Abhijeet Kumar

Lecturer

Office hours: 5124 Etcheverry Hall

For 15+ years, Abhijeet has worked at the intersection of frontier technologies, strategy, and markets, with a focus on aerospace and autonomy. He has built, advised, invested, and taught. Functions served and supported include engineering, commercialization, strategy, and policy.

He is also an invited faculty member at UC Berkeley, where he leads the inaugural program on the New Space Economy. Every now and then, he also advises young space startups on engineering, execution, product strategy, fundraising, and scaling. He also deploys personal capital where his conviction points. One of those placements was at SpaceX.

When time permits, he engages with builders, investors, policymakers, and media who are focused on long-horizon thinking and shaping what comes next. He is often invited to speak on the future of the space economy, dual-use technologies, and the strategic implications of emerging aerospace capabilities.

Currently, Abhijeet designed and is teaching the course ‘New Space Economy’, cross-listed between the College of Engineering and the Haas School of Business. The course presents both an overview and specific deep dives into select topics within the evolving landscape of the space industry and its entrepreneurial ecosystem, competitive strategy, funding avenues, and geopolitical relevance.

Education

MBA, Finance and Entrepreneurship, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
M.S., Aerospace Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder

Publications

“A Design Proposal for Asaph-1: A Human Mission to Phobos,” The Journal of Space Operations & Communicator, 2014