Paula do Vale Pereira received bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering (2014) from Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), and business and management (2015) from the State University of Santa Catarina, both in Brazil. She earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering (2017) from UFSC, and her master’s degree (2019) and PhD (2022) in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an incoming (August 2022) assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Florida Institute of Technology, where her research will focus on the development of tools for the robotic exploration of the outer solar system. Her training qualifies her to plan, develop, assemble, and test space hardware that will operate in cold environments. To date, do Vale Pereira has published one patent, more than 400 citations, two book chapters, and 20 papers. In addition, she has delivered three recent invited talks, including one at TEDx Boca Raton. She has five awarded NASA proposals, including the Scientific Exploration Subsurface Access Mechanism for Europe (SESAME) and the CubeSat Launch Initiative, and is a certified NASA Space Mission Operator. Her education plan as a faculty member centers around active engagement — live demonstrations, lab experiments, and deep discussions —to turn abstract concepts into tangible understanding.

Research Interests

Space Exploration and Small Satellites