NAAA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MESSAGE
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - The 1998 Goddard Academy
NAAA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MESSAGE
Dear NASA Academy,
This is just a short letter describing the current status of the NAAA. Over the past few months, several alumni have been working steadily at maintaining and building the presence of our organization. In particular, Mindy Delaney organized the fundraising event (based on the idea of Jon Sims), which has successfully contributed to the coffers of NAAA (a special thank you to those who have donated!). Concurrently, Srimal Wangu has been coordinating some NASA and NAAA outreach activities, and Markus Wilkinson (GSFC 93) is planning a pilot community space science and technology education program, which he hopes to begin this July. Elisa Quintana has taken the role of NAAA webmaster and has already started implementing improvements to our website. In Colorado, Mike Moreau has continued to serve behind-the-scenes in giving advice and working with the IT infrastructure. Meanwhile, I have been speaking with collegerecruiter.com regarding the idea of hosting a set of NAAA resumes at their web site for aerospace companies to review.
In addition to these items, the executive council is also planning a greater relationship with the academy this summer. Vanessa Stroh initially offered some help, and now both Goddard and Ames are on board. These activities should complement the July 4th reunion at Goddard and lead to a successful annual event in the October/November time-frame.
It is our hope that these activities will lead to a strong and enthusiastic
foundation that can expand in the coming years. A strong component
of this is the continued involvement of academy members, and we would like
to encourage you not only to submit ideas, but also to take initiative
and assist this exceptional and powerful program.
Sincerely,
The NASA Academy Alumni Association Executive Council
Jim Chase
Srimal Wangu
Mindy Delaney
The EC is very pleased with the level of member support for the NAAA this year! The fundraising contest, which began on April 11, has raised $951.96 from 20 members. The region donating the most money will receive a reward to help fund a dinner for the alumni in that area.
Donations received/pledged by region (DC is *still* in the lead!):
Boston $220
DC $445
Denver $80
Houston $0
"Houston, we have a problem..." :)
LA $176.96
Misc $40
TOTAL $951.96
Thanks to the following people for participating - Warren Brown, Amy Snyder, Brian Roberts, Gene Fujii, Laura Burns, Janie Thorpe, Jim Brice, Heather Thomas, Mike Moreau, Charlotte Brown, Arnaldo Leon, Susan Welsh, Jon Sims, Julie Townsend, Jennifer Probst, Tyson Harty, Greg Richardson, Srimal Wangu, Mindy Delaney, and Jim Chase.
In addition, we would like to thank the following members for their donations given in October 1999 during the annual event: Brian Roberts, Robert Lamontagne, Jim Brice, David Goldstein, John Freeman, Leigh Anne Smith, Christopher Wilkinson, Ian Ruiz, Kathleen Sienko, Jeffrey Munson, and Stephanie Thomas.
The NAAA currently has 238 members subscribed to the "news" list, and we would love to have all of you contribute to this year's annual membership donation - even $10/person adds up quickly (since the October annual event we've heard from 29 of 238 people)!
Your donations can be sent to me at my home address at:
(Please make checks out to NAAA)
Ms. Mindy Delaney
60 Wadsworth Street Apt. 6C
Cambridge, MA 02142
Donations need to be received by June 15 to count toward the contest.
Though we will, of course, accept donations at any time of year!
One of the primary objectives of NASA Academy and the NAAA is to foster communication between future leaders of the air and space program. NAAA has successfully established several methods of communication, including email and annual events. However, the executive council still feels we have not sufficiently assisted members in their future careers. As a young organization (over 50% of our members are still in school) it is very important that we provide a positive direction.
With this in mind, we have begun speaking with collegerecruiter.com.
They have expressed interest in a mutually beneficial relationship, and
we see some great potential here. The power of us working with a
recruiting site is two-fold: we have access to a large pool of aerospace
companies and we are promoting ourselves as a group, rather than individually.
As this activity has just begun, we are looking for IDEAS FROM YOU.
What are some of the necessary aspects of this proposed relationship?
What are some of the applications? And, in general, we are very interested
in any ideas or thoughts you might have. Please send your suggestions/thoughts
to jimchase@mit.edu. Thank
you.
