Lauren “Vic” Paulson is a third-year PhD student in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, originally from London. Her interest in space started in middle school after meeting an astronaut at a NASA Young Astronauts event, and Vic has been hooked ever since. Vic tends to learn by doing, which has led her to become a rescue diver, a private pilot with an instrument rating, a zero-gravity flier, and an analog astronaut. That same mindset pushed Vic to found and lead SEA, growing it into a 100+ student program alongside her PhD. Vic work spans electric propulsion certification, lunar resource governance, and non-terrestrial aircraft design, with experience at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Draper, BlackRock, and Open Lunar. Outside of research, she directs theatre, once raised a guide dog puppy, and spends her time flying, diving, running, reading, and making art.