As a STEM-oriented community, Space Girls is dedicated to inspiring women and girls to see how science, technology, and determination can shape not only the future — but the world they live in.
Today, we’re spotlighting a woman who’s doing just that:
Rochelle Schneider, Copernicus & DestinE Ecosystem Operations Engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA), where she’s leading one of the most ambitious digital climate projects in Europe.
Rochelle is leading the onboarding of next-generation climate services into the DestinE platform — a bold initiative to create digital twins of the Earth that combine satellite data, climate models, and artificial intelligence. 🌍
These tools are designed to support governments and communities in anticipating climate risks and building resilience.
She engineers the ecosystem that makes this possible: integrating advanced climate applications, coordinating ESA’s tenders, and bringing together a network of innovators, institutions, and funding sources around a shared mission — actionable climate intelligence at planetary scale.
Before her current role, Rochelle led AI applications at ESA’s Φ-lab, where she architected machine learning tools for environmental challenges.
One of her standout achievements is a cloud-based system to forecast dengue outbreaks in Brazil and Peru, developed in partnership with UNICEF and recognized by the 2023 Wellcome Trust Foundation Award and published in Nature Portfolio. (https://lnkd.in/dY6fKv8a)
Her work has also earned:
🏆 UNICEF Best of Research Award (2022) – for innovation, scalability, and policy impact (https://lnkd.in/dUnnyVKs)
🏆 UNESCO IRCAI Award (2021) – among the top 100 global AI solutions for the SDGs (https://lnkd.in/dJb6iuHy)
Rochelle isn’t just working with climate data — she’s building the digital infrastructure that could define how the world responds to climate change. Her journey shows how STEM careers can be strategic, global, and deeply meaningful. She’s proof that when science meets purpose, it becomes a powerful tool for change.
But just as importantly, she’s paving the way for young girls and women in hashtag#STEM — proving that leadership in space and climate isn’t just possible, it’s essential. Her story shows that you don’t have to choose between tech and impact — you can do both, at the highest level.
