Dr. Trudi Hoogenboom is a Planetary Scientist with a Ph.D. in Planetary Geophysics. Dr. Trudi has worked as a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the Arctic Planetary Science Institute. She co-authored the first topographic map of Io, the first cratering map of Vesta, and sits on various NASA panels and Space Education Foundations.

In 2020, Dr. Trudi joined Astra Nova School. Born at SpaceX, Astra Nova is an online school for kind, independent, and daring kids - available worldwide to students ages 10-14. In addition to teaching Astrogeology, Space Entrepreneurship, and Orbital Debris, her students used AI to locate caves on Mars, published peer-reviewed research papers, presented the results of their research at global scientific research conferences, and competed in international science competitions. Using professional-grade astrophysical software her students have located over 30 previously unidentified asteroids.

Recently, she co-founded MVA with Dr. Jim Green (Former Chief Scientist of NASA) and Wasim Ahmed. MVA teaches space science summer courses to 16+ year-old students using Virtual Reality.