Dave Laygo is a Ph.D. student and an inaugural Chancellor’s National Academy Fellow in Texas A&M’s Aerospace Engineering department. His research interests focus on mitigating spaceflight-induced musculoskeletal and cardiovascular deconditioning by investigating the dose-effectiveness of countermeasure methods such as short-radius centrifugation and lower body negative pressure. He also seeks to develop novel countermeasure technology that could simultaneously be used to inform and address terrestrial health conditions that share physiological parallels with spaceflight-induced changes.Dave received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. He was heavily involved with the Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) at UCSD, where he contributed to the development of a liquid bi-propellant sounding rocket. Additionally, he conducted undergraduate research to improve space sustainability and became a founding engineer for a spaceflight-enabled biotechnology startup. Beyond the lab, Dave enjoys playing the guitar, staying active with weightlifting and grappling sports, and fulfilling “side quests.”