Caring for Earth while reaching for the stars
In this episode of Imagine A World, a podcast by Knight-Hennessy Scholars, Sydney Hunt (2023 cohort) and Ashley Yeh (2024 cohort) interview Alina Santander Vinokurova (2024 cohort). Alina imagines a world where the aerospace industry serves both humanity and Earth equally. She shares about her journey from growing up in Bolivia to pursuing a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford. She also reflects on how climate crises like the Amazon wildfires shaped her vision for an aerospace industry that not only advances exploration but also protects our planet.
Guest
Alina Santander Vinokurova, from La Paz, Bolivia, studied mechatronic engineering at Vaughn College and physics at Universidad Mayor de San Andres. She is pursuing a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford. She started her STEM journey by winning medals in scientific competitions and representing Bolivia internationally. She was the first Bolivian to participate in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, earning several awards. She also received the 20 Twenties Award and the Brooke Owens Fellowship, which underscore her contributions to the aerospace field.
With professional experiences at InstaHub, Honeywell, and Zipline International, Alina is preparing to further her impact in the aerospace industry. One of her goals is to create opportunities for aspiring Latin American youth in STEM fields and to encourage more women to join the ranks of innovators and pioneers.
Imagine A World team
Imagine A World's theme music was composed and recorded by Taylor Goss (2021 cohort). The podcast was originally conceived and led by Briana Mullen (2020 cohort), Taylor Goss, and Willie Thompson (2022 cohort), along with Daniel Gajardo (2020 cohort) and Jordan Conger (2020 cohort).
Knight-Hennessy scholars represent a vast array of cultures, perspectives, and experiences. While we as an organization are committed to elevating their voices, the views expressed are those of the scholars, and not necessarily those of KHS.
Full transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated by machine and lightly edited by humans. They may contain errors.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I realized that there was other things around me that were happening here at Earth, in our own little spaceship. 2019 hit and there were fires in my country and Brazil like the Amazonas forest. And I don't know why, but that impacted me so much. And I started thinking, why are we trying to colonize other planets when we're not able to take care of our own?
[foreign language 00:01:03]
Hello, my name is Alina Santander. I am part of the 2024 cohort, and I am a student in the AeroAstro department, second year masters. I imagine a world where the aerospace industry serves humans and the planet equally.
Sydney Hunt:
Welcome to the Imagine A World podcast from Knight-Hennessy Scholars. We are here to give you a glimpse into the Knight-Hennessy Scholar community of graduate students spanning all seven Stanford schools including business, education, engineering, humanities, law, medicine, and sustainability. In each episode, we talk with scholars about the world they imagine and what they are doing to bring it to life.
Today, we're diving into a topic that's incredibly close to both my heart and Ashley's heart, women in STEM. We also learn how to reimagine what it means to explore outer space while simultaneously taking care of our home planet. Ashley and I speak with Alina, a second year scholar in Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics program. Alina grew up in Bolivia and she's been breaking barriers left and right, from becoming the first Bolivian to participate in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge to receiving the Brooke Owens Fellowship.
Stay tuned to hear Alina's unique perspective on how the aerospace industry can serve both humanity and Mother Earth equally, and her passionate work to create pathways for more women and Latin American youth in STEM. Plus, you might just hear about the best Bolivian food along the way.
Hi everyone. Welcome back to season three of Imagine A World. My name is Sydney Hunt and I am a now third year PhD candidate in electrical engineering. I'm a member of the 2023 Knight-Hennessy Scholars cohort. And today, I feel really empowered by a room full of women in STEM. We have a great episode for you coming up. This is a very special season to me because it's the first season without Willie and Taylor, who are the original co-host creators of this podcast. They have both graduated and are off changing the world in their respective ways.
But while they will be missed, we have a great new members, or I guess great new team that is going to continue to bring you the amazing podcast that it is. So my other co-host who you might have heard in some episodes last season is Ashley, if you want to go ahead and introduce yourself.
Ashley Yeh:
Hi everyone. Yeah, I'm Ashley. You may have heard me before. I am a now second year neuroscience PhD student, and I am a member of the 2024 Knight-Hennessy cohort. And I'm super excited to be here, especially because Alina is also 2024 cohort. So fellow cohort mate, I'm very excited.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Representing.
Ashley Yeh:
And yeah, we're currently recording in the middle of summer in July. So everyone has big travel plans. I'm just wondering what are you up to, Alina?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, July is my month. It's actually my birthday month as well.
Sydney Hunt:
Happy birthday.
Ashley Yeh:
Happy birthday.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
So it's my favorite month in the year, and there are big plans. Right now I'm finishing one of the programs that Stanford is offering here in the GSB school. It's called Stanford Ignite. But what I'm most excited about is the trips I have right after that. So first, I'm going to Arizona for my first country concert. I recently got into country.
Ashley Yeh:
First country concert.
Sydney Hunt:
Nice, who is the artist?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
The artist is Morgan Wallen, troublemaker but he has a really good song. And I got into that because of my husband, so it's going to be like a present/both enjoying it. So that's something I'm really looking forward to.
And then the special trip that I've been planning for almost four years now is going back to Bolivia, my home country. I haven't been there in four years because of different things. COVID happened and visa situation and all that. So super excited to go back home, savor the food, be with... Funny how I say that first before like see my family and friends, but I'm really excited.
Sydney Hunt:
But food is important.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, exactly. It's a huge part. It's also a huge part of the culture. And I'm also taking my husband for the first time there, and I feel like he's going to be able to connect the dots finally and see why I am the way I am and maybe learn a little bit more about me the way I've been learning about him while being here.
So there's that. And then KH also offers this global trips where they pick a location and you go with a purpose, usually with a faculty member to explore the country. And so I'm doing that with New Zealand.
Sydney Hunt:
Awesome.
Ashley Yeh:
So exciting.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
So many plans.
Sydney Hunt:
Busy summer.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
How about you guys?
Sydney Hunt:
I did my first backpacking trip a couple of weeks ago with, I guess another trip with KH people. So my fellow cohort mate, Will Dwyer, who is on episode, I think 15 of the pod, he and his partner Zed are very avid backpackers. And I was very new, but they took me under their wing and we flew to Montana and did a trip as like the end of the year, I guess celebration. And then I have a San Diego reunion with some friends in August. And then I'll visit my sister in LA, hopefully in two weeks. I think I'm going to drive down. She's interning there. So a lot of West Coast travel.
