ALUMNAE
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ESTRELLINA PACIS RIUS ‘97 NASA Ames Systems Engineer
Estrellina (Ester) Pacis Rius '97 works for NASA Ames and the Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific (NIWC PAC). As the Project Lead for multiple robotics projects focused on developing small ground robots used by the Navy, Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, she is responsible for managing projects from inception to fielding, including directing multi-disciplinary teams of engineers from Government and private industry, supporting Government Program Offices on acquisition strategies, and developing new architectures to advance robotic controller software. Ester also works at NASA Ames in It’s hard to pinpoint a specific project Mountain View as a that I’m most proud of. Every NASA Systems Engineer in the Intelligent Robotics project I’ve worked on involves Group. Her focus is on engineering management and integration an enormous team that requires of multiple disciplines like electrical engineering, computer science, and interface design that are required to build complex an immense level of teamwork, robotic systems. She says, "It’s hard to pinpoint a specific coordination, motivation, and focus. project that I’m most proud of. Every NASA project I’ve worked on involves an enormous team that requires an immense level of teamwork, coordination, motivation, and focus. To be part of a team like that and produce a successful product in the end always fills me with pride and humility. The most recent project I’m supporting is called VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover). We’re building a new rover that will land at the South Pole of the Moon in late 2023." The mission is to search for water ice, which will help to understand where there is water and how much is available for use on future human space missions.
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She describes her road to studying engineering as one of discovery and taking chances. When she graduated from Mercy, engineering was not a common career choice among her classmates. Originally, she had applied to business school but was intrigued by “engineering” as an option on college applications. She thought her fondness of math might be her way in, since she
Estrellina, right, on console as science lead in the Multi-Mission Operations Center while, left, K10 Black planetary rover navigates the boulder field in the Roverscape during a Surface Telerobotics Operational Readiness Test at NASA Ames Research Center. Credits: NASA/Dominic Hart. 24 MERCY HIGH SCHOOL, BURLINGAME
