From piloting gliders to pioneering autonomous aircraft for emergency response, Rachel Axten is charting an innovative course in aviation and aerospace engineering. Now a Ph.D. candidate in the Penn State University Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research Laboratory (PURL), Rachel combines her passion for flight with cutting-edge engineering to develop technologies that could revolutionize emergency response operations.
“I have always been interested in the pilot-aircraft interaction,” says Rachel, who holds both a private pilot’s license for single-engine aircraft and considers gliding her favorite flying experience. “Luckily, Penn State is located near excellent spots for ridge soaring, so I plan to work towards that rating next.”
Her journey through aerospace began at Penn State’s Aerospace Department, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. While she initially considered a career as a pilot, her fascination with the technical aspects of flight led her down an engineering path that would allow her to shape the future of aviation technology.
This path has led to her current role as the principal of Penn State’s team in the global GoAERO challenge, where she’s working to develop a new category of emergency response flying vehicles that can overcome the limitations of current-day helicopters and drones.
“My advisor and colleagues at PURL build flight software for uncrewed aircraft systems, so applying that to public safety tasks is exciting,” Rachel explains. “We are especially enthusiastic about this opportunity to demonstrate autonomy that enables robust operation in unknown environments that are currently hazardous to Emergency Medical Services teams.”
Her accomplishments in the field are already substantial. Since 2019, she has competed with a team of Penn State graduate students in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Public Safety Communications Research Division UAS First Responder Challenges, where they have won more than $370,000. These challenges have been related to small UAS across public safety tasks, including search-and-rescue, security, indoor navigation, and 3D mapping.
Aviation runs in Rachel’s family – her father, a retired US Navy Test Pilot who now works as a Test Pilot at Sikorsky Aircraft, helped spark her early interest in flight through small airplane and helicopter rides. These experiences would later influence her specific interest in flight control design.
Throughout her academic journey, Rachel has seized every opportunity to expand her expertise. She participated in a human-powered aircraft project, competed on Penn State's AIAA Design, Build, Fly team, and completed three internships across flight test operations, wind tunnel testing, and satellite guidance, navigation and control. More recently, she's been working on advanced flight control for Advanced Air Mobility aircraft.
Behind her success stands a strong support network, including her family – her parents, husband, and child – and numerous mentors who have guided her path. She credits her high school math and science teachers and Penn State Aerospace Engineering faculty members Dr. Eric Johnson, Dr. Mark Maughmer, and Dr. Namiko Yamamoto for their crucial roles in her development.
Looking ahead, Rachel and her team are focused on developing "an easy-to-operate system with accessible information so that the ground crew is comfortable with the aircraft's health and distance from obstacles. This will enable faster response times, larger payload capacities, and safer operations for all crew members responding to emergencies." 
The increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters drive her team's innovation. "Moving large payloads or providing situational awareness to a ground response team without risking an onboard crew is always critical in these events," she notes. While funding and time management present ongoing challenges for her university team, Rachel remains optimistic, leveraging support from Penn State's Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence.
"Our interaction with public safety partners has been incredibly motivating as we seek to build useful drone products to improve public safety response," Rachel exclaims, embodying the perfect blend of technical expertise and humanitarian vision that drives modern aerospace innovation.
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