Dr. Simanjuntak is an assistant professor in aviation engineering at International University Liaison Indonesia (IULI), Tangerang. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Institut Teknologi Bandung and a master’s degree from The University of Tokyo, Japan, both in aeronautics and astronautics. His doctoral degree is in space and astronautical science from The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Japan.

As a Fulbright Visiting Scholar, he conducts research on aerospace engineering at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( NASA JPL), particularly in machine learning approaches to advanced space trajectory design. He intends to establish a collaborative research program between Indonesia’s space engineering community and NASA-JPL, transferring advanced methodologies to Indonesia’s growing space sector.