Matthew Werneken is a senior in Mechanical Engineering from Palm Harbor, Florida. He will be completing a secondary Bachelor’s in Astrophysics from Columbia College next year, before pursuing a PhD focused on developing space-based telescopes and instrumentation. Matthew is an Egleston Scholar, Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, named one of Aviation Week's 20 Twenties Aerospace Leaders, and previously designed multiple tools for testing in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. As Co-President of the Columbia Space Initiative (CSI), Matthew led the organization of public events including a live video call with the International Space Station and “Are You Smarter than an Astronaut?” trivia with 2 NASA astronauts, notably expanded career and outreach engagement, and prioritized building a welcoming and inclusive student community. He is a founder of the LIONESS mission, Columbia’s first student-led satellite funded for launch by NASA, which incorporates his work in astrophysical instrumentation research.