From Academia to Space Industry: Beyond Gravity

Are you curious about working in Space-related industry after your time at university? What possibilities do exist for PhD or postdoc with only little practical experience in industry? How can you successfully do this transition from university to the non-academic world? Listen to our speakers who work in different positions at Beyond Gravity (formerly RUAG Space), a space company providing structures for satellites and all types of launch vehicles. They will share their career journey with us, giving also practical advice on how to use space-related knowledge and skills to pursue a non-academic career.

Join us in this Space Café event, on June 23, 2022, at 14:00, to learn more about the transition from Academia to the Space industry. This event will take place in a hybrid mode, on-site (Irchel campus) and online. However, seats are limited and will be assigned on a first come-first serve basis. Registration at the end of this page

More about Space Café event series.

Sara de la Rosa is currently Project Manager at Beyond Gravity (formerly known as RUAG Space), at the Subsystems, Structures and Thermal Group. She works on the development of components for Earth Observation Satellites and robotic Lunar and Mars Missions, including Solar Array Drive Mechanisms, Solar Array Wings and Antenna Pointing Mechanisms. She is an advisor and angel investor in numerous Start-ups across the Aviation and Space domains (Unmanned Systems, Rideshare Services and Quantum communications). Sara has an MSc in Oceanography and Satellite Remote Sensing (University of Southampton, 2005) and a PhD in Polar Geophysics (University of Bergen, 2011). She has since transitioned her career from Academia to Industry, working across Aviation, Logistics, Software, Humanitarian response and Space Manufacturing domains and has lived in 8 countries. Sara loves sailing, diving, flying, attending music events and traveling.

Talk: Life Transitions, for Lateral Thinkers

Elena Zanzola is currently a Materials and Processes Engineer at Beyond Gravity. She holds a PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and a Master of Science in Chemistry from the University of Milan in Italy. Before joining the Space sector, Elena worked as research fellow in the field of energy storage and renewable sources at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen (Switzerland) and this experience boosted even more her already deep passion in material science and related technologies. Outside of science and engineering, Elena loves spending time with her family enjoying the beautiful nature of Switzerland.

Talk: The world of engineering and science after university
One of the main questions I asked myself before leaving university was how science and engineering could find a common place in the industry. After a quite long search in the different fields of the industry, I came across the Space sector. This was a completely new world for me, but since the beginning I realized that it could offer the opportunity to dive into new challenges where engineering and science play together a crucial role. Every day I have the possibility to move from something very technical, such as writing a manufacturing procedure for a space component, to consult colleagues and customers with respect to compliance of materials in the Space industry. This is for me a great combination of engineering and science!