Rachel McAfee received her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2021 and her Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2022 from Oregon State University. While at Oregon State, she served as president of the IEEE student branch, OSU Overclocking, and held leadership roles in the Society of Women Engineers and the Out in STEM affinity groups.

She is a two-time Department of Defense SMART Scholar Awardee and joined the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in 2022, where she works on developing phase change materials and novel electronics packaging techniques.