BS AAE '08, MS AAE '11, PhD AAE '14

"Life and a career are a learning process, so even if an individual attempt fails, learn from it, then try again."

What are you doing currently?

I’m a Researcher/Technologist in the Mission Design and Navigation Section at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  I’m currently doing trajectory design, navigation analysis, and pre-operations testing on a variety of missions in various stages of development, from initial proposal to soon-to-fly.  I’m also involved in a variety of applied research tasks, from orbit determination and state estimation to blending interactive and automated design processes.

How did your Purdue AAE degree help you achieve your goals?

The Purdue AAE program instilled in me four key characteristics:  strong fundamentals, diligent exploration, leadership, and connections.  Whenever I’m presented with a new technical challenge, I know I can always fall back on the fundamental principles of aerospace engineering I learned throughout my undergrad and graduate degrees.  At the same time, the most exciting opportunities in the aerospace field require multi-disciplinary knowledge and new solution approaches.  This is where perseverance and a willingness to explore become key factors in success that I was able to hone during my graduate studies at Purdue.  Likewise, working with people makes you realize that true leadership is more than hierarchies and formal titles.  For me, my extracurricular activities at Purdue promoted a natural growth in leadership, far better than any training program I have ever seen.  Finally, my internships, co-op experience, and conference travels while at Purdue fostered powerful connections within the aerospace industry; it’s great to know that if I don’t know how to solve a particular problem, then I know someone who does.

What advice do you have for current AAE students?

To quote the Whole Earth Catalog (via Steve Jobs):  “Stay Hungry.  Stay Foolish.”  Don’t think that one success or one failure is the be-all, end-all.  Life and a career are a learning process, so even if an individual attempt fails, learn from it, then try again.  If you succeed, learn from it, then try something new.  The worst thing you can do to yourself is to be so afraid of looking foolish that you don’t even try.  Stay humble, laugh at yourself, and you’d be surprised just how forgiving people can be.

What do you do in your free time?

I read voraciously, everything from non-fiction (I just read an interesting book on stock market crashes) to fiction (The Hobbit is still my favorite novel).  If you read a great variety of books, you’d be surprised at the connections you can make between different fields.  I’m also training to be a pilot, studying martial arts, a DIYer, and enjoy hiking, climbing, kayaking, etc. through the great outdoors.