CEO of Accion Systems

Natalya is a recent PhD grad from the Aeronautics and Astronautics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her dissertation focused on electrochemical and plasma processes in electric thrusters for spacecraft propulsion. Prior to MIT, she assisted with the development of a chemical rocket that employed novel pumping techniques at Duke University. She’s authored several journal papers, holds two patents, and has been an invited and keynote speaker at space and satellite events across the world. She was an NSF Fellow throughout her graduate school tenure and was chosen as an NSF Engineering Innovation Fellow and as a NASA Ambassador to the US for the International Aeronautical Congress. Other positions Natalya has held include visiting scientist and program manager for various aerospace projects.

Currently, Natalya is the CEO of Accion Systems, a company she cofounded to commercialize the propulsion technology she helped to develop while at MIT. Accion raised $2MM earlier this year to establish manufacturing and test capabilities, and they’ve since grown the team 6-fold and generated over $3MM in revenue. Accion is the second space propulsion company Natalya has cofounded–the previous company did not make it to the revenue phase but was a valuable lesson in team organization and management. Natalya is a mentor for Youth CITIES and in her free time she plays squash, reads, and is trying to build her first amateur telescope.