Ashley Yeh:
Wow.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
That's beautiful.
Sydney Hunt:
It's really nice. I know. I feel like I'm betraying New York for all my life. So I went to college on the East Coast too, but I'm excited. I think it'll be really fun. My friends from undergrad, my senior design team in our senior capstone project all visited this past week in 4th of July. And so that was really fun, got to show them around. They all flew from the East Coast, so I feel very loved and very grateful.
And we also, similar to you, had amazing food. So the first thing when they said we were planning, the first thing I started planning was which restaurant to go to.
Ashley Yeh:
As you should.
Sydney Hunt:
Yeah. Because I feel like food is the most important thing. So yeah. What about you, Ashley? What are you up to this summer?
Ashley Yeh:
I am going to Australia in a few days, which is super exciting. I've never been. And then I am going on a little graduation trip, a late graduation trip with my friends from undergrad.
Sydney Hunt:
Nice.
Ashley Yeh:
We're going to Japan and Singapore.
Sydney Hunt:
Oh my gosh.
Ashley Yeh:
Also, I have a friend's wedding from undergrad this weekend also, so a lot.
Sydney Hunt:
Very busy. Everyone's so busy. Yeah, a lot of travel. A lot of travel. Yeah. I guess when Alina, you think about Bolivia and the food, is there anything that comes to mind that you're most excited to have and experience, and/or maybe your first Bolivian meal that your husband is going to eat in Bolivia?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Just for the listeners, I specifically ask them to ask me those questions, I can tell you. But yes, Bolivia is rich in food and a lot of people don't know that. They think Peru is the one that they should visit for cuisine. But if you travel a little bit more like east, this country has so much to offer, and each little region has their different customs and cultures and ways that they prepare food.
So my favorite though is imagine a dumpling and imagine an empanada. Imagine they get together, they get married and they have children.
Sydney Hunt:
Oh my gosh.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
So those children are called salteñas in Bolivia, and they are empanadas with soup inside. And we have this little game between friends, you get together, you get brunch, you get salteñas. And then you have a little competition to see if you can avoid spilling the soup inside. And if you're able to do that, you're a good kisser.
Sydney Hunt:
Oh my God.
Ashley Yeh:
So there's soup inside.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
There's soup, like a little soupy-
Sydney Hunt:
Dumpling, kind of?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Like a soup dumpling but in an empanada shell.
Sydney Hunt:
An empanada shell. Wow.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
It's bigger than a dumpling. It's the same size as empanada, but it's the combination.
Sydney Hunt:
I want to try this.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Girls, it's the best thing ever. So first thing we're going to do when we land is look for salteñas. And yeah, it's just I miss my mom's food. She does a fusion thing because she comes from a different country, but it's always the mom's food is the best. So I'm really excited to have that. Haven't had it in a while.
Ashley Yeh:
So are your parents currently in Bolivia?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, they're both there. When I came here, I came by myself to do my undergrad. Wasn't expecting to stay here for longer than that. Really didn't know what was coming. But yeah, that was a dream that I always had to study abroad because both my parents did and they were always telling me how great that was, having that independence and being able to live like an adult since you're 18, 19 years old.
And I feel like a lot of people here in the US get it. But back in Bolivia, families are so knit-tied, and there's not this probably international connection, but I was always felt drawn to explore a little more. So that's how I ended up here. But yeah, they're with my sister who's also, she's studying biology, so not related to none of your fields, but she's loving it. And hopefully we can see where we can reunite. I would love to live next to her, I miss her so much.
Ashley Yeh:
She'll study abroad here too.
Sydney Hunt:
Definitely. Yeah. She should come visit. But it feels like you have a lot of different pockets of your life that you're tapping into that I'm excited to hear about. So I guess we can transition to learning more about you and your journey and what you're passionate about and why you believe in this Imagine A World statement. So I guess before we talk about the world you imagine, let's talk about the world you were born into and have experienced thus far, where are you from and what was your journey here.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I love that question. I was born in one of the highest cities in the world. That's actually one of my improbable facts. La Paz, it's 13,000 feet above sea level.
Ashley Yeh:
Oh my gosh, that's high.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Which translates in almost 4,000 meters. So I like to think that I have bigger lungs than the average person because we need more air. But it's such a special place to grow up with because you wake up, you see through your window, and there are mountains full of snow. But then you look down and there's people in the streets and it's like a normal city but it's in the middle of paradise almost. It's beautiful.
I grew up between two cities, LA Paz and Sucre, which both are considered the capitals of Bolivia. They both are different and special in their own ways. Sucre has a lot of history. That's actually where the first, we like to call it grito de independencia, which is like independence scream or where independence started in South America. So a lot of people visited because of it. And yeah, there's a lot of rich, rich history.
And then I did high school in La Paz. It was great. I had a great group of friends. We're still friends which is really nice to just keep in touch with them even after not seeing them for so long.
I also grew up between two cultures. My mom is Russian and when I was growing up, that's how I viewed the world because she would raise us Russian language first. That's what we spoke at home. And mostly, the food was from her heritage and the way she raised us was really, really like Soviet Union, really Russian. So it was a little bit interesting to see how my friends' parents were different in that sense and they were raised differently.
And it didn't create any sense of, I didn't feel different or weird or anything. I just was really paying attention to those differences. But it was really nice because it opened a whole new perspective about on the world that probably my peers didn't have. And I value both those cultures so much. And I think, yeah, I just want to preserve them both. But I'm really, really proud of being Bolivian.
But yeah, so grew up speaking those languages and there's a saying that you live the lives of the languages you speak. So I feel like that also translates a little bit in my experience growing up.
Ashley Yeh:
That's amazing. Similar story, I grew up in Taiwan, but my mom is from Mexico. So I feel like it's so enriching to just the experience of being in a different country like Taiwan, but then also going back home and having this different culture. And then also coming here and then there's a whole new culture associated with being here as well. So I think how was that transition from growing up in Bolivia and family dynamics to coming here, and what went into your decision to come here?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, first of all, I didn't know you were half Latina, but there was a lot of western influence in Bolivia. It wasn't that shocking coming here and seeing how people lived because we also watched TV shows and all those realities. So we were very familiar with the way life was here in the United States. And I started coming here since I was probably 15 and 16 years old for competitions. So when I did my undergrad here, that transition was really smooth in terms of probably culture.
