Michelle Kao (she/her), a third-year Physics and Astronomy student, is the Faculty of Science Co-op Student of the Year as well as the 2024 Experiential & Work Integrated Learning Ontario (EWO) Co-op Student of the Year!聽Michelle made outstanding contributions at the National Research Council Canada, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre.
She received these awards in recognition of her incredible work on the 颁础厂罢翱搁听mission. Michelle developed tools to optimize the CASTOR space telescope鈥檚 observing programs, significantly improving survey efficiency and influencing key engineering decisions.
Kao received these awards for her incredible work on the聽mission during her co-op work term at the聽.听
Her work focused on survey implementation analysis, integrating industry specifications with scientific requirements to optimize observation programs. She developed tools to calculate observing efficiency, ultimately demonstrating how one survey could nearly double its effectiveness.
Michelle鈥檚 expertise spanned orbit geometry, satellite reference frames, signal-to-noise calculations, software engineering and telemetry analysis. Her independent research and technical contributions influenced key mission decisions, including spacecraft power feasibility and optimal downlink configurations.
Michelle also presented her findings to an international audience of engineers and scientists and impressed industry experts with her analytical approach and communication skills.
