation Advisory Council, and the Moon Village Association
Mentorship Team:
Mclee Kerolle
Mclee is a space law and policy analyst making the world a better place through space while working with the Space Court Foundation, Caribbean Space Society, Space Generation Advisory Council, and the Moon Village Association
Camilo Reyes
Passionate and value-driven Mechanical Engineer with strong interpersonal, leadership, and problem-solving skills. Participated in research projects through Mars analogue missions and three high altitude balloon projects in Colombia, Argentina and Ireland. Pursuing his Master degree in Satellite Technology, with a special interest in knowledge transfer, NewSpace economy and satellite formation. Currently working as junior spacecraft controller at SES Satellites, the world’s leader in multi-orbit constellation of satellites at GEO and MEO, providing connectivity and video services to 96% of global population.
Sapna Rao
Sapna Rao is a Systems Engineer at Lockheed Martin Commercial Civil Space. She has worked on human space exploration missions ranging from the Artemis missions to cryogenic demonstration missions. Her focuses are on Systems Architecture and applying Machine Learning to space missions. Additionally, she is passionate about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and is an active member in Lockheed Martin’s Women’s Impact Network where she organizes professional development events for women and minorities. She is also working with the Space Frontier Foundation to create a Diversity Equity and Inclusion toolkit to aid organizations and conferences. She prioritizes STEM outreach and is an advocate for minority representation in engineering. She graduated Virginia Tech with a Bachelor’s of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 2018.
Bram De Winter
Bram de Winter is an planetary geologist graduated from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He has worked an several planetary science projects simulating interiors of the Moon and Mars using experimental petrology techniques. He is very passionate about space exploration and in particular scientific opportunities that arise in future missions. Since 2020 he has been active in SGAC as National Point of Contact of the Netherlands and co-lead of the Space Exploration Project Group (SEPG). In SEPG he found multiple projects including mission design project ACHIEVED and DREAM, and analogue mission research group. His recent founded ROADMAP project will include all work of SEPG to build an space exploration roadmap using the ideas and voices of young professionals in the space community.
