Julia Thompson

Background

About Julia Thompson

Hello! I am a multidisciplinary engineer and educator who loves to mentor young people in STEM and ice skating. I have over a decade of experience volunteering and working with kids in many settings from age 2 through undergraduates. I am passionate about engineering education, increasing opportunities for girls/women and queer, rural, and neurodivergent students, and using passions like skating to develop community, character, and leadership qualities. I am constantly expanding my knowledge through opportunities such as a master’s degree, community college classes, synchronized skating tech school, and dance lessons. Some of my favorite areas of study at the moment are project-based engineering education, applying systems thinking to aerospace, curriculum development, the role of coaches and other extracurricular leaders in kids’ lives, and technology/space policy. As a software engineer at Astro Digital and Pumpkin Space Systems, I wrote testing and flight software for a variety of satellites, including both micro and XL spacecraft. I applied my skills and knowledge in computer science, electrical engineering, and aeronautics and astronautics to design, develop, and debug software solutions for complex and dynamic systems. I have further developed my technical skills with an MS in progress and through work with Lab64 and BlueStamp Engineering. I graduated from Stanford University in 2022 with a BS in Aeronautics and Astronautics, where I gained interdisciplinary experience and strong communication skills. I was involved in several community-oriented activities and leadership roles on and off campus, such as co-president of the Stanford Student Space Initiative, mentoring with Curious Cardinals, and serving as interim chief of staff at Elizabeth's Smile. I also completed internships and research assistantships at Pumpkin, Inc, Stanford Internet Observatory, and Astro Digital, where I contributed to data science, cybersecurity, and spacecraft operations projects. I am motivated, high-achieving, and engaged in lifelong learning and innovation. My main interest I picked up in college, though, was actually ice skating. I began figure skating in early 2019 and playing hockey in early 2022, and both sports have become passions that led me to work at my home rink and learn all I can about skating. My roles at the rink range from scorekeeping hockey games to working in the pro shop to coaching, and I especially love working with beginners in skating school classes. If space, skating, student success, and Stanford sound interesting to you, let’s connect!