Moogega Cooper received a BS in Physics from Hampton University in 2006 and a MS and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University in 2009 at 24 years old. Upon graduating, she became a Post-Doc at NASA JPL where she worked on assessing microorganisms found in spacecraft assembly cleanrooms. Moogega also worked on technologies which are able to search for and monitor the persistence of life in extreme environments. In 2011, she became a full-time employee at JPL where she works on technology development and contamination assessment methodologies to meet planetary protection requirements for the Mars Sample Return Mission.