Leadership

  • Hello! My name is Ryan Stevenson and I am super excited to be one of your Team Captains this upcoming year! I will be a Junior here at CU studying Aerospace Engineering, and I worked as an Intern at Xbow Systems in Luling, Texas! I am an avid outdoorsman and I love skiing, hiking, off-roading, fishing, ect. Super excited to have you as part of the Team, and I hope you will come to love it as much as I have! Email: ryst1692@colorado.edu

Hao Zhou
Team Captain

  • Howdy, my name is Hao! I am a senior at Boulder studying Psychology and Business. I had the pleasure of working at X-Bow Systems over the summer, and I am excited to come back as a Team Captain! In my off-time, I love skiing, rock climbing, and photography. Say hi!
    Email: hazh5003@colorado.edu

Matt Rhode
Faculty Advisor

  • Matt Rhode is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. He joined Smead Aerospace in 2001 as a staff member and was promoted to faculty this year.

    A CU Boulder alumnus, Matt graduated in 1996 with a degree in mathematics. After three years of teaching in the Denver metro area, he returned to CU Boulder to assist in revamping the senior projects curriculum and managing the machine shop.

    Over the years, Matt has played a pivotal role in developing educational programs and overseeing the construction of the Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building on East Campus. Since 2019, he has focused on teaching, including freshman projects, Gateway to Space, and his own course, Introduction to Rocket Engineering, while also advising Senior Projects.

James Nabity, Ph.D
Faculty Advisor

  • Dr. Nabity is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences working for Bioserve Space Technologies. He has been a professor at CU since 2013, and prior to that he was a Principal Engineer at TDA Research, Inc. and a Mechanical Engineer at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. He received his Pd.D. in Mechanical Engineering from CU, and was deemed a NASA highly qualified candidate for the Astronaut Class of 2009, among myriad other achievements.

    For the past several years, Dr. Nabity has been the official faculty advisor for SRL, providing exceptional technical and administrative advice for all of our operations. Today, Dr. Nabity is the primary advisor for all of SRL’s rocketry projects.

Ryan Stevenson
Team Captain

  • Hi, I’m Nick, CU SRL’s Lead Engineer. I’m a third-year Aerospace Engineering student and joined SRL at the beginning of my Freshman year. Previously, I was the lead for the composite propulsion and solids teams.

Sebastian Grabowski
Operations Officer

  • Hey! My name is Sebastian and I will be working as operations officer this year. My job is to help engineers with achieving their goals by supporting them on every step of the project. I am a sophomore studying Aerospace Engineering, and I will also be involved in solid propulsion development team. I love talking all things rocketry and getting new members into the club.

Wesley Parker
Safety Officer

  • Hello, my name is Wesley Parker and I am currently a BAM student and Senior in the Aerospace department. For the FY 24-25 I will be SRL’s Safety Officer. So, I will be ensuring SRL is following all CU, State, and Federal regulations that affect our operations . Outside of SRL I enjoy launching my own rockets, when I can afford to, and martial arts. After college I will be commissioning in the Air Force.

Nick Kieft
Lead Engineer

  • Hi! I'm Rowan Eklund, your Vehicle Design team lead here at SRL. I am a sophomore in Aerospace Engineering at CU and a native Coloradan. I joined SRL last year hoping to get real-world experience in aerospace as quickly as possible and can't say I was let down. The work is both highly challenging and highly rewarding, and if that sounds like your kind of coffee you'll have a great experience here. I've gotten a lot out of this team in my time here, and I'm excited to help you get the same here in Vehicle Design or wherever you end up. I'll see you around!

Joshua Savage
Composites Lead

  • Hi, I’m Josh, and I am majoring in Aerospace Engineering Sciences here at CU. I will also be SRL’s Composite Development Lead for this year. I joined SRL in the fall of 2023 where I gained an interest in composites manufacturing and development while helping with Mamba I & II and Boomslang. My role now will be to oversee the production of many aspect of our solid rockets, from the motor casing & grain insulators to the nosecone & airframe. I am excited to be working with everyone this year and lets all have fun making rockets.

