“Advancing Aerospace with Artificial Intelligence” is the theme of the 31st annual Wisconsin Space Conference on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021 at Milwaukee School of Engineering.  

More information, including rates, registration and a schedule are available on the Wisconsin Space Conference website.  

Highlights of the conference include student poster sessions, networking and a keynote address by Ashley W. Stroupe, Ph.D. She is a systems engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Her plenary session will focus on exploring Mars through robotic eyes. Stroupe specializes in Mars Rover operations. She has performed many different roles over the last 16 years for the Curiosity, Opportunity and Spirit rovers. 

Presently, Stroupe’s primary role is the team lead for the Curiosity Rover Planners, the team that drives and controls the robotic arm. She also works as a tactical uplink lead, managing the daily planning process for the rover, and as a supra-tactical lead, sketching out and modeling the activities for near-term plans. In addition to her flight work, Stroupe has conducted research focusing on cooperative multi-robot teams in complex environments with applications to exploration and mapping, cooperative manipulation and sampling.  

Stroupe received a B.S. in Physics/Astronomy from Harvey Mudd College in 1990, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University in 1998, an M.S. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2001, and a Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2003. She joined JPL in 2003.  

The Wisconsin Space Conference is sponsored by the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium, a joint effort between NASA and organizations statewide. WSGC is dedicated to helping provide Wisconsin students, researchers, educators, businesses, not-for-profit organizations and other stakeholders with the tools, connections and resources needed to make the aerospace community in the state of Wisconsin thrive and grow.