But then there was always the language barrier that I had to work a lot on to be able to understand and think in English and try to have that as my first language, and connection with people also was a huge thing that I had to work on because I wasn't able to communicate probably that fast or the way they were expecting. There was probably this disconnect or this gap. So I had to work a lot on that, how to connect with people whose language I don't fluently speak, or they probably grew up differently, in a completely different setting and probably didn't understand where I was coming from.
In Bolivia, we kiss everyone when we say hi. And here...
Ashley Yeh:
Very different over here.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Especially after college, you only have, and sometimes you just wave, but I miss that physical connection. So I had to learn a little bit to adapt, which could be seen as a good but also a sad thing because it's something that I crave, like that human connection and being close to my friends and people. But also I understand that those boundaries come with the different backgrounds and I should be able to have to respect those.
So yeah, it was interesting that transition was really peculiar, I would say. But then the way of teaching here, for example, a lot of people would ask me the difference between going to college in Bolivia and here in the States because they think maybe here it's better or something. But I haven't seen that difference. If we probably have the same materials, they probably teach us the same way. I would say the only difference is the resources here, you can go to labs and you have the equipment.
Even if it's old, there's still something there. We had to find ways to do tests and try to pay for things and all that. So there was a kind of barrier there that wouldn't allow us to work on research or innovation. But when it comes to the theory, I think it's highly accessible. But that's another part of why I also decided to study abroad and try to expand a little bit on my skills in STEM and try to learn more from environments where innovation was first. That's also one of the reasons why I decided to come here. And I think that answers.
Ashley Yeh:
Yeah. Yeah, that's a beautiful answer. I was also like, I'm just curious with higher education in Bolivia and higher education here, were there any major roadblocks to you in terms of the application process for coming to college here like SATs, ACTs, all of that stuff?
Sydney Hunt:
Yeah, also, what did you study too for the listeners who don't know yet.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I started in Bolivia with physics, and that was a public school. I did that for a year and a half. The application process for me was very smooth because I used to participate in Olympiads, Scientific Olympiads. So if you were to win something at this competition, you had direct access to this public university. And that's how I was able to do that without an exam.
But usually you take an exam to be placed in the university. So if you pass, you go in. If you don't, you try again. So that process was so smooth that it really shocked me all the things I had to do as an international student to apply here in the US. Like you said, SATs, the TOEFL, all of those things that nobody really guides you there. Nobody really tells you this is the way you should do.
I didn't know I had to apply to several colleges. I thought, okay, one and good, we will see. No, here everyone applies to six, seven. They have all options and they weigh them and they apply to scholarships. And that's such a painful process for a lot of international students because we don't know how to navigate this. If you don't have the necessary tools and support, there's no way you are able to know certain things.
So it was kind of gate-kept too, I felt like. And I was trying to change that a little bit. But yeah, taking those exams and trying to navigate the process, applying, paying all the application fees. And I didn't know you could apply for a fee waiver if you didn't make a certain amount of money. Nobody told me that until the last minute. I was like, "Oh my gosh, I could have saved so much money," but that wasn't really a thing.
But once I was here and applying to masters, PhDs and all that, it felt so much better. And of course, all that pain that I went through finally kind of paid off for the next stage.
Sydney Hunt:
How do you feel like... You mentioned that you wanted to change that gatekeeping and the barriers for international students, which it's complicated. It's a lot and I can imagine the difficulties with that because even as a domestic student, I found it very challenging.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Overwhelming.
Sydney Hunt:
So I'm sure as an international student, it was even more overwhelming. What are the ways that you have tried to make that process easier for others and pass your knowledge forward?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, always trying to make myself available. If someone were to ask a question, if someone were to ask for mentorship, I was there as well. I even hosted some events in Bolivia to try to promote an agency that would match you with the university and they would give you automatically a scholarship. And so a lot of people could do it as well.
So those efforts were very early on when I was still doing my undergrad. Actually I didn't mention that, but after doing the undergrad in Bolivia in physics, I realized that I like science and myself. We go together, but it's not the thing that I wanted to do for the rest of my life and realized that engineering was probably a little bit more hands-on, and that I wanted to do something more engineering-wise or space-wise.
So I decided to apply to mechatronics engineering. I know what I just said didn't make sense.
Sydney Hunt:
No, I think it makes sense.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Mechatronics is something a little bit more general and like-
Sydney Hunt:
What is mechatronics?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Very good question. I love this question as well because I think of mechatronics engineers as ducks. They can fly, they can swim, and they can walk. So they know a little bit of everything and they can put it together. So mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and a little bit of controls. And you can think of it as probably robotics engineering. So it's a lot of automation and it's very futuristic. I love that major, but it's definitely something that I'm not focusing on right now in my masters.
So I realized I wanted to do engineering instead of science. And having that opportunity to do an engineering that's a little bit general and goes into so many areas of engineering was amazing because I was able to see what I liked and whatnot and learn a little bit of everything. And I don't know where I was going with this. I was answering...
Sydney Hunt:
Helping other students and your journey, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but I love this too. I think it's all adding to the point of even just for other listeners to hear and understand that sometimes when you read people's bios or resumes, it seems like everything aligned and everything planned out and they knew what they were doing from the start. But I ended up ECE and CS, electrical computer engineering and comp sci and with a gender studies minor. That's what I graduated with in college.
I applied biomedical engineering pre-med with a Spanish minor and it was not a clear journey at all. I switched my major a million times and similarly I feel like it's validating to hear that you also switched a lot and realized before and after undergrad what you're interested in and what would make a joyous life for you. So I think that's really nice to hear.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Because they ask you to do this life-changing decision, take that decision when you're 18 years old. You don't don't know anything.
Sydney Hunt:
You don't know anything.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
You're like, this decision will define the rest of your life. How? You should change the system a little to be like, okay, if you want to change in the future, that's possible. That's not a thing that should be shamed or you shouldn't think less if you do that or you have time to start over if you wanted to. So that's a really nice point that you bring up.
