Vandi Verma Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vandi Verma

• Vandi Verma was born in Jamnagar, Gujarat, where her father was stationed as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF).

• Due to her father’s military career, the family frequently relocated across India, living in various small towns near air bases, including Pune, Pathankot, and Halwara in Punjab.

• In an interview, Vandi revealed that her father’s role as an Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot had a significant impact on her early interests. She added that when she was a young child, her father shared interesting stories about airplanes with her, which sparked her curiosity about aviation.

• When she was seven years old, her father gave her several books for her birthday, including one about the solar system that featured Laika, the first dog to travel into space. This gift sparked her passion for exploration, and she started borrowing additional books on the subject from the local library after school.

• In an interview, Verma mentioned that in 1980, Vandi Verma drove her first vehicle, a tractor on her grandfather’s farm.

• In 1985, during her time at the Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2, Halwara, she won an mbroidery contest. In an interview, she said,

 I was fascinated with artistic skills people had; even today I know there’s quite a bit of art to science.”

• When she was in high school, she developed a strong interest in mathematics, and to solve advanced problems in mathematics, she frequently visited a family friend who was an engineer.

• For her bachelor’s degree, she enrolled at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, which was close to her father’s post in Halwara, Ludhiana, because her mother wanted her stay close to the family.

• In 1994, Vandi Verma moved to the USA, where she earned a scholarship to study computer science at American University, Washington.

• In 1998, she earned her private pilot’s license.

• In 1998, after completing her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, she moved to the USA to earn a master’s in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), followed by a PhD in robotics from CMU in 2005, with a thesis entitled Tractable Particle Filters for Robot Fault Diagnosis.

• During her time at CMU, she developed an interest in robotics in unknown environments. She was also involved in a 3-year astrobiology experimental station in the Atacama Desert. The desert was chosen because of the similarities between its hostile environment and the surface of Mars.

• She also won a competition to create a robot to navigate a maze and collect balloons.

• After completing her master’s, her first job was at Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, as a research scientist.

• In 2006, Verma co-wrote an open-source programming language, PLEXIL, which is now used in various automation technologies.

• In 2007, Vandi joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a robotic scientist. She has worked there for 15 years.

• During her time at JPL, Verma frequently participates in JPL’s open house events at the lab and online as a science communicator to encourage children (and particularly girls) into STEM careers. She also led JPL’s Autonomous Systems, Mobility, and Robotic Systems group.
  

  Vandi Verma, with some young students

• In 2008, she began her career as a Mars rover driver and has operated all three rovers: MER-A Spirit, MER-B Opportunity, and Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity.

• In 2011, Vandi Verma appeared and directed an episode of NOVA ScienceNOW titled “Can We Make it to Mars?”

• In 2018, a documentary titled The Other Side of Mars (original Finnish) was made about Verma and her work with the Mars rover Curiosity.

• In 2022, Vandi Verma appeared in a full-length documentary film titled Good Night Oppy, which tells the story of two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and their 15-year mission.

• In December 2025, NASA quietly crossed a historic milestone, and Vandi Verma was the key scientist whose work helped a Mars rover drive itself using AI for the very first time.

• In 2026, Vandi Verma came into the news for her work on the AI-planned Perseverance drives, which represent a new era of rover autonomy and could influence how future planetary missions operate with less reliance on human planning.