- Responsive Environments
Leonie is currently a Visiting PhD Student in Prof. Joseph A. Paradiso's Responsive Environments group and is pursuing her PhD in Mechanical Engineering and Human Systems Integration at RWTH Aachen.Leonie’s PhD is a collaboration between the European Astronaut Center (EAC) of the European Space Agency (ESA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and RWTH Aachen.
Her PhD research focuses on utilizing augmented reality to enhance astronaut situational awareness and safety during future lunar spacewalks. Additionally, she is developing a personal astronaut assistant based on artificial intelligence, particularly using Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs, integrated with AR technology. Leonie is also exploring new human-centered methods to design and test technologies for future (human) spaceflight missions using virtual reality environments.
As part of the Space Exploration Initiative at MIT, she is involved in the design and development of a mission control tool for the upcoming lunar IM-2 mission. She is also investigating how mixed reality technologies could mitigate time delays between mission control and astronauts or rovers.
Leonie holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Psychology from Maastricht University, as well as a master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Siegen University.
She is especially passionate about the future of spaceflight, human-centered AI, VR/AR, and human-machine interfaces, including brain-computer interfaces, electromyography, and haptics.