Sydney Hunt:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you ended up getting into aerospace though after. So you have your physics journey and then you realize you want more hands-on stuff, so let's do mechatronics. Where does aerospace come into play?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, aerospace started actually way before all of this. I had a dream at the age of eight and in this dream I was an astronaut, saving the Earth from an alien invasion.
Ashley Yeh:
So cool. Oh my God.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I was the cool kid.
Sydney Hunt:
Those are cool dreams.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
But it really impacted me so much that I started envisioning myself in those scenarios where I was an astronaut and I was going to Mars and helping Earth. So I started daydreaming, and I think my mom's stories about the universe because she's also a huge astronomy nerd. She loves to read a lot about the universe and she was telling me all these stories and they fed this dream of being able to contribute to the aerospace field in any capacity.
I remember writing essays being like, even if I start, I don't know, with the lowest an intern here or shadowing someone, I'll be happy, and then growing from there. And so that dream was always in the background, but that wasn't something available in my country. We don't have aerospace engineering. The closest thing was physics, and that's why I kind of went that route like astronomy. But then soon realized that that calling that I had was something I had to answer.
And when it was finally time to do it here in the US with my master's or PhD, I felt like I was ready. It was the right moment. It was a dream that I wanted to fulfill. And Stanford is actually the best place to do it, one of the best places to do it. And yeah, I don't regret taking all those different paths that took me here because I probably know more about myself and about engineering and about aerospace in ways that probably wouldn't happen if I went straight to aerospace.
And yeah, I feel like the path was right, but that dream was literally since I was like seven, eight years old. So finally living-
Sydney Hunt:
Living the dream. This is an awesome, yeah, it feels like you're literally living your dream. You had a dream and now you're living reality, which is cool. And I'm excited to see the rest of your journey too.
Ashley Yeh:
Yeah, I wish I had a dream that told me what I was going to do at eight years old. That sounds amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. I think like you said, Sydney, it's super interesting to see someone. A lot of times, people don't see how windy the road is to get to whatever you're doing now. I'm just wondering, as someone who is in biology who knows nothing about AeroAstro, what are the kind of things you're working on right now and if you could dream up what you want to do? If you could just snap your fingers, what would it be?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Wow, Ashley, oh my gosh, that's a really wonderful question. So I do see aerospace as an industry that could benefit humanity in the near and long future. And I would love to contribute there in, again, any capacity as long as it serves humans and the planet. But I think this is where it gets a little bit tricky because as I was focusing all my attention and desire into contributing to this industry, I realized that there was other things around me that were happening here on Earth, in our own little spaceship.
2019 hit and there were fires in my country and Brazil, the Amazonas forest. And I don't know why, but that impacted me so much. And I started thinking, why are we trying to colonize other planets when we're not able to take care of our own? That moment was pivotal. I started having this other calling saying like, okay, aerospace is good, it's nice. You're looking at the stars, that's beautiful. But also see where your feet are at. They're in the ground. This is where the humans are, and this is probably where you are going to die.
So really having that realization made me think of ways to combine aerospace with maybe climate tech or make it more eco-friendly. Because right now, let's face it, aerospace is seen as one of the coolest industries. They're like, yeah, you're a rocket scientist, you're probably the coolest person in the room. But think of all the emissions that aerospace is generating, all the money that's being wasted in tests. Well, "wasted" because those are tests, they're meant to fail, but so many resources there and nobody's saying anything.
Probably most people are pointing towards aeronautics like oh yeah, the aviation industry. But no one is saying rockets are polluting or yeah, we're not using our resources the way we should. So I think aerospace is kind of exempt from all those things and I don't think that's right. I think we should also look into that and try to make aerospace, yes, progressive, but at the same time sustainable in a way that yes, while we're looking for other things out there, we're also taking care of the place we're coming from and where we're taking resources in this moment.
So right now, I'm trying to find that specific path and I realized that this whole thing started with wildfires, and the wildfires didn't really happened until I was here. And that was devastating. That caught a lot of attention and a lot of media and I thought, what a "better" moment. But because there's this attention from people on wildfires right now, this is the best time and the most urgent time to work on this.
So right now, I'm trying to work on something related to wildfires, seeing if my skills in aerospace could apply. But even if they don't, I feel like right now I should focus on something related to that. And with Stanford Ignite that I mentioned at the beginning of our talk, I'm trying to build this project with other people where we're trying to make homes more resilient to wildfire by giving homeowners necessary tools and connections so they can harden their homes in order to protect themselves if a fire were to start close to them. And this is not only a problem here in California.
Ashley Yeh:
It's very relevant.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
South America and the world. So with climate change, this is going to get just worse and worse because everything is getting hotter. So very urgent, I feel. And right now my attention is there. I do still love aerospace. That's still in the background. I still want to be an astronaut. That's going to happen, I know it. But I don't think it's as urgent as the other things that we have to pay attention to.
Ashley Yeh:
That is so cool that you work on. I feel like you're working on AeroAstro, but also you know so much about the effects of climate change, the effects of AeroAstro on climate change. And you're working on that and to it feels like you're working, it is just really cool to see.
Sydney Hunt:
I think it's very inspiring as well, yeah. I am one of those people that you mentioned that don't think of rockets, et cetera, having the pollution on the Earth because I feel like I go on Google Flights and buy my ticket and there's a little icon that will say, low carbon emission flight in there.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
You feel so good.
Sydney Hunt:
Okay, yeah, I'm polluting the Earth, but at least a little bit less. And then, yeah, here we are with rockets where there is no Google Flights for rockets and you don't really see the emissions, you don't really see the resources that are invested that might not even get you the outcome that we want.
And I think it's really interesting to feel like that's also a challenge in many industries. I work in a hospital in my lab, and every time we enter a certain room, you have to wear full PPE. And I feel so wasteful all the time because there's sometimes that you have to go in and just do one thing that literally takes five seconds, but you have to put on shoe covers. At least your lab coat is reasonable and your pants. But then you have face shield and face mask and gloves and goggles and all these different things that we just put in biohazard all the time. And that feels like it's not great for the environment.
