Aimèe Gross received her acceptance letter to the University of Notre Dame, the only school to which she applied, on a crisp St. Patrick’s Day. Months later, Gross boarded a plane from Wicklow, Ireland, to South Bend, Indiana, where she now weaves together physics, astrophysics, and sustainability as part of her major.
Now a senior, Gross is pinpointing an ambitious goal: protecting the Moon. When asked to introduce herself, Gross begins modestly: “I love physics, I love space, and I love people.” Behind this opening is a story shaped by curiosity, community, and fearless initiative.
Gross’s characteristic yes to new experiences has paved her way from Ireland to the research labs and playing fields of Notre Dame. Her campus life is a blend of scientific rigor, community, and leadership.
From Irish Geography to Lunar Legacy
Gross's academic interests began with geography lessons at home, exploring not just the landscapes of Ireland but also the social geography that shapes communities. This introduced her to sustainability, long before she encountered it as an academic field. Today, Gross describes sustainability as “not only environmental, it's economical, it's social”— noting that these three make up the pillars of sustainability, which are key to improving the living world.
During her freshman year at Notre Dame, Gross met Philip Sakimoto, the director of the sustainability minor and professor of the practice in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. While taking his class during her sophomore year, Gross was first introduced to the principles of sustainability and was greatly influenced by Sakimoto's physics background and career at NASA. This sparked a mentorship that shaped her undergraduate career. At his encouragement, Gross applied and was accepted to the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative, where she was a 2025 sustainability summer intern. This led to a three-person collaboration with a student from political science and another from computer science, who worked together to develop the initiative’s sustainability activities.
Sakimoto describes Gross as a “whirlwind” of multiple academic and leadership activity. Whether it is manning the table at Welcome Weekend for sustainability or writing the minors' weekly newsletter, Gross is always willing to volunteer, Sakimoto said.
Gross also brings a sustainability lens directly into her physics research in the Civil & Environmental/ Earth Sciences Department (CEES) within the Department of Engineering. She works with Professor Clive Neal, and initially analyzed Apollo 11 samples. He now studies the implications of sustaining a human presence on the Moon.
“She brings a sense of purpose to the work,” Neal said, adding that he has found this trait rare among undergraduate researchers. Her sustainability capstone, “Lunar Legacy,” examines legal and ethical frameworks for protecting the Moon’s environment despite it being a non-living landscape. This project intentionally brings together planetary physics and sustainability.
Neal appreciates Gross’s holistic perspective to lunar research. Her strength lies in her ability to ask not just scientific questions about the lunar environment but also ethical ones about lunar exploration, he said.
While Neal initially challenged Gross’s proposal, wondering why there would be a need to protect the environment in a place that hosts no life, he said that Gross was persistent.
“Most sustainability definitions focus on living environments,” she said. “But what responsibilities do we have to a place with no life at all? And what gaps exist in the treaties and ethics guiding how we explore it?”
For Gross, the Moon’s scientific, cultural, and ethical value demand protection long before humans alter it. Her project is “a way to connect love of space, planetary science, and lunar geology with sustainability,” she said.
Combining these questions is rooted not only in science, but also in Notre Dame’s Catholic mission, Sakimoto said.
“The Moon is part of creation, as is everything else, and we have a fundamental obligation to care for all of it,” he said.
Looking Ahead, After Notre Dame
Outside of the classroom, Gross is co-president of the Society of Physics Students and also enjoys working with others in a variety of different ways, including as a resident assistant in Howard Hall and as a leader on the Notre Dame Gaelic Athletic Association’s four-time championship team during the National Collegiate Gaelic Championships.
Gross can go many different directions with her career, and says she knows her future lies in exploration informed by responsibility, physics, collaboration, and curiosity in service of something greater.
“I’ll be happy as long as I get to apply what I learn, and work in a team,” she said.
Whatever comes after Notre Dame, she will continue saying yes to discovery and to the call to care for the places we venture in, on this world and beyond.
Originally published by at science.nd.edu on January 09, 2026.