For six years, I helped drive a one-ton nuclear-powered robot across the surface of Mars. As a member—and later lead—of the Curiosity Rover Planning team at JPL, I was responsible for designing and executing daily mobility and manipulation plans to navigate some of the most geologically rich (and mechanically punishing) terrain in Gale Crater. I translated orbital data, terrain models, and science priorities into centimeter-accurate drive commands, leveraging software-in-the-loop simulations, and 3D visualization suites tailored for tactical analysis. In addition to a regular team member, and team lead, I spend time as a strategic route planning specialists. For this role, I expanded my view to authored multi-kilometer mobility campaigns spanning months to years—balancing scientific targets with terrain types, mobility performance limits, and vehicle aging.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I led the Rover Planner team’s transition to fully remote operations, an effort documented in our 2021 IEEE paper "Commanding Curiosity from the Couch." We re-architected planning workflows, shifted mission-critical ops to home networks, and built out redundancy in tactical planning roles—all while keeping Curiosity moving through a scientifically dense stretch of terrain. That experience cemented my belief in resilient autonomy—not just in the machines we send off-world, but in the teams who operate them across time zones, laptops, and uncertain ground.