Mariko Burgin receives ECE Alumni Rising Star Award

Mariko Burgin (MSE PhD EE ‘11 ‘14) was honored with the 2024 Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Alumni Rising Star Award, which recognizes ECE alumni who have achieved early success within their careers. 

She gave an award lecture on campus, entitled “An Engineer’s Journey: Exploring Earth, Mars, and Beyond, Together,” where she shared experiences from her career and emphasized the importance of community-building. Burgin is currently a Senior Technical Manager in the Space Resources Program at Blue Origin and the 2023-2024 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) President.

Burgin moved to Michigan from her home country of Switzerland, after earning a master’s degree in information technology and electrical engineering from ETH Zurich. As a graduate student in ECE, she studied with former Prof. Mahta Moghaddam and Prof. Emeritus Fawwaz Ulaby in the Radiation Laboratory (AKA RADLAB). During her PhD, she worked on the soil moisture active passive (SMAP) mission which takes global measurements of the soil moisture on Earth’s surface from space.

“I actually saw the launch in Vandenberg. It was so exciting,” Burgin recalled. “It’s still a massive feat, I think, that the huge, six-meter antenna deployed correctly, it powered on, and the first data was coming in. And then came the unexpected thing: SMAP’s radar failed.”

A failure review board determined that the radar failed because the satellite flew through the South Atlantic Anomaly—a “pothole in space” that can cause electronics to fail. For Burgin, this was a big disappointment because she was planning on using SMAP’s radar data; instead, she had to make other plans for her work. This unexpected failure taught her a lesson that she now shares with students and early-career mentees.

“When it comes to space missions, this is the stuff that’s hard to stomach,” Burgin said, “but it’s the type of thing that is good to know. You build your careers on things that sometimes don’t go right. The good news is, as it always is, that people find ways to recover.”

After graduating, Burgin joined the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and worked first as a scientist and then systems engineer on mission formulation, the process of bringing new mission ideas to life. She is especially interested in the first steps of developing and maturing new mission concepts, where one has to quickly move from crazy ideas to initial feasibility to tradespace exploration, and then point design. Many missions are based on decadal surveys that detail the current state of the field and summarize community priorities. 

As the lead for the Mars Sample Return Break-The-Chain Domain, Burgin worked with a team to come up with engineering solutions to bring samples of rocks and soil from Mars back to Earth to examine for any proof of ancient Martian life. Although you may imagine something reminiscent of WALL-E, like a Mars rover scooping up a shovelful of dirt and flying it back to Earth, many strict rules exist to protect both Mars and Earth. So-called “forward and backward planetary protection rules” ensure that anything 50 µm or smaller is controlled, sterilized, and contained—which, Burgin said, is trickier than you might think.

Now, she works at Blue Origin in the Space Resources Program, where a team of technologists and engineers are maturing technology to manufacture solar cells with “zero carbon emissions, no water, and no toxic ingredients or other chemicals.” This technology has the potential to “make [electrical] power systems on the Moon directly from materials that exist everywhere on the surface.”

Throughout her career, Burgin has been passionate about building community, mentoring, and “paying it forward,” especially through the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS).

“I first joined IEEE GRSS as a graduate student because I had a paper accepted at the conference and my advisor told me to sign up for the reduced registration fee,” Burgin said, chuckling at the memory, “but I have to say, it soon became my technical home. And, long story short, I became the youngest IEEE GRSS President last year.”

In this capacity, and as the founder of the Society’s Women Mentoring Women program, Burgin aims to foster a culture of inclusivity and respect.

“I want a vibrant community. I want to make sure that everyone feels welcome and belongs,” she said. “Yes, IEEE GRSS is about publications, about conferences, about technical excellence, but it’s also important to make sure that everyone can contribute and make the space their own.”