Katie Koube
Katie Koube graduated from Northwestern University in 2014 with majors in Materials Science Engineering (MSE) and Earth and Planetary Science (EPS). She completed her senior thesis while co-advised by Ramille Shah (MSE), David Dunand (MSE) and Steve Jacobsen (EPS) where she was primarily focused on processing and characterization of 3-D printed Lunar and Martian dust simulants for in-situ resource utilization. These structures could be processed to create soft, tough, rubber like materials or sintered in reducing environments for structural applications. Her work was recently published in Acta Astronautica and Scientific Reports. As a student she had the opportunity to complete a cooperative education internship with NASA Johnson Space Center, working on a series of diverse projects including prototyping and testing tools for future asteroid sample collection and creating an on-orbit training video to complete complex repairs to the common berthing mechanism onboard the International Space Station (ISS). While at NU, Katie also worked as chief engineer and co-founder for the Northwestern University Space Technology and Rocketry Society (NUSTARS) and flew a student lead research experiment modelling two phase flow in microgravity onboard NASA’s microgravity aircraft (the vomit comet) in her sophomore year. While leading NUSTARS she worked to design a 6-week introduction to physics and rocketry curriculum aimed at engaging students between 5 th – 8 th grade.
After graduation, Katie worked at SpaceX for three and a half years as a thermal protections systems
(TPS) manufacturing engineer. While at SpaceX she increased the material strength and performance of
key ablatives on the Falcon product line by more than 10X, allowing for full reusability of major sub-
assemblies on the first stage rocket booster and splitting her time between the Hawthorne and Cape
Canaveral sites to rapidly iterate for full reusability of all TPS systems onboard the Falcon 9 first stage
booster. In her free time, Katie had the pleasure of hiking the Angel Trail at the South Rim of the Grand
Canyon, exploring the fantastic natural beauty of Southern California, remembering why she got a
SCUBA diving license in the first place, and working towards her private pilot’s license.
In January of 2018, Katie began a PhD in Materials Science engineering at Georgia Tech with a focus in
shock physics and dislocation interactions in 3D printed metals. She plans to use her work to better
understand the fatigue life of reusable launch vehicles, such as the Falcon 9 and Falcon heavy, which are
subjected to high pressure high heating during reentry.
Katie lives in Atlanta with her husband, Lukas, and their newly acquired puppy, Atlas. She enjoys
running, hiking, camping, SCUBA diving, reading, and flying.