Lavanya was fascinated with space and space exploration from a young age. She grew up in a space community and having watched many rocket launches when she was younger, had wondered about the solar system and beyond. It instilled in her a lifelong thirst for knowledge and led her to pursue a career in the STEM fields. Lavanya’s background includes engineering and project management.

Her interests include space exploration, astronomy, and auroral science. She has volunteered her time for robotics competitions, from local to world championships, including performing robot inspections and judging. She has also mentored students about sounding rockets and scientific balloons, guided them with their research and designs to develop experiments that went to space and/or near space. Lavanya is an active member of her local astronomy club and is a proponent of STEM education for all students, especially girls. She loves to give presentations at outreach events and help others get excited about space exploration, and our Solar System and beyond.