And so I think you gave me a lot of cool things to reflect on after the episode of the dichotomy between doing science to advance the world and to better help people. My solution is, or my goal of my research is to restore paralysis. The goal of your AeroAstro research is to do X, Y, Z thing. But at the same time, yeah, we are helping people in those ways, but are we actually helping people on an everyday level of this planet and how we take care of it. And what are ways that we can ensure we are respecting Mother Earth while also still doing research that benefits society.
So I know I feel like that was a very, very insightful response. That makes perfect sense to me. Even not as an aerospace engineer, that is not rocket science. Everyone can understand that. At least I hope a lot of people can understand that. As a reminder, her Imagine A World statement is where the... I imagine a world where the aerospace industry serves humans and the planet equally, which I feel like is just really... I agree with that. I hope you make... It's not just going to be you, right? It's like a team effort.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
It's everyone, really. Yeah. There's so many companies right now trying to work on less, what is this SAF, sustainable aviation fuel. Recently heard about them, like 90% less emissions that the current field that they used to.
Ashley Yeh:
90%?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, 90% less.
Sydney Hunt:
Let's use that. Right?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah. But so many people working on these problems, of course when you talk about climate tech, there's a lot of regulation too. And it varies from country to country, from state to state here in the US, even from county to county. So it's sometimes really hard to make those changes when policy is also involved.
So, also politics and all that, those are also skills and knowledge that are so important to learn while you're trying to make change. And I realized that when I was here at Stanford for the first time and I was like, okay, it's not just enough to dream about this and try to make it happen. No, you got to have everyone on your side and you got to make sure you are on the right side.
And yeah, that's sometimes hard to also keep your own moral compass, what is good for Earth and the rest. And then maybe think about, okay, what's good for me? But yeah, that's also probably something we can talk about the startup culture and all those things that you are trying to make money. But at the same time, the climate tech startups are trying to save the world and having that balance is so difficult.
Sydney Hunt:
What are the government, et cetera, regulations. I think about in my field, I work more on the AI side and machine learning algorithms. And I feel like especially in Silicon Valley, there's a lot of talk about there not being regulation on AI, for example. Is there any regulation for aerospace stuff and specifically related to climate change, I guess?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
That, I don't know if there is. But if there is, I probably don't know about it, but there are tons of regulations in aerospace and defense. Those two industries go very hand in hand together, especially here in the US because other countries, that's technology you're supposed to protect.
So regulations on that end, there are infinite. There are also a lot of engineering requirements and things that you have to check in your list when you are planning to develop a new technology. And that's also one thing that apparently a lot of aerospace startups are struggling with, those regulations from government. But related specifically to climate tech, I don't know.
Sydney Hunt:
In this new dream...
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
In my new world.
Sydney Hunt:
In your new world, if there is one rule that you wish people would respect in aerospace, like hey, let's use the fuel for example, that you mentioned was SAF or something. What would be the one thing that you wish could be a new norm, I guess?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I don't know if I have an answer right now. I would honestly, and this is going to be probably, it's going to sound bad, but I would pause all the aerospace industry that's not essential for a little.
Sydney Hunt:
For a little bit, yeah.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Until we get our together... Everything together here on Earth and try to lower emissions. We know we're not going towards a nice future if we don't really take that into consideration. So I would pause that, and I even talked to a professor who's also a philosopher, but he's doing really cool stuff with aerospace. He also told me, if it were up to me, I would completely pause any trips like flights. I would make all the people do things by train. Of course, this is not realistic but this is how he envisions the cutting emissions.
So yeah, I kind of resonate with that as well in the aerospace industry, probably pause non-essential things there, try to maintain everything else. We have also so many satellites that at some point, they are starting to collide with each other and there's this cascade effect where if two satellites collide, they make more space debris. That space debris in turn collides with other satellites that are still functioning, but that creates more space debris.
And so eventually, we could get to this point where we are out of satellites because all of them broke because of this cascade effect.
Sydney Hunt:
And you also polluted the space.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
And you're polluting the space, exactly. That's another huge problem that at some point I wanted to solve, but I was like...
Ashley Yeh:
Start with Earth.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, exactly.
Ashley Yeh:
It sounds like the things you're working on like climate change and AeroAstro, and everything you're doing there requires... And also you mentioned Stanford Ignite and it requires, I guess, group effort by people who have experience in a lot of different fields. And you also mentioned the professor who's a philosopher who also works on AeroAstro, which is a whole another conversation, which is super, super interesting.
And I'm just wondering, so Knight-Hennessy is also a great amazing scholarship program that has people with all sorts of different backgrounds and who study all sorts of different things. So I was wondering if you've been able to find people in KH who care about the things that you care about and have been able to provide more interdisciplinary, I guess, perspective on the issues that you're dealing with.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
That's beautiful. So I didn't come to KH right away with this idea or this plan, so I wasn't talking to everybody about this, but I knew a lot of people work on climate-related stuff. So definitely know if a couple of people, I'm going to think upon some ideas, brainstorm it with them, but that's a beautiful resource that we have here as KH scholars.
Sometimes, you don't realize what amazing things they're working on until you have a sit-down conversation like we're in right now. Same freedom like, hey, what are you working on, what do you care about? And because time is limited too, it's so hard to have those conversations. But when they happen, that's so magical.
And I hope to have a little bit more of those with those folks, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to learn so much from all of them because they also have that experience. I've recently got into this and they've been working on this stuff for years, so real excited to see that. But yeah, that's the beauty of the KH community.
Sydney Hunt:
Was there anything that you experienced within KH once you got here that was surprising to you in a positive way, that could relate to the interdisciplinary collaboration that we've talked about? And Ashley mentioned that could relate to like, I don't know, the Denning House fridge and how it's always stocked with snacks. Before this episode, we all ran upstairs to grab snacks.
Or just Northern California even as a whole, what do you feel like you've gotten out that was a pleasant surprise from KH?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I feel like everybody says that, but the community. But I want to go even deeper and I will say the emotional support that I get from the community. When reading the bios, everyone gets intimidated and they're like, oh my gosh, they're probably... You don't see the human side until you talk to them. And then it's when you realize, oh, we're all human. We're all doing this path together. Even though it might not look the same, we are probably going through similar experiences.
And it's been amazing to people who are probably famous in their country and they're struggling with something that I'm struggling with. And we're both like, oh, okay. So I think that has been incredible, being able to rely on those connections to be able to get this emotional support that sometimes is needed.
