Minduli Wijayatunga, who will join the Department of Aerospace Engineering as an assistant professor in August of next year, was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science, 2026. Her work focuses on building algorithms for the next generation of spacecraft. She is developing technology that lets spacecraft perceive their surroundings and even nudge hazardous asteroids off course.
Written by Debra Levey Larson
Minduli Wijayatunga
Minduli Wijayatunga, who will join the Department of Aerospace Engineering as an assistant professor in August, was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science, 2026.
Wijayatunga’s work focuses on building algorithms for the next generation of spacecraft. She is developing technology that lets spacecraft perceive their surroundings and even nudge hazardous asteroids off course.
“I’m particularly interested in rendezvous proximity operations and finding solutions to the space debris problem,” Wijayatunga said. “I’m working to develop intelligent, safe and sustainable autonomous systems for space exploration, space debris removal, and proximity operations.”
Wijayatunga earned a Bachelor of Engineering Honours and Bachelor of Science in aerospace, physics and mathematics from the University of Sydney in 2020 and her Ph.D. from the University of Auckland in astrodynamics in 2024. She is currently a visiting scientist at MIT before joining The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the fall of 2026.