Martina Dimoska

Ms. Martina Dimoska is a Bachelor of Material Engineering and Nanotechnology, TMF, UKIM. Throughout her studies she did a lot of volunteering work, participated in a great number of competitions and took part in several exchange programs to further her knowledge and improve her networking opportunities, which enabled her to build a successful path toward space exploration.

 As a Global UGRAD Program Alumna, she was placed at Kent State University, majoring in Aerospace Engineering, supported by World Learning. It is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State which aims to recruit participants from underrepresented backgrounds, who have not had other opportunities to study in the United States. There, Martina was first exposed to and then immersed in the U.S. culture, and she thrived in her academic work, research and prototyping, community outreach, and volunteering. She made her first more serious Space Exploration connections whilst participating in this program, which later launched her towards her current achievements and success.

 Martina is also a Commercial Space Studies Graduate Program Alumna at Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) and a Scholarship winner via the Aldrin Family Foundation. She was the first Macedonian to ever attend this program and her professors and colleagues had the opportunity to learn about the country she comes from and understand the issues that were preventing N. Macedonia from seriously joining the space exploration momentum. As a result, with the help of her colleagues and professors, she devised a plan based on some previous analysis they worked on, of how to include N. Macedonia and bring it closer to space exploration.

Currently, Martina is pursuing the Masters of Space Studies with a Scholarship via the International Space University (ISU). ISU is well diverse and knows how to celebrate different cultures. On that note, because of her participation, the Macedonian flag was set up to honor her as a student, and it was put side by side with flags of other nations for the very first time in those surroundings.

She was recently awarded the Emerging Space Leader Grantee Program by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and she will attend the International Astronautical Congress, held in Paris, France this year. Miss Martina Dimoska will be a part of her Team's Research Project called: ‘Starship: impact on the SatCom industry’. She is also heavily focused on her Individual Research Project titled ‘Setting up a lunar Dust 3D Solar Printer in collaboration with ECAM Strasbourg’. Both will be presented at IAC - IAF, this year.

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is the oldest international space advocacy organization based in Paris and founded in 1951. It has over 390 members from 68 countries across the world. They are drawn from space agencies, companies, universities, professional associations, museums, government organizations, and learned societies. Becoming a distinguished grantee and proclaimed as an Emerging Space Leader is arguably one of the biggest honors a young professional can obtain in the Space Exploration Industry nowadays. Prior to her nomination, IAF showed no records of having N. Macedonia on the list of countries. With her participation, hard work, diligence, outreach, and representation, she single-handedly put N.Macedonia on the space exploration map.

Martina Dimoska is an experienced society shaper and influencer, leading initiatives. She has 8 years of evolution in the hackathon field: taking the role of a participant to a mentor, judge, and host. Miss Martina Dimoska is the current NASA Space Apps Challenge Local Lead for 2022, hosting two prestigious historic locations, Mountain View in Silicon Valley, California, and Cleveland annually partnering with NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio.  In 2021, for the first time ever, there was successful international cooperation among diverse teams from locations all around the world at the NASA Space Apps Challenge in Cleveland. Among those teams, there were Macedonian participants who were either mixing with U.S. participants or participating on their own. One Macedonian team won third place in the hackathon.

Martina enjoys the team dynamics and innovations the disruptive space start-up ecosystem brings. As a freelancer, she is Top Rated Plus on Upwork, working with serious companies from all over the world. Within her initiatives, she brings a lot of international cooperation on board, whether that is within the teams she leads or through the different perspective of thinking both her character and culture offer. She believes that the future of the space sector lies in equal levels of entry that will balance out the field, which could only be achieved through global cooperation and unity.

She is a published research scholar, a talented, multifaceted engineer, a STEM and Space shaper, and a leader of many initiatives. As an overall creative soul, she learns from her mistakes through constant change. Her recurring innovations influence many of the communities she is involved with.