Sydney Hunt:
Yeah, KH has by far been one of the most enriching parts of my PhD. I'm really grateful to have it specifically for the emotional support.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah. Wait, I need to ask you guys too. Wait, this is a conversation. Why I...
Sydney Hunt:
No, it's about you. You're going to start today.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
No, but I would love to hear your favorite part or what's something unexpected.
Sydney Hunt:
Yeah, okay. Well, I can say for me, so I... Gosh, it's a hard question to answer without also feeling like I'm saying the same thing that the other community, all of you... It is true. It is the community and it is the people.
I think the most pleasant surprise I had from KH was when I came into it, I interviewed at Immersion weekend. I was 21. I literally hadn't even graduated college at that point, and there were Forbes' 30 Under 30 people. People were married, people had kids, someone was pregnant. I was like, oh my gosh. I guess I saw it more like you said as the space where people are their bios. And then once I actually got accepted and I joined and I came in the fall, I felt much more of the human side, like you said.
But all my close friends, my closest friends at Stanford are all from Knight-Hennessy. Shout out, I guess, Will Dwyer; my plant biologist, like Shaheen; my med student who's going to save the world, like Gianmarco is doing the LLM program and an MPP, so a lawyer. These are all amazing people that I would not have overlapped with in electrical engineering.
But what my actual answer is KH has actually been a safe space for me to try things that I thought were scary on very different levels. So I guess on a, and very recently, yes, I played soccer through high school and I had a lot of fun. Didn't really play a lot in college because of COVID and just scheduling, et cetera, like most of my college was online. But when I came here, I tore my meniscus. I was injured for a while and I didn't play and I was really scared to get back into it.
I also felt like there were very few all-women's leagues, and I was a little bit intimidated of playing with all guys because I'm 5' 2". And yes, I have skills, but when someone is six-foot, there's only so much that you can do. But someone sent in the KH Slack a few weeks ago that they were going to start a summer intramural soccer team. If anyone wanted to join, do you want to? I was very nervous. I was like, you know what? It's been two years at Stanford. I haven't played since I've been here. I am healed. I did all my PT, I did whatever. Let me try it.
And yesterday, we had our first game and I also was the only girl in the field as well, which is something that I thought would bother me, but actually didn't at all. And we ended up losing, which was fine, but I scored a goal and I had an assist. And that to me was really empowering to feel like, wow, I would never have expected that KH was a thing that got me back into soccer after tearing my meniscus, and the simple Slack channel message of someone just asking for teammates was that.
And then on a deeper level, I guess if you listen to my episode, I talk about public speaking, which I found to be very intimidating as well. But through the Dan and Lisa storytelling, I shared the story about my mom and her journey. And then eventually, actually it was for you two, your speaker at Immersion weekend, I did the Intro for Suleika who was the McMurtry Leadership lecturer.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
That was beautiful.
Sydney Hunt:
Thank you. And sharing that story about my mom and her cancer journey and parallels that Suleika had in her book with her cancer journey, I would've not imagined in my Immersion weekend that I would be the speaker the following year.
So very long answer, not to make this about me, it's about you today. But I do think that you're a hundred percent accurate that there is an emotional support and an emotional safety net that if you fall or if you fail, there's going to be someone who catches you in KH, and that's something that's very hard to duplicate elsewhere. Yeah. What about you, Ashley?
Ashley Yeh:
I'm about to say what both of you have already said. But I think yeah, the community, yes, it is my favorite thing. I think I've also always been very interested in... I feel like a big part of, I don't know, me is that I've always had a lot of random interests in very different things. In college, I was really, really into marine biology. I've been into marine biology my whole life, into stuff like astronomy and as well as neuroscience.
And coming here and choosing a PhD program in neuroscience is, and what my biggest fear was, it is very limiting. You are basically forced to tunnel vision yourself into neuroscience for the next six years. And that was something that was really scary to me coming here that I would... I love everyone in my neuroscience cohort, but it's like you're so surrounded by neuroscience every single day. I feel like it was not going to be healthy for me, honestly.
But KH, I think the most exciting thing about KH is that obviously everyone is doing very different things, working in very different fields and has very different sorts of knowledge of different things. And so in our KH cohort, shout out Danny and Daviana who are Oceans PhD students in my year. I met Danny at immersion weekend, and I was really nervous. I didn't really know anyone. And then I said hi to Danny and I was like, what do you study, and he said oceans. And instantly, everything centered around my conversation with him.
We had lunch together and he was talking about all this marine science stuff he's working on. And then there was another, Max who's also another co-host, we ended up having lunch, the three of us, because Max studies CS and he also studies marine mammals. And that was such a core memory for me, sitting under those stairs during immersion weekend just talking about marine mammals. It was so exciting for me.
And I think it made me realize that I don't have to be siloed into one field. I can really, I get lunch with Danny and he's talking about everything he's doing about with coral reef restoration. And it's so, I find that so cool, and it's so amazing that I still get to kind of live vicariously through him, his PhD in oceans. I feel like I'm rooting for him and I think about it sometimes.
So I think that's also been a really valuable part of KH for me. And also growing up in a different country with different cultures, I think just being here and there's so many people here who have lived in different countries and have had such different cultural experiences. And I think when I meet someone who's lived in different country... There's also many people who've lived in Taiwan for several years, and it's such a deep sense of instant understanding. They get everything. It is just something you don't find very often. It's just amazing.
Yesterday, Linda also from 2024 cohort organized a hot pot night for some people from our cohort.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I missed it.
Ashley Yeh:
Yeah, it was great. There's also going to be another one, next week I think. And it is just so great because we realized when we were there, that there was four other people there who were Taiwanese, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
And also just, yeah, again, the community, while our cohort is large, it's like, I don't know, 95 people. I don't talk to everyone all the time, obviously, but I feel like through immersion weekend through day one, through all of the different programming they put us through our first year, even though I don't talk to everyone every day, whoever I run into or see or talk to on a random day, it just feels like we're already really good friends.
At that hot pot night, there are people I haven't seen in months, and it feels like we're just old friends.
Sydney Hunt:
No time has passed.
Ashley Yeh:
Yeah, exactly. It's actually incredible how well they managed to bond us maybe through storytelling. But yeah, again, the community.
