Reese Hufnagel

Reese Hufnagel is a student at the University of Wisconsin-Stout pursuing a Bachelor’s in Chemistry with Minors in Materials Science and Physics. For the past two years, Reese has worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at UW-Stout. Her research on the chemically assisted design for demise of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers for uncontrolled reentry of spacecraft has explored the thermochemical properties of carbon fiber and the development of additives to enhance thermal decomposition at reentry temperatures. She was awarded the 2025 NASA Undergraduate Research Scholarship from the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium and was UW-Stout's 2026 Outstanding Student Researcher. Reese, along with her Research Mentor and Co-founder, Matthew Ray, explored the commercialization potential of their technology through the NSF I-Corps program out of the Great Lakes Hub at UW-Madison and founded Aurora Catalytic LLC in 2025. She continues to develop her company's technology and is actively exploring industrial aerospace partnerships with a particular focus in the European Union. Reese is interning at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for Summer 2026 and plans to pursue a PhD in Materials Science after graduation.