There has almost always been a relationship between NASA Academy and
the NAAA. The students coordinating the programs are members of the
NAAA, and several alumni will typically visit throughout the summer.
However, this process has been traditionally informal, and alumni have
independently set-up these visits. For this reason, it is our thought
that both organizations will greatly benefit if this is formalized.
The idea is to maintain the small scope and non-interference policy, but
to increase the accessibility to alumni. This program has just completed
the initial stages of development. The current program is:
___________________________________________________________________
|PROCEDURE FOR VISITING NASA ACADEMY
|------------------------------------------------------------------
|Objective: Promote
a relationship between alumni and RAs
|Program:
1-2 alumni can join tours and NA presentations
|
on a space available basis. This will be set
|
up by an Alumni Point-of-Contact near the
|
center.
|Registration: * May 24 to May 30 for
those who have donated or
|
volunteered their time to NAAA
|
* After May 30 Open Registration
|List of Events: * Contact Alumni POC's to see available
events
|Rules:
* A non-interference policy is kept for this
|
relationship. The idea is to enrich the
|
NA atmosphere, rather than remove focus from
|
the students
|
* Alumni must use the POCs to contact the centers
|
in order to join events
|
* Limit of 2 alumni per event (unless there is a
|
critical need, or it is otherwise noted), on a
|
space available basis
|POCs:
GSFC: Laura Burns - laura.burns@prodigy.net
|
Jane Thorpe - mjthorpe@erols.com
|
Ames: Elisa Quintana - equintan@umich.edu
"------------------------------------------------------------------
As you may notice, those who have volunteered or donated to the NAAA
cause have first choice. We feel that this is a good method for offering
spots on tours and presentations, as this is one of the few ways that we
can reward those who have given their time and money. (On a related
note, as the initiator of the program, I do not intend on registering in
the first couple weeks, although I do have plans to meet with the Goddard
Academy.) The executive council is hopeful for the success and expansion
of this program, and if you have any comments or suggestions, please email
them to us at ec@nasa-academy.org.
The July 4th event is NOW being planned! If you would like to
coordinate this activity, have some good ideas, or would like to know more,
send us an email (ec@nasa-academy).
We are looking for your involvement and support!
The current plans are:
The annual event come onto the radar scope. So far, based on peoples' comments (3, I think), the current plan is:
Here is some updated information from the recent NAAA membership drive. Of the 268 NASA Academy alumni, 153 are current members of the NAAA as of May 14, 2000. There are approximately 49 alumni who are currently "out of touch" with us, meaning we don't have a current email address for them. The rest still have working email addresses but haven't renewed their membership or updated their information in over a year (for some it's been several years).
In order to add some extra incentive to keep your membership with the NAAA up to date I calculated the percentage of each class that has kept their NAAA membership current, meaning they have submitted the online membership form in the last year. The updated numbers are provided below.
Rank Academy class RAs
Current NAAA Members
1 MSFC 1997
10 80.0%
2 MSFC 1996
14 78.6%
3 GSFC 1999
23 78.3%
4 GSFC 1995
23 78.3%
5 GSFC 1996
24 70.8%
6 ARC
1997 11 63.6%
7 DFRC 1997
5 60.0%
8 DFRC 1998
5 60.0%
9 GSFC 1993
19 57.9%
10 GSFC 1998
23 56.5%
11 GSFC 1994
24 54.2%
12 ARC 1998
15 46.7%
13 ARC 1999
13 46.2%
14 GSFC 1997
23 43.5%
15 DFRC 1999
7 42.9%
16 MSFC 1995
14 28.6%
17 MSFC 1994
15 6.7%
I know there was a time when GSFC 1994 would have NEVER stood for being ranked eleventh!!! So needless to say we didn't do quite as well as I had hoped, but congrats to MSFC 1997, MSFC 1996, GSFC 1999, and GSFC 1995!
