In a period of two weeks, Hertz Fellow Grace Ra Kim launched a rocket, pitched a startup, glamped on a working ranch with robots, and expanded her vision of what was possible. But it almost didn’t happen.
Hertz Fellows know that grad school is about much more than just research. Thanks in part to the extensive and diverse Hertz community, opportunities abound for growth and connection—from technical conferences to chance-of-a-lifetime cross-sector collaborations. But what happens when you’ve identified a promising opportunity, yet travel funding is a barrier?
That’s the question Kim faced—and what prompted her to apply for a Hertz Foundation Travel Fund award. Established in 2025, the travel fund provides financial support to enrolled in-school and early-career fellows (fewer than 10 years out of their degree) seeking to advance their professional growth through conference travel and interdisciplinary engagement. To date, about 40 fellows have received travel fund awards. This April, Kim tapped the fund in combination with other programs to create an epic journey of enrichment and impact.
1. Harvard Undergraduate CubeSat (HUCSat) Launch
Space Launch Complex 40
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
April 6–11
It’s not every day you get to witness a rocket launch in person. For Kim, it was a pinch-me moment to attend the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Cygnus NG-24 module bound for the International Space Station (ISS) with supplies and research equipment—including a cube-shaped satellite, or CubeSat, designed in part by Kim while she was an undergraduate at Harvard.
The project began in 2018; Kim joined in 2019 as project manager and was promoted to chief engineer in 2020. But it wasn’t until 2023 that their project was selected to the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative, which provides launch opportunities for CubeSats built at U.S. educational institutions and non-profits. That same year, Kim graduated from Harvard and moved overseas to attend the University of Cambridge as a Marshall Scholarship recipient.
By the time their CubeSat was slated for its April 11, 2026, launch, Kim had moved again and was now pursuing her doctorate at Stanford. Fortunately, her Harvard teammates kept her in the loop—and invited her to join them for the launch campaign and early operations phase, a rare opportunity to engage directly with a flight mission during its most critical operation window.
“It felt like a full-circle moment, seeing the fruition of a project that began during my undergraduate studies. This was exactly the kind of operational perspective I needed.”
Astronauts at the ISS will release her team’s CubeSat into space in late June, where it will orbit and gather data for up to two years. “I’m excited to connect my current satellite trajectory modeling work with real mission data, to help validate my assumptions and identify new directions for applied research,” Kim says.
Dubbed “HUCSat” by her Harvard University team, their CubeSat measures 10 by 10 by 20 centimeters, making it a 2U CubeSat. It carries a payload that will test how nitinol, a “shape-memory alloy” that changes shape when heated, performs as a low-cost, low-power method for solar panel actuation and acts as a potential alternative to traditional motorized pointing systems.
“It felt like a full-circle moment, seeing the fruition of a project that began during my undergraduate studies,” Kim says. “It gave me a firsthand understanding of the challenges that satellite operators face every day. This was exactly the kind of operational perspective I needed to build better algorithms in my current work for spacecraft collision avoidance and traffic coordination. And it was really helpful to expand my network within the small satellite and mission operations community.”
The travel fund helped Kim with the cross-country flights, extra lodging days needed when the launch was delayed, and access to viewing locations at NASA. And it became the catalyst for so much more.
2. National Labs Entrepreneurship Academy
University of California Livermore Collaboration Center
Livermore, CA
April 14-17
After launching her satellite, Kim traveled back to the Bay Area to launch a business—or at least, learn how to pitch one. At the National Labs Entrepreneurship Academy (NLEA) in Livermore, Kim joined 42 working scientists and engineers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Sandia National Laboratories for four days learning to think like founders. Kim was one of four in-school Hertz Fellows to attend, including Rod Bayliss, Jeff Brown, and Drew Langford.
Kim acknowledges that at Stanford, with its location in and alumni connections to Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship is already top of mind. But at the intensive NLEA program, she gained practical experience geared specifically for researchers—helping them assess the viability of their ideas, “de-risk” their approach through small experiments, and translate their technical expertise into commercial success.
“Through their partnership with LLNL, the Hertz Foundation provided access and funding that made all the difference. It’s continued to open doors for me.”
For her practice pitch at the NLEA, Kim applied her current research in space operations and was able to reference her recent experience at Cape Canaveral. Her pitch deck, Decision Intelligence for Satellite Operations, earned positive feedback and an unexpected discovery: You don’t have to win over everyone in the room. “You only need one yes,” she says. “That was an empowering realization for me.” She now has a promising idea she can build on.
Kim acknowledges that without Hertz Foundation support, the NLEA may have been cost-prohibitive for her as a student. “In fact, I may not have even had it on my radar,” she says. “Through their partnership with LLNL, the Hertz Foundation provided access and funding that made all the difference. It’s continued to open doors for me.”
New opportunities for conferences and internships continue to come her way, thanks to the connections she made at the NLEA.
3. Hertz West Coast Retreat
Rancho San Gregorio
Half Moon Bay, CA
April 17-19
At Rancho San Gregorio, Kim’s life slowed down to a tractor’s pace—if only for a weekend. There, about two dozen in-school and early-career Hertz Fellows gathered for the annual West Coast Retreat.
Owned by founder, builder, and investor Hertz Fellow Daniel Theobald , this 127-acre working research farm touts rainbow-colored chicken eggs, regenerative agriculture, and robots. With a diverse team that includes farmers and engineers, Theobald is working to advance sustainable agriculture through innovative technology. “They have a chicken coop on wheels,” says Kim, nodding to the farm’s practice of rotational grazing, as a way to improve soil health, pasture productivity, animal performance, and long-term farm resilience.
Housed in yurts and surrounded by livestock, the Fellows enjoyed summer-camp-inspired activities from pottery and music to horseback riding and even a mini-engineering challenge using tiny excavators to scoop macaroni and beans. It was a rare and welcome opportunity to relax, play, and think differently.
“At the ranch, I remembered how much I loved hands-on work like this. Having been in a global ecology program in high school, I was excited when Daniel spontaneously offered any fellows who wanted the chance to experiment a few acres of land for research,” says Kim. She notes broader interests in ecological systems, including how autonomous robotic manipulators could eventually support agricultural tasks such as monitoring and harvesting, with potential applications for sustaining human activity in space environments.
“Opportunities can come from casual conversations and unexpected places,” she says of her experience with the Hertz Community. “And it’s up to us to take advantage of those opportunities when they arise.”
Kim is excited to explore and deepen the connections she made on her travels, learn from others, and follow her ideas wherever they might lead. “In just two weeks, I’ve found multiple new trajectories for my research and career. Before, I’d just assumed I’d go into industry after finishing my PhD,” she says. “But now, thanks to the experience I’ve gained and the connections I’ve made, I feel like anything’s possible.”
Kim wrapped up her travels in time to attend the 2026 Student and Alumni Awards Reception back at the Stanford campus. There, she received the Community Impact Award for demonstrating “a sincere commitment to community through involvement, leadership, and extraordinary Stanford spirit.”
“Opportunities can come from casual conversations and unexpected places,” she says of her experience with the Hertz Community. “And it’s up to us to take advantage of those opportunities when they arise.”
Learn more about the Hertz Foundation Travel Fund and request an application here starting July 1.
About the Hertz Foundation
The Hertz Foundation is the nation’s preeminent nonprofit organization committed to advancing American scientific and technological leadership. For more than 60 years, it has stood as an unwavering pillar of independent support through the renowned Hertz Fellowship, cultivating a multidisciplinary network of innovators whose work has positively impacted millions of lives. Learn more at hertzfoundation.org.
