[1] Thompson graduated from high school as co-valedictorian of her class in 2003 and chose to attend the State University of New York at Stony Brook to study mechanical engineering.

[1][5] During her undergraduate studies from 2003 to 2007,[2] she completed summer internships at the American Honda Motor Co., Brookhaven National Laboratory, and a local product design firm.

[7] From 2007 to 2009, she attended the Georgia Institute of Technology for a master's degree in aerospace engineering[2] and during this time interned at NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio.

[10][11][12] HARP2, a copy of HARP with updated instrumentation, is set to be launched on the NASA satellite Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE)[11] by December 2023 at the earliest.

[10] In 2021 and 2022, it was reported that Thompson was developing "swarms" of small satellites that can communicate with one another and obtain data on weather patterns at varied times and points of observation.

[4][14] That year Thompson said the space suit was in the "research and design phase" and that she was in the "early stages" of meeting with collaborators and seeking investors and grants for funding.