CJ O'Neill

I’m an incoming senior at CU Boulder studying aerospace engineering and minoring in planetary science.

I’ve been with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics researching as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) since the end of my freshman year. At LASP, I primarily work on astrodynamics simulations in Basilisk, which enable robust mission design. In April of this year, I received 1st place an AIAA Student Conference, and was fully funded to present my work on optimizing baffle design for EMA at the 2026 AIAA SciTech Forum.

Outside of school and LASP work, I’ve been performing research with Dr. Sean Peters into detecting the spread of a fungal pathogen ravaging Hawaiian forests with synthetic aperature radar. I learned about the issue during a birding tour in the big island in January 2025. Soon after, I began taking Radar & Remote Sensing with Dr.Peters and first thought of linking the two. During that semester and into the summer, I’ve been developing 2D and 3D SAR simulations which model how SAR can detect ROD.

In my free time, I’m probably either climbing, birding, or snowboarding. Climbing has been a foundational part of my life since I had my 12th birthday party at the Spot Boulder, and I love training hard (and rehabbing injuries from training too hard) and spending time climbing outdoors. Birding is one of my most calming activities, and provides a great way to understand various ecosystems and the world.