Vaness Kuroda

Girl on Fire! A scientist who started her journey as a dancer but channeled her passion and discipline as a creative to excel in computer science, electrical engineering — at NASA.
Yes, it is rocket science!

Vanessa Kuroda is an electrical systems engineer for a well known commercial space company, working on a heavy lift orbital rocket. She was previously the Staff Telemetry and (RF) Communications Engineer for Stratolaunch Systems, which builds hypersonic aircraft from the ground up. Vanessa is an experienced aerospace communication systems engineer, with wide experience across the aerospace industry, including NASA Ames Research Center, Airbus’s Silicon Valley center A^3, JPL, and more.

She earned her B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California with an emphasis on Communications Systems. After internships at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, and Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, she became the primary Spacecraft Communications Engineer in NASA’s Ames Research Center Engineering Systems Division, where she performed integration, test, and operations for LADEE, the Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer, which orbited the moon, performed science experiments, and demonstrated the fastest laser communications link in space at the time. She was also selected as one of 40 across all of NASA to participate in their FIRST leadership development program and during her tenure at NASA, was chosen by Silicon Valley’s Business Journal as one of their 40 Under 40 Rising Stars. At Airbus, she was their Wireless and Comms Architect on UAS Traffic Management (UTM), and helped to create the wireless communications ecosystem needed to safely integrate unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into airspace systems globally.

In addition to her engineering work, she stays active in engineering organizations, the CLUB Incubator, and participates in STEM activities as much as she can. She is also a hip-hop dancer with a talent agency in San Francisco where she got to perform with Bebe Rexha and previously at USC, where she performed as a backup dancer for the Black Eyed Peas at the Kids’ Choice Awards. She also loves to spend time with her husband Theo and their new puppy Apollo.