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Erika Wagner PhD

Sr. Director for Emerging Space Markets

Erika Wagner is an engineer, program manager, and business professional with a strong interdisciplinary background in aerospace and biomedical engineering, focusing on innovation and addressing humanity's grand challenges.

She has research expertise in vestibular physiology, bone biomechanics, organizational innovation, and prize theory.

Erika built the X PRIZE Lab @ MIT and transitioned to Senior Director of Exploration Prize Development at the X PRIZE Foundation, managing competition designs in space, sea, and advanced transportation.

Currently, she is in the commercial space industry, facilitating communication between scientists, engineers, and the public, with a keen interest in human spaceflight and its opportunities for research, education, and the arts.

Erika is a prominent public speaker on commercial spaceflight, innovation, and STEM/STEAM, specializing in exploration, aerospace medicine, commercial spaceflight, innovation, and prize theory.

Her educational background includes studying Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard/MIT, an Executive Program at Singularity University, and Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at MIT.

She has held roles at BLUE ORIGIN, the X PRIZE Foundation, and other organizations, and has been involved in various speaking engagements and educational programs in the space industry.

Highlights

Sep 3 · linkedin

There is something about launches... Truly a time outside of time. A team humming together in synchrony. The grandeur of the West Texas skies and the majesty of sunrise over the desert. Ingenuity and power and passion and sweat harnessed to carry lifelong dreams up to the blackest blackness of space. And always the views of our home planet -- a blue, brown, green, white oasis in that vastness.

So grateful for the chance to be a small part of these massive moments with such a fantastic team and crew.

Aug 28 · linkedin

What an extraordinary weekend!

Had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be down on the pitch for the Seattle Reign FC pregame, as the club retired jersey #15 for the Queen, Megan Rapinoe, an absolute sporting icon and unstoppable champion for equality. (PLUS we got to cheer on an incredible late-breaking win ⚽ , and rock out to friends in the Reign City Riot! 🎵)

To share some powerful words from this amazing leader: "Real change lies within all of us. It is in the choices we make every day. It's in how we talk, who we hire, and what we permit others to say in our presence. It's in reading more, thinking more, considering a different perspective. At its simplest, it's in whether we're willing to spend even five minutes a day thinking about how we can make the world better." — Megan Rapinoe, One Life

Erika Wagner PhD
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Location

Seattle, Washington, United States