Those classes that are below 50%... how can I say this nicely... the
majority of you are slackers! Please help us out, and encourage your
friends to renew their membership and update their contact information
online. As always, you can update email, US Mail, AND renew your
membership for a year at any time using the membership form:
http://www.nasa-academy.org/members/member.form.html
Over the next month, we will continue to try and track down some of those people who have dropped out of touch by contacting them individually. Watch the NAAA website (www.nasa-acdemy.org) for further updates. Have a great summer!
Mike Moreau
GSFC '94,'95
michael.moreau@nasa-academy.org
Our Own Space Mafia
by Mike Moreau, GSFC ’94,’95 Moreau@Colorado.EDU
by Jim Brice, NASA Academy General Manager, GSFC ‘94-‘97 Brice.James@orbital.com
In the seven years since the founding of the NASA Academy program in 1993, the space sector has seen a change in emphasis. Between 1993 and today, private enterprise efforts have become the biggest investors in non-military space spending, replacing NASA in its traditional role of space spending driver. What does this reversal mean to students leaving college today? This is not completely clear. What is clear is that change in space sector spending will continue to drive the fortunes of space exploration until the-next-big-thing comes along to propel it in a distinct direction. What is also clear is that educational programs like the International Space University (ISU) and NASA Academy prepare students for whatever changes occur. If you thought your "NASA Academy Experience" ended with the summer, you might want to read the recent Forbes article on the "Space Mafia" of ISU for a hint of what the NASA Academy might mean to your future.
In many respects, ISU and the NASA Academy are very similar. In fact, NASA Academy founder and former member of the ISU Board of Directors, Dr. Gerald Soffen, originally modeled the program after the ISU summer session. Like the NASA Academy, ISU also has an official alumni organization. The recent Forbes article on the "Space Mafia" of ISU highlights the already impressive ISU “alumni network.” Some excerpts from that article are presented (italicized) because they are directly in line with some of the original goals for the NASA Academy’s Alumni Organization, the NAAA.
NASA Academy alumni, numbering 268 today, can already be found in positions on nearly every significant aerospace project, at all of the major companies, universities, and NASA centers.
An ISU degree in space circles is like a Stanford M.B.A. in Silicon Valley. The 1,500 alums have infiltrated nearly every key company and agency involved in space, often by getting one another hired. Once in place, they funnel deals to their fellow ISU alums. Grads and supporters call themselves the Space Mafia. "The high-level positions within space organizations will gradually be replaced by ISU alumni," predicts Alain Berinstain, 31, an alum and project manager for the Canadian Space Agency.
The NASA Academy name already carries some recognition in the upper
levels of the aerospace community. Obviously the networking that
takes place over each summer program is extremely unique and valuable after
alumni leave the program. But in addition, many senior officials
at NASA and aerospace companies who have come into contact with Academy
RAs during the summer recognize that the Academy alumni represent a select
group of young aerospace professionals, and would jump at the chance to
hire them.
When they return to their jobs, alums bring stacks of business cards from new contacts from around the world. Employers want to buy these contacts. W. MacDonald Evans, head of the Canadian Space Agency in Montreal, has 15 ISU grads on his payroll and an open checkbook for more. "The network is going to be extremely powerful." It already is. As part of last summer's staid United Nations conference on space in Vienna, the ISU alums, led by Berinstain and others, organized a Space Generation Forum while the grown-ups were meeting downstairs. In contrast to the foot-dragging typical of international conferences, the ISU mafiosi managed to get five of their recommendations passed and sent on to the full UN for debate. The UN delegates were so amazed that some even sneaked out of the main meeting to watch the younger people debate upstairs.
The fundamental role of the NAAA is to fulfill the idea that the
most important part of the NASA Academy is not the summer spent at a NASA
Center, but what comes after. There is some common bond between alumni
who attended the academy during different years, or even different NASA
centers. It would be difficult to look around at some of one’s alumni
peers and not be impressed by their accomplishments. Some of the
benefits of belonging to the Academy alumni community are just beginning
to become apparent.
The alums never stop networking. Annual weeklong ski reunions in both the Rockies and the Alps can attract up to 40 alums. European ISU grads recently started a scenic motorcycle tour through Germany and Austria. When they get together, they start talking about ideas. The school pounds into them a fervor for space exploration that sounds like that of Captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise.