Tyler Boim
Propulsion Development Lead

  • Hey! My name is Tyler Boim, I'm looking forward to working as your Solid Propulsion lead this year. I will be starting my third year on SRL as a Junior in Aerospace Engineering, and just finished up working on the Structures, Propulsion, and Mechanisms team over at Millennium Space Systems this summer. There will be plenty of work to do so feel free to reach out to either myself or this teams responsible engineer, Luke Parker, with any questions. We have a lot work ahead, and a whole lot of fire too!

Luke Parker
Propulsion Development RE

  • Hi! I'm Luke Parker, and I am proud to be the Responsible Engineer for Propulsion and Energetics. I, along with prop team lead Tyler Boim, will be your go-to people for things that make lots of fire - so come ask questions! When I'm not machining parts, working, doing homework, or mixing prop, I enjoy hiking, dance, good food, and making music. I am looking forward to making some awesome tests happen this semester and hope you are as excited as I am to make some mach diamonds!

Rowan Eklund
Vehicle Lead

  • Hi, my name is Allison and I'm one of your Avionics leads alongside Alex.  I'm a junior in aerospace engineering and joined SRL in my freshman year. I've been building avionics and control systems since well before I attended CU, and have added to that bank of experience a great deal through my time with the team as well as several internships and satellite research projects. I was previously the head of the hardware/RF subteam, and I'm excited to expand my role into guiding the overall development of our avionics system this year. In my free time I enjoy photography and flight simulation, so feel free to chat with me about that as well. I look forward to working with you all!

Alex Reich
Avionics Lead

  • Hey! My name is Alex Reich and I am one of the Avionics Lead for CU SRL. I am an Aerospace Engineering major who joined SRL last year as a freshman. I've always had an interest in space, and am particularly inspired by the planetary probes sent out by NASA, which founded my passion for avionics. I have worked on developing sensor drivers for our current board, and look forward to working with the team to add further functionality including downlink and recovery control. Outside of school and SRL I enjoy gardening and climbing.

Ben DeBlasio
Liquids Lead

  • Hi everyone! I’m Ben, and I am a senior Aerospace student at CU.

    I’m also a member of the CU Freeski club, and enjoy heading up to the mountains as much as I can during the winter.

    I have been an active member of SRL since my sophomore year, when the Boomslang project was first started! I am excited to co-lead the Liquids team again this year, and push us towards static fires and a launch!

Allison Byrnes
Avionics Lead

Adrian Tabin
Liquids Lead

  • Hi All, my name’s Adrian! I’m an aero grad student and co-lead of our liquid engine development team. I’ve been with SRL since before I even started my freshman year at CU and I have industry experience in manufactuing engineering that I can’t wait to apply to our team this year and help drive our projects to new levels of success! Outside of school and work I lift, tinker, read, and fuel my severe addiction of buying and riding electric vehicles.

  • Hi, my name is Evelyn Radabaugh. I am a junior in aerospace engineering. I am the L1 lead this school year. The L1 team focuses on outreach and introducing new members to the world for rocketry.

    I started doing hobby rocketry in high school, and I competed in TARC. I have been a part of SRL since my freshman year. Outside of school, I like to ski, hike and travel. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about the club!

Evelyn Radabaugh
L1 Lead

  • Hi I’m Sarah, I am L1 Lead and I am a junior in Aerospace Engineering. I learned about rocketry for the first time in my freshman projects course and joined SRL my sophomore year. In my free time I enjoy spending time outdoors especially skiing and surfing, and I also love to read. I am excited to help build and launch some L1’s this year and introduce people to the world of rocketry. A fun fact about me is that I also shoot competitive air pistol.

Sarah Bagasra
L1 Lead