Sydney Hunt:
Yes. Yeah. It's not a basic answer. I feel like we always, yeah, everyone who we interview on the pod always. I feel bad that it's the same answer, but I think it shows that people are genuine when they share that, and it's true. And it's felt in different ways by everyone, but it has the same underlying basis. So I feel like that's great.
I guess as we're thinking about KH and how amazing it is, and talking specifically about how maybe at first you see people more for their resume, and then once you actually get to know them, you see we're just humans, I would love to have the listeners learn more about you than just your amazing accomplishments and your resume. So would you want to share some improbable facts with us?
For those who don't know, improbable facts is one of the application questions in the Knight-Hennessy application where you have to list eight improbable facts about yourself. And these are things that are true about you, but people may not necessarily know. They can be very serious. They can be very silly. And yeah.
Alina, would you like to tell?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Okay, oh my gosh. I currently remember two.
Sydney Hunt:
Let me pull up. I have your thing on the portal. We can do that.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I remember one of them was that I was like the Usain Bolt of my class when I was in high school because I was one of the fastest runners.
Sydney Hunt:
That's amazing. Did you run track or just in general?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Just in general. We used to do competitions or I don't know. I think it's called track as well in Bolivia. But yeah, so we used to do competitions and I used to win all the time. I felt so proud. I was like, oh my gosh, this is great. I don't run much anymore, so that's probably not true anymore. One that I love is that I visited all the biggest telescopes in the world.
Sydney Hunt:
Wow.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I like to call them our eyes to the universe. So there are a couple in Chile, different types of telescopes, like radio telescopes or those with the mirrors. The biggest ones are in Chile, but we have one here, or radio telescope in West Virginia. That's always amazing to just go talk to astronomers who are all super tired during the day because they are awake during the night.
Sydney Hunt:
Oh my gosh. That's funny.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
They're nocturnal. I remember one of my friends were like, yeah, I love sleeping. I think that's why I'm not going to be an astronomer. But she loves space, so also super fun. And this is one of my favorites too. I am the conspiracy theory guru. Doesn't mean I believe in them, but I know most of them.
Sydney Hunt:
Oh my gosh. I need to talk to you after about this.
Ashley Yeh:
Interesting.
Sydney Hunt:
We were on a hike recently, actually, another cool KH thing, that Glacier trip I mentioned, the backpacking, and we were entertaining ourselves by talking about conspiracy things.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I love that. I wish I was there.
Sydney Hunt:
Yeah, I know. Next time we'll have you come and spill and share, because I also don't necessarily believe them, but I just find it so fascinating to understand what people are thinking.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Thinking, exactly. Some of them are silly, but some others you're like, start questioning like, is reality real? Is this really the, yeah. So yeah, those are a couple of things that I'll share about my improbable facts. I think the rest can wait.
Ashley Yeh:
That's perfect. I have a question. What is your favorite conspiracy theory? Not something you necessarily believe in, but what's your favorite?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Oh my gosh. I don't know if I'm going to go to jail because of this. Let's see. Okay, so apparently there is this conspiracy theory that Putin died and it's a clone that's in his place, and that the clone died again. And so there's a third person in his place.
Ashley Yeh:
What?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yes. And apparently he died on the day I got married. I don't know if it's my favorite, but it's the one I remember the most because wedding day and then he died.
Ashley Yeh:
What's the connection there?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah. Yeah. So no comments on that. I don't know what's going on, but apparently people believe in that.
Sydney Hunt:
That's a good one. That's a good one. Okay. And then the last thing I'll ask is this is, I know not an improbable fact from the KH application, but I think it is still a cool fact about you. You did a project in Bolivia, right? Called the first aerospace project, I think you said it was called. Do you want to just quickly share what that was?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Absolutely.
Sydney Hunt:
Just real quick.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
That was my whole childhood, I think. Well, adolescence, because I started this project after going on a trip to Germany, and there I learned what they call the NASA Rover Challenge, which is a competition here in Houston. It's aerospace related. You have to build a rover, a mechanical rover, compete with it as if you were on the moon or Mars. And then you have this whole experience of being an astronaut in this competition where you have to do a couple of things, take pictures with the US flag, with the lunar module, and so fun stuff related to that.
And I went as part of an Italian team, and I was like, why am I with the Italians? No, no, I love Italy. I love Italians. But I was like, I want to represent my country. I want my country here. And I was the first Bolivian in this competition, so there was not really much I could do. And then I started thinking about it. I've been pawning this idea with my parents, and I was like, I want to start my first team, the first Bolivian team to compete here.
And so I started that as a teenager. I was working with college students. So you can imagine there was a lot of different challenges there in terms of communication, them thinking I'm a little girl guiding this project. Of course, there was a lot of things that happened. But despite all the challenges, we managed to take the first Bolivian teams. And during our first year, we won the first place for international teams, and then we won other awards too.
And all of that was big in Bolivia, because you don't hear NASA there that often. That for us is like, it's the greatest thing. So when it made it to the news that we were competing there, I had what I call my Taylor Swift moment where Taylor Swift was everywhere like, what, two years ago or something. So that was me in Bolivia.
Sydney Hunt:
You were on TV?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
TVs, newspapers, radio, everyone was calling, we want you here. You should give this conference... Yeah, yeah. Almost even one time someone stopped me in the street and they were like, "You're Alina," like one time.
Ashley Yeh:
That's all you need... That would make the rest of my life.
Sydney Hunt:
Wow. That's so cool.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
That was an amazing time. And I was a teenager soaking that, I guess all those interesting experiences, but it also came with a lot of challenges. A lot of people were questioning, why is she doing that? Why is it a woman? Why are we wasting money on this? And stuff like that. So I had to cope with it like build these skills to be resilient or maybe close my ears to all those bad comments.
But that competition and all those participations that we had build a wave that expanded through Bolivia, like all the cities and even internationally in Latin America. So it was not only us participating as one of the few Latin American teams in this competition. After us came Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, and I think some other country that I cannot remember. But they started because of us, because they saw that a Bolivian team was able to do it. And so they saw that and thought, why not?
And that started that wave and it was amazing. It lasted for a little while with us, started this generation of young people who were interested in STEM, and they started doing other things on their own. So that was a very, very interesting time in life back in Bolivia.