The common theme in the NAAA is this fervor for space exploration.
This is what brings alumni together from so many different geographic regions
and a diversity of interests and gives them something to talk about, and
something to strive for.
For ISU, one of the most important aspects of the "ISU experience" is that ISU graduates immediately enter into a unique and special community of alumni. In fact, this is one of the main selling points when ISU promotes its programs.
The mission of the NASA Academy Alumni Association is to serve a similar purpose: to help create an esprit de corps among and between all Alumni. Additionally, the NAAA seeks to provide a mechanism to facilitate Alumni participation in programs and projects, both internal and external to the NAAA, that promote NASA and space education, and that communicate the excitement of space exploration and development to the general populace.
One can’t help but be impressed after reading the article on ISU. At the same time, as part of the NAAA it is also exciting to consider our potential. NASA Academy alumni would do well to look at ISU as an example of what the NAAA can become, and to use it as motivation to be active in the NAAA community.
Check out the original Forbes article at: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/00/0417/6509104a.htm
Cool, Rad, Awesome . . . Word? Educational
Outreach in Action
by Markus Wilkinson, GSFC '93
Mwilkins@seakr.com
My wife always talks about the "Fashion Train". When humans lose consciousness sometime in their puberty, they get on the fashion train. This train takes them from one style to the next. Clothing, hair styles, mannerisms, and even expressions change as train chugs along.
Eventually, humans come back to their senses, realize the train ride
is nothing more than a giant marketing scheme by the largest coprorations
in America, and they get off. By your 30th birthday, you've probably
stepped off the train. Fortunately, I got off at the "jeans &
t-shirts" stops. I pitty my older brother-in-law that got off at
the "polyester &
paisley" stop.
My last cube-mate, a college new-hire, would say, "Word," where I would say, "Cool". But we got along great, because we both hated our jobs. From Atari to Nintendo, from Schwin to Cannondale, from Commodore to iMac, from Ford Mustang to Honda Civic, from Transformers to Picachu, from Voyager to Magellan, the world is a constantly changing place. A gulf inevitably forms between the old and the young.
We wonder how they can possibly walk wearing shoes like that, we can't understand every fourth word they utter, and we'll never understand the appeal of Pokemon, but the language of math remains the same . . .
10 . . 9 . . 8 . . 7 . . 6 . . 5 . . 4 . . 3 . . 2 . . 1 . .
In every rocket launch, eternal truth surfaces:
Faster is better.
Fire and smoke enchance
everything.
"Just because," is
the best reason.
In public school, we learn math because it is a requirement, we take
chemistry becasue it will get us into college, we take metal shop because
it is more fun than foreign language, we pile on the classes to get early
release our senior year.
Great reasons, great motivation.
What if you learned trigonometry so that you could prove your rocket went the highest? What if you learned how to mix ammonium perclorate, because black powder just doesn't have enough kick? What if you learned how to mill an injector so that you could try LOX and kerosene as a propellant? What if you got early release, so that you could go home and play with your hobbies? Great reasons, great motivation.
The idea of educational outreach is not to see how much glaze we can pile on the eyes of youth. The idea of educational outreach is to get rid of the academic and work toward the practical. The idea is to make math, physics, chemistry, and even history the means, not the end. Why is public education failing? The students and teachers don't know the practical application for imaginary numbers.
This summer, I will be testing a pilot program for the NASA Academy
Alumni Association's Educational Outreah program. Children will learn
how to build a stable model rocket and track its altitude. They'll
learn what technologies have been developed and how they can be used.
They'll ponder their future. They will plan their own mission to
Mars and groan when their budget is cut half-way through the program.
When it is all done, we'll take them outside and show them the stars.
For the first time, I think they'll actually see what is out there, "Word!"
"Huh?"
"I said word."
"What?!"
"Nevermind."
