Daniel Ramirez
President
Daniel Ramirez is a Junior Mechanical Engineering student, specializing in thermal fluids. He is passionate about manufacturing and plans to work in the aerospace industry. He is a researcher at the University of Central Florida’s hypersonics REU program and chair of the Rice SHPE chapter. He was previously the Composites lead at Eclipse, where he led the manufacturing of Archimedes’s airframe. Daniel was born in Colombia and grew up in New York City and Miami. Drawing, playing the piano, going on nature walks, and traveling are some of his favorite activities. In fact, he studied abroad in Madrid, Spain last year!
Lavinia Barker
CHIEF ENGINEEr
Lavinia is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering and hails originally from Melbourne, Australia. She is a NASA Pathways intern, having worked in propulsion and fluids development and testing at Johnson Space Center. Last fall, she led the Titan II engine team during its pre-Spaceport hot fire test campaign, and she is excited to build off of these successes with this year’s team. In her spare time, you’ll find her brewing coffee as a barista at Rice Coffeehouse or challenging friends and foes to Settlers of Catan.
Ilina Goyal
Aerodynamics and Structures Lead
Ilina is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Classical Civilizations. This summer, she interned at Parker Lord, working on active vibration control systems for helicopters, and is passionate about continuing to work in the aerospace industry after graduation. Last year, she led the Recovery team to build and launch Eureka!, a supersonic rocket flying to 12,000 ft, as well as the systems that allowed the team to recovery Archimedes without any damage. Outside of Eclipse, Ilina loves rock climbing, working as a mechanic at Rice Bikes, and unicycling!
Henry Prendergast
Avionics and software lead
Henry, a Mechanical Engineering student and a Houston native, is leading Eclipse's Avionics division this year. He developed high-frequency electronic hardware in service to air-to-ground communications in the club's Radio-Frequency Communication team for two years, serving as its lead last year. Henry is also involved in on-campus theater groups, designing sets and scenic pieces for productions of The Taming of the Shrew, Hello, Hamlet! and Into The Woods. Reading, game development, and listening to music are some of his other favorite activities.
Frahanco Deressa
Propulsion lead
Frahanco, born in Ethiopia and raised in Maryland, is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Thermal Fluids. He loves all things propulsion and aims to work as a propulsion engineer in the astronautics industry. He is currently working as a Robotics Operations intern at MDA Space and will head off to Starbase in the Fall to work on Starship Booster Structures. Last year, Frahanco led the design and manufacturing of our hybrid ground test engine, Proxima, and is the architect for Eclipse's first liquid engine! His favorite hobbies include watching/playing fútbol, mountain biking, hiking, and cooking.
Luis Gaitan
Propulsion lead
Luis, born and raised in South Florida, is a junior at Baker working towards a mechanical engineering major and philosophy minor. Last semester, Luis helped lead preparations for our flight engine’s static fires through machining and assembly. He currently interns at Northrop Grumman as a product engineer for solid propulsion defense systems. Luis has his sights on working in the aerospace industry for space exploration, hoping to improve how we approach innovation. Aside from working, Luis enjoys other hobbies such as walking through nature, playing Super Smash Ultimate, writing short stories, and collecting emoticons.
Ethan Zhang
Chief Safety officer
Ethan is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Thermal Fluids. He loves all things space and wants to work in aerospace in the future. Last semester, Ethan led the Aero R&D team which worked on scoping the Eclipse Spaceshot project through research and designing test articles. He is also Eclipse's official Rocket Painter! This year, he is excited to keep Eclipse a safe environment during daily activities and launches, while making sure members feel welcome and are having fun. Outside of Eclipse and school, Ethan loves to work out, tinker with his car, and fly airplanes.
Elaine Ren
PuBLIC AFfairs officer
Elaine is a junior from Austin, TX studying Electrical and Computer Engineering and minoring in Data Science. Last year, she led the Avio R&D team that worked on an auto-rocket tracking camera system. This year as the PAO, she is excited to host social events and design merch for Eclipse. Outside of Eclipse, she is a research intern at the Rice Network Group working on 6G wireless sensing projects. She also enjoys running, playing basketball, drinking (a lot of) coffee, and listening to true crime podcasts in her free time!
Liam Manley
Chief financial officer
Liam is from Larchmont, NY and is a Senior studying Mechanical Engineering. Last year he lead the Titan team through the first ever Hot-fire of the Titan II engine, and helped analyze and modify the engine based on the data gathered. This year he is excited to continue the testing and development of this engine as it is integrated into the Archimedes rocket, as well as manufacture and launch the testing campaign of the new Proxima engine! Liam also loves to play volleyball, bike, and cook in his free time.
Past Leaderships
“Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine.
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