Sam Albert will be beginning his Masters in Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder in Fall 2018 after graduating with Honors from Purdue University’s Aerospace Engineering program. While at Purdue, he took on a challenging course load, including a study abroad course at the European Space Agency, Airbus, the French Space Agency and TU Delft. Sam dedicated a great deal of time and effort to researching the history and cultural importance of locations he and other students visited throughout the trip, often acting as an impromptu tour guide for his peers. In the following year at Purdue, he worked with a group of 56 other students to design a self-sustaining city on Mars, including all required infrastructure, as a final senior project. 

Throughout his time at university, Sam sought out every opportunity to learn more about space exploration and satellite technology, including joining Purdue’s chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS). He was one of four student team members to participate in the 2016 SSPI/SEDS Satellite Design Competition: Solving the Space Solar Power Puzzle. Sam’s team went on to win that year’s competition with a complex analysis of the economic and political difficulties involved in the topic. He enjoyed the experience so much that he joined the National Executive Board for SEDS USA and helped to plan the 2017 competition. Sam’s scholarship from SSPI will help to fund his Master’s degree at University of Colorado Boulder, where he will be working on a thesis project focusing on Entry, Descent and Landing technologies.

Sam received a scholarship from SSPI in 2018.

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