STUDENT LEADERSHIP
Christina Bencin
President
Christina Bencin, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, is a junior studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a minor in English. She previously served as co-Public Affairs Officer in the 2024-25 school year and was a member of Composites and Recovery— with all of these experiences, she is very excited to lead Eclipse as President and work with an amazing officer board to bring to life many ambitious projects! This past summer, she interned at Cheniere Energy in Production Engineering and deepened her energy industry knowledge and engineering foundation. Outside of Eclipse, you can find Christina enjoying classical music, hiking, and training for her first half marathon.
Autumn Pepper Rhodes
Chief Engineer
Pepper is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Astronomy, hailing from Fort Myers, Florida. In Summer 2025, she interned at Relativity Space in the Avionics Mechanical Integration division. This previous year, she led the creation of several different avionics bays, both for recovery and test rockets as well as the competition rockets, The Kraken and Archimedes II. This year, she is excited to lead Eclipse to even greater heights in her new role as Chief Engineer! Outside of Eclipse, Pepper loves to explore new hiking trails, go for runs, and competitively bike in circles.
Mark Roberts
Aerodynamics Lead
Mark is a junior majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Engineering Design. Last year, he led the Recovery team to design and build Eclipse's first successful dual-stage rocket. He also designed the payload deployment mechanism for Archimedes and led the retrofit and launch of the mechanism on Eureka! Outside of Eclipse, Mark enjoys rock climbing and hiking.
Richard Bosch
Avionics Lead
Richard, a sophomore doing a dual BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and in Artificial Intelligence, takes his vast knowledge of chips and bits to the role of Avionics Division Lead. Practically raised everywhere on the western side of the continent, hailing from multiple countries, Richard is an incredibly die-hard space fanatic, traveling to as many space hubs as he can, from Johnson Space Center in Houston to NASA Headquarters in DC to JPL in Pasadena, and even all the way to JAXA Headquarters in Japan. Richard loves all things zoom and boom, from rockets to spacecraft to hypersonic jets. After working for an aerospace-grade material manufacturer in New York, Richard is working on delicate materials in the MSNE department. He is also building record-breaking rockets, taking him to the boondocks of Nevada to run a STEM camp in underrepresented regions camp doing rocketry for kids. If he is not grinding away in the shop, you can find him on some absolutely ridiculous adventure, as he is the king of side quests.
William Bremen
Propulsion Lead
William, born and raised in Chicago, is a junior Mechanical Engineering major at Duncan College, also pursuing a minor in Philosophy. William led the Titan II Propulsion sub-team in 2024-2025, preparing, iterating, and testing our flight hybrid engine for its launch at IREC 2025. He is a mechanical design intern at Top Grain Technologies, contributing to advanced heat treatment technologies. Passionate about aerospace and space exploration, William aims to push the boundaries of student rocketry by advancing Eclipse’s hybrid systems and expanding the club’s liquid propulsion program. When he’s not working on rockets, William enjoys staying active through sports and spending time in nature.
Philip Tudor
Chief Financial Officer
Philip is a sophomore studying Finance, originally from Austin, Texas. He has a strong interest in applying business, data science, and AI systems to the space industry. He first joined Rice Eclipse as a member of Composites, where he helped reinforce the sustainer body tubes for the Kraken rocket. This past summer, he interned with the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, gaining valuable insight into how federal space policy is shaped. Outside of Eclipse, Philip enjoys spending time outdoors, bouldering, and going to EDM concerts.
Frahanco Deressa
Chief Safety Officer
Frahanco, born in Ethiopia and raised in Maryland, is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aerospace. He loves all things propulsion and aims to work as a propulsion engineer in the astronautics industry. Last year, Frahanco led the design, manufacturing and testing of our hybrid ground test engine, Proxima, and is the architect for Eclipse's first liquid engine! This year, he is excited to keep Eclipse safe by refining our safe guards and redesigning our test site to handle higher energy testing! His favorite hobbies include watching/playing fútbol, mountain biking, and hiking in National Parks!
Alberto Lintao
Co Public Affairs Officer
Alberto, a native Houstonian and sophomore Sidizen double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Art. After contributing to the Aerodynamics division in Recovery and Flight Control as a freshman, he now leads the Structures team and brings his creativity to the co-PAO role, where he’s excited to host social events and design club merchandise. Outside of Eclipse, Alberto enjoys painting, boxing, and building escape rooms.
Tasia Sedunova
Co Public Affairs Officer
Tasia is a sophomore from Boston studying Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Engineering Design and English. She’s excited to be working with Alberto to run Eclipse social media and keep Rice updated on Eclipse events. This year she is also the Recovery Lead, where she looks forward to build a recovery rocket and continue working on the spaceshot. In her free time, Tasia likes biking, swimming, chairing RMUN, and beating her friends in board games!
Past Leadership
“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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