Ashley Yeh:
How old were you when this was happening?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Maybe 16, 17. Yeah, really young. But yeah, I'm going to reminisce on those times for sure. It was amazing.
Sydney Hunt:
That is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. It's very inspiring to see, I feel like, not only women in STEM but underrepresented country as well doing it. So I'm sure for years to come, there'll be a lot of people who decide to take that leap of faith because of seeing you as an example.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah. I think that was the most rewarding part. Even hearing my sister say, you're inspiring me. The fact that you're not stopping and you're doing all those things, I was like, that's all I need. That's all the encouragement I need. And seeing the results of some actions that we took were so positive. It was amazing.
And that's something I want to do again, not for the feeling, of course it feels amazing, but you really want to give back to the community or to the country that gave you so much. And I know what it feels to not have those resources and tools to be able to pursue your dreams, having to leave your country to be able to study something that you want. And I don't want other young people to have to do that and leave everything behind for their dreams when they could do it in their home country and stay there.
So that's another huge part of why I'm still interested in aerospace, trying to bring that industry in Bolivia and try to make Bolivia a contributor in its own way to the aerospace industry.
Sydney Hunt:
That's beautiful.
Ashley Yeh:
I think I have one more question that I think we didn't get to touch on, but I'm very curious about because I know next to nothing about Bolivia, admittedly. So I was wondering, could you just tell us a little bit about starting with where it is on a map and kind of the culture of Bolivia and how it's different from here?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah. Thank you for asking. So Bolivia is in the middle of South America. We don't have access to the ocean. A lot of countries bully us because of that. They're like, "Oh, are you going to the beach?" We're like, "You know we don't have one."
Sydney Hunt:
Oh my gosh.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
We have one of the highest, I think the highest lakes in the world. It's called Lago Titicaca. We have one of the most dangerous roads as well, it's called Camino de la Muerte, the Road of Death. A lot of people die.
Ashley Yeh:
Is it that windy?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
It's very narrow and windy, exactly. You have nothing on one side and mountains on the other. But it's supposed to be a two-way street, but oh my gosh, it was terrible. When I was little, my parents took me there and they were saying that the driver, as he was driving, he was also talking to them like this, and they were so nervous. But that was featured in one of the know Nat Geo or Discovery shows.
We have a beautiful salt plate desert. I think that's the salt plates, that's how you call them. A lot of people love that when it rains, you can not distinguish where the sky and the floor or the ground is because it reflects in such a beautiful way. And there are amazing pictures. We have all kinds of weather from... It goes from valleys to more mountainy to very high altitude. So there's that.
We were probably the first country that grew potatoes. So if you love french fries, you can thank us.
Sydney Hunt:
I do love french fries.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Apparently, and we have a lot of variety of fruits. It's just such a rich country, like so many typical dances, typical food traditions. Very weird traditions too, not going to lie. We sacrifice a lot of animals, not personally, but part of the culture. And it's a mix of different cultures as well because we were colonized. But at the same time, indigenous people were able to preserve their culture.
But there was a mix at some point, so there was this very weird phenomena where people believe both in... They're Catholics but they also are following this mystical traditions and are super superstitious, and it's a wild mix. But you're very welcome to visit.
Ashley Yeh:
I would love to, yeah.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
The invitation is extended, really. It's a beautiful country. People are hospitable and yeah, it's just like you never get tired of exploring. It's really nice country and I really hope more people get to know more about it and visit it.
Ashley Yeh:
Yeah, it sounds amazing. I must go. Maybe it'll be the next KH global travel study trip.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Hopefully we'll make it happen.
Ashley Yeh:
And I'm excited for you to be able to go back after four years.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Yeah, that's going to be amazing. Yeah. I'll keep you guys updated. I'll send pictures.
Sydney Hunt:
Please do, yes. I'm very excited for you.
Ashley Yeh:
Send it to the staff so they can know how beautiful it is and make it...
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Make it happen.
Sydney Hunt:
It's possible. I mean, Tomo, I don't remember exactly what year. Definitely before 2023. He's not my cohort, but he's from Japan and he just planned the global study trip for Japan because he wanted people to see his home country and celebrate all the different things that he finds to be so beautiful. And I believe that was the first one that was led by a student, not KH staff member. Maybe Bolivia is next. Who knows?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Maybe it is. Let's hope.
Sydney Hunt:
I hope so. I hope so. I definitely would sign up for that one. But thank you Alina, so much for sharing your beautiful story about who you are as a person, like the people who've influenced your life, aerospace and your moral compass, the ethics that can pull you in different directions of advancing science and advancing humanity versus taking care of our beautiful Mother Earth.
I really appreciate that, and you gave me so many things to noodle on tonight. I feel like I'm going to be like, yeah, just thinking about this for a long time. So I appreciate you and your vulnerability and the time you shared, time you invested. Thanks, Ashley, also for being great co-host as well. But is there anything else you wanted to share before we wrap up?
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
I just want to thank you both. The questions were beautiful. You are amazing hosts, and you have an incredible voice as well. I love to listen to the both of them. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'd love to listen to them. You should do guided meditation or something, so soothing.
Sydney Hunt:
We'll do that.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
But thank you both and this is incredible and can't wait to listen to the other episodes as well that are coming. So exciting. Thank you for the space.
Ashley Yeh:
Yeah. And thank you so much for coming here. This is going to be a great start to our season three.
Sydney Hunt:
I know. First episode of season three...
Ashley Yeh:
Coming out with a bang. Yeah.
Sydney Hunt:
Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you, Alina. Thank you, listeners, and stay tuned for episode two of season three of Imagine A World. Bye.
Alina Santander Vinokurova:
Bye.
Sydney Hunt:
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Imagine A World where we hear from inspiring members of the KHS community who are making significant contributions in their respective fields, challenging the status quo, and pushing the boundaries of what is possible as they imagine the world they want to see.
Willie Thompson:
This podcast is sponsored by Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University, a multidisciplinary, multicultural graduate fellowship program providing scholars with financial support to pursue graduate studies at Stanford while helping equip them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders who address complex challenges facing the world.
Follow us on social media at Knight-Hennessy, and visit our website at kh.stanford.edu to learn more about the program and our community.