People

Abigail Andrews is a Junior Aerospace Engineering student and was raised in Troy, TX. Andrews has a passion for both aviation and design. She received her private pilot certificate in January of 2021 and her instrument rating in August 2023. Andrews has been a member of VSCL since 2023, and is excited to further her passion for aviation through flight research.

Ishaan Bansal

Ishaan Bansal is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering with Engineering Honors Texas A&M University. He is also minoring in computer science and entrepreneurship and expects to graduate in December 2027. He is interested in dynamics, controls, and space systems, and is currently a member of the Avionics subteam on the Rocket Engine Design Team. His broader goals include integrating software and hardware to solve complex aerospace challenges, both in industry and through future entrepreneurial efforts.
After joining VSCL in Spring of 2025, he is working on applying imitation learning and reinforcement learning to autonomous flight systems, with a focus on real-time control and decision-making. He also contributes to ongoing hexacopter research, supporting navigation and control development. His work at the lab reflects his passion for autonomy, machine learning, and the future of intelligent aerospace systems.

Allison Barnes

Allison Barnes is a freshman from Odessa, Texas pursing a Bachelors of Science in Engineering. She is interested in pursuing project management within the aerospace industry. Barnes is looking forward to becoming more involved in VSCL and is excited to start pursuing her passion for flight testing and research. Prior to joining VSCL, she interned at a lab at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

Jillian Bennett

bennett01@tamu.edu

Jillian Bennett, a member of VSCL since March of 2023, graduated in May of 2023 with her Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and Minor in Mathematics. She will complete her M.S. in Aerospace Engineering with the VSCL this May and continue onto her PhD with the lab in the Fall of 2025. As an undergrad, Jillian was an active member of the Aerospace Ambassador program, becoming lead ambassador her senior year. She also welcomed freshmen to Texas A&M as a Fish Camp chair in the Summer of 2022. Additionally, in the Summer of 2022 she was the recipient of the Undergraduate Student Research Grant from Texas A&M. She has interned with Los Alamos National Laboratory and TAMU Material Science and Engineering, working on characterizing impacted materials. She has changed paths, gaining an interest in flight test engineering, reinforcement learning, and adaptive controls. She is working on her thesis project with the Office of Naval Research on Adaptive Control for Multiple Time Scale Systems. This summer, Jillian will intern with the Naval Research Laboratory in Maryland, continuing her research on adaptive, multiple time scale control. She is a two time recipient of the Aerospace Graduate Excellence Fellowship.

Sadie Binz

Sadie Binz is a junior majoring in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in mathematics. She is a member of Sigma Gamma Tau Aerospace Engineering Honor Society and SAE Aero Design Team. Sadie has interned at Bell Helicopter with the Flight Technology team during flight testing of the Bell 525 Relentless, and she is excited to intern at Bell again in the summer. From this experience, Sadie developed an interest in flight testing and hopes to get her private pilot’s license in the future.

Payton Clem

Payton Clem is a second-year Master of Science student in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, working in the Vehicle Stability and Controls Laboratory (VSCL). She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, with minors in Mathematics and Astrophysics, in Fall 2023.
During her undergraduate studies in Dr. Daniel Selva’s SEAKERS lab, she contributed to a NASA SBIR project on systems engineering and led a capstone team designing a satellite constellation for L3Harris. Her interest in artificial intelligence applications in aerospace engineering led her to join VSCL.
At VSCL, her research primarily involves developing a reinforcement learning controller for a target tracking problem involving a hostile target, with environmental factors like wind and sun incorporated for concealment (Robust Threat Detection, sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory). She is also contributing to the Cycle of Learning project, also sponsored by ARL, which investigates leveraging human modalities in AI training.
Through these projects and her broader work in the lab, she has gained extensive experience in conducting and managing flight tests to validate her research. Her primary interests lie in autonomous, nonlinear guidance, navigation, and control for aerial systems, as well as flight testing.

Zachary Curtis

Zachary Curtis graduated from Utah Tech, in May 2024 with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. Throughout his undergraduate years, he pursued various internships to broaden his practical experience. At RAM Aviation Space & Defense, he interned within the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) group, the prototyping lab, and the controls engineer group, gaining insights into different facets of mechanical engineering. Additionally, he had the opportunity to intern at Baxter Aerospace, a consulting group, where he worked as a mechanical engineer specializing in designing liquid nitrogen baths for application in nuclear fusion research. Furthermore, during his junior year he engaged in research activities at Utah Tech under the guidance of PhD Monty Kennedy, focusing on Shock and Vibration testing. This involved utilizing the NASA-sponsored Shock Sat testing device to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field of shock testing on spacecraft.

Chantz Elliott

Chantz Elliott graduated in Spring of 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and a minor in Computer Science. He has been an active member of VSCL since Fall of 2023, working on flight test validation of small fixed-wing aircraft at RELLIS. Chantz interned at Air Tractor during the summer of 2023 and will be interning at Scaled Composites for the summer of 2024 before returning to Texas A&M to pursue a Master of Engineering in Aerospace Engineering.

Laura Escamilla

Laura Escamilla is a sophomore specializing in Applied Mathematics Computational Science and has been an active member of VSCL since Spring 2022. Laura possesses hands-on experience, having actively participated in multiple test flights in handling small fixed-wing aircraft at RELLIS. In addition, Laura interned at VSCL in summer 0f 2023 where she worked using Vector Nav technology to calibrate servos on small fixed-wing vehicles. Laura also had testing at Texas A&M University Oran W. Nick Low-Speed Wind Tunnel, where she got to experience a real-world testing environment. With a profound interest in Computer Science, flight testing, and embedded systems, she consistently seeks opportunities to bridge theory and application.

Gabriel Eskridge

gabriel_shun@tamu.edu

Gabriel Eskridge is a class of 2026 Engineering major hoping to pursue Aerospace Engineering. He has been an active member of VSCL since Fall of 2022 working on the Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) project.