Episode #21
Engineering Without Limits: Solar Cars, SpaceX, and Sustainable Design with Sofie Roux and Rachel Grant
Sofie Roux and Rachel Grant are Stanford engineers whose work spans solar-powered race cars, sustainable architecture, aerospace, and global education. As leaders of the Stanford Solar Car Project, they helped rebuild a struggling team, transform an aging vehicle into a second-place finisher, and prepare the next generation of students to design an entirely new car. In this episode, Sofie shares how she founded Bloombox Design Labs at sixteen and began transforming shipping containers into solar-powered STEAM classrooms in Malawi. She also discusses her work as the Solar Array Lead for Stanford Solar Car, where every decision requires balancing energy capture, aerodynamics, reliability, and the needs of the larger team. Rachel traces her unconventional path from collegiate volleyball and biomechanics research to mechanical engineering, combustion chemistry, and aerospace. She reflects on working as a build engineer on Starship’s propulsion system at SpaceX, studying the extreme conditions spacecraft encounter during reentry, and leading the mechanical development of Stanford’s solar car. Together, Sofie and Rachel open up about all-nighters at the racetrack, learning through failure, rebuilding lost institutional knowledge, and finding lifelong friendships through engineering. They also share what it means to be one of the few women in the room—and why young women should never feel pressured to become quieter, less creative, or perfect in order to be taken seriously.
