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While earning her dual master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics and public policy, Carissma McGee SM ’25 learned to navigate between two seemingly distinct worlds, bridging rigorous technical analysis and policy decisions.
As an undergraduate congressional intern and researcher, she saw a persistent gap in space policymaking. Policymakers often lacked technical expertise, while researchers were rarely involved in increasingly complex questions surrounding intellectual property and international collaboration in space.
Her work on intellectual property frameworks for space collaborations directly addresses that gap, combining expertise in gravitational microlensing and space telescope operations with policy analysis to tackle emerging governance challenges.
“I want to bring an expert level in science in the rooms where policy decisions are made,” says McGee, now a doctoral student in aeronautics and astronautics. “That perspective is critical for shaping the future of research and exploration.”
Likewise, she wants to bring her expertise in public policy into the lab.
“I enjoy being able to ask questions about intellectual property, territorial claims, knowledge transfer, or allocation of resources early on in a research project,” adds McGee.
McGee’s fascination with space started during her high school years in Delaware, when she first volunteered at a local observatory and then interned at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
Following high school, McGee attended Howard University. She was selected to participate in the Karsh STEM Scholars Program, a full-ride scholarship track for students committed to working continuously toward earning doctoral degrees. Howard, which holds an R1 research classification from the Carnegie Foundation, is in close proximity the Goddard Space Flight Center, as well as the American Astronomical Society and the D.C. Space Grant Consortium.
In 2020, after her first year at Howard, the Covid-19 pandemic sent McGee back to her hometown in Delaware. As it turned out, that gave her an opportunity to work with her local congresswoman, Lisa Blunt Rochester, then a U.S. representative. In addition to supporting the congresswoman’s constituents, she drafted dozens of letters related to STEM education and energy reform.
Working in government gave McGee an opportunity to use her voice to “advocate for astronomy and astrophysics with the American Astronomical Society, advocate for space sciences, and for science representation.”
As an undergraduate, McGee also conducted research linking computational physics and astronomy, working with both NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Yale University’s Department of Astronomy. She also continued research begun in 2021 with the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ Black Hole Initiative, contributing to work associated with the Event Horizon Telescope.
When she visited MIT in 2023, McGee was struck by the Institute’s openness to interdisciplinary work and support of her interest in combining aeronautics and astronautics with policy.
Once at MIT, she started working in the Space, Telecommunications, Astronomy, and Radiation Laboratory (STAR Lab) with advisor Kerri Cahoy, professor of aeronautics and astronautics. McGee says she experienced a great deal of freedom to craft her own program.
“I was drawn to the lab’s work on satellite missions and CubeSats, and excited to discover that I could pursue exoplanet astrophysics research within this framework and that submitting a dual thesis or focusing on astrophysics applications was possible,” says McGee. “When I expressed interest in participating in the Technology [and] Policy Program for a dual thesis in a framework for space policy, my advisors encouraged me to explore how we could integrate these diverse interests into a path forward.”
In 2024, McGee was awarded a MathWorks Fellowship to pursue research associated with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and join a NASA mission.
“It was just amazing to join the exoplanet group at NASA,” she says. “I had a front-row seat to see how real researchers and workers navigate complex problems.”
McGee credits MathWorks with helping fellows to “be at the forefront of knowledge and shaping innovation.”
One of her proudest academic accomplishments is PyLIMASS, a software system she developed with collaborators at Louisiana State University, the Ohio State University, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The tool enables more accurate mass and distance estimates in gravitational microlensing events, helping the Roman Space Telescope project meet its precision goals for studying exoplanets.
“To build software that didn’t previously exist — and to know it will be used for the Roman mission — is incredibly exciting,” McGee says.
In May 2025, McGee graduated with dual master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics and technology and policy. That same month, she presented her research at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, and at the Technology Management and Policy Conference in Portugal.
McGee remained at MIT to pursue her doctoral degree. Last fall, as an MIT BAMIT Community Advancement Program and Fund Fellow, she hosted a daylong conference for STEM students focused on how intellectual property frameworks shape technical fields.
McGee’s accomplishments and contributions have been celebrated with a number of honors recently. In 2026, she was named Miss Black Massachusetts United States, was recognized among MIT’s Graduate Students of Excellence, and received the MIT MLK Leadership Award in recognition of her service, integrity, and community impact.
Beyond her academic work, McGee is active across campus. She teaches Pilates with MIT Recreation, participates in the Graduate Women in Aerospace Engineering group, and serves as a graduate resident assistant in an undergraduate dorm on East Campus.
She credits the AeroAstro graduate community with keeping her momentum going.
“Even if we’re tired, there’s this powerful camaraderie among AeroAstro graduate students working together. Seeing my peers are pushing through similar research milestones and solve daunting problems motivates you to advance beyond the finish line to further developments in the field.”