If you are interested in contributing time, talent, or energy to the
program, contact Markus Wilkinson mwilkins@seakr.com.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - The 1998
Goddard Academy
Name: Deon D. Brown
Email: deon.d.brown@jsc.nasa.gov
Current contact info: NASA/Johnson Space Center
MS: NQ113 (B17, Rm 2033)
Houston, Texas 77058
(281) 483-5499
Work company or school: GHG Corporation (contractor) / University
of North Dakota
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Assoc Engr / Master
of Science in Space Studies
Major work/school project(s):
Name: Kevin Callahan
Email: kevin@voter.com
Current contact info: 617 290 3784
Work company or school: Voter.com (internet startup)
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Engineering Manager / Product
Development
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
wow. How can I sum up the whirlwind of the
past two years? I spent my senior year balancing working almost full time
as an internet consultant and working on my senior design project in which
I had to develop a *unique* packing/deployment method for a high-gain satellite
antenna. Anyways, I managed to blow through all that, graduating
as part of the Mech. Eng. Honor Society..
After graduation I continued working as a consultant,
but then I began working on this small project up in Boston. I say
small because it was 7 people when we began this endeavor -- an internet
site providing up-to-date political news and information from the issues,
to the candidates. (quite a stretch from my real passion - space)
8 months, 2 rounds of financing, and lots of 80 hour weeks, we are a 100+
person company with a pretty good market share.
Anyways, as for future plans.. yes, I still am looking
at ISU (maybe not this fall, but next), and I'm going to try looking for
a product development position in some aerospace company come this fall.
We'll see. As I like to tell my parents, I have no plans, and no
commitments. :)
Name: Jim Chase
Email: jimchase@mit.edu
Current contact info: 550 Memorial Drive #12D-2
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 225-9153
School:
MIT
Major and degree sought: Masters/PhD? in Aeronautics & Astronautics
Major school projects: I have an RA with the Lean Aerospace
Initiative on "Meauring Value in Aeropace Product Development (PD).
Essentially, I am trying to quantify the idea that PD tasks add value.
The goal of my work is to be able to look over a project (such as the MPL:),
and say... "OK, you need to add these tasks, put more money in this
area, and forget that one thing. Questions?" (Note: I have
edited out the confused look I'll get from the Dr's in the white coats
behind the 1-way mirror:).
Discussion:
Hello All!!!! Yes, you are not mistaken, this
is in fact your president (or grand lackey, I'm not sure which is more
appropriate :). In any event, I am doing well (ie, 10/10).
MIT is a cool place to be (whoops, I think I just murderously redefined
'cool,' oh well:). Perhaps I should have said Boston, cuz Boston
is a really great city to live in. As for other info... I did, in
fact, graduate on track from Minnesota (read: minor miracle). I then
spent the summer wandering from the Boundary Waters (MN!) to Dublin and
Belfast :) . More recently, however, I have undertaken a role in
NAAA, which has proven to be fairly enjoyable, particularly with the help
of Mindy Delaney & Srimal Wangu. They usually keep me on track.
Well that's all...
Oh wait! I suppose some of you would like an update
on my professional career. I retired from the game around the time
I started grad school (and about 5% off an all-time high). Recently,
I have checked out the MIT team, but I don't think I have the time ('think?'
more like 'dead-certain.' :). (Yes, I realize I have confused the
rest of you... feel free to break off some of your curiosity and send it
this way...) That's all & ENJOY THE DAY! (or sunrise
as the case may be)
Name: John Feighery
Email: JFeighery@ems.jsc.nasa.gov
Current contact info: 110 Gray #4163, Houston, TX 77058 (Home: 713
523 7889, Office: 281 483 7873)
Work company or school: NASA Johnson Space Center
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Mechanical Engineer
Major work/school project(s): Advanced life support systems research/technology
development
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
Annie and I decided to come here and delay my graduation
until 12/99 to try and wait out the hiring freeze at JSC. As December approaced,
it looked like our plan had failed, but then--at the last minute--the freeze
thawed and I was offered a permanent position! I'm working on a testbed
for regenerative life support systems called the BioPlex, which is intended
to prove out the life support hardware we expect to use on a human Mars
mission. Our first integrated test is planned for 2003, when we'll lock
up a crew of 4 inside a sealed chamber for 120 days!
Annie is working for the Museum of Fine Art, Houston,
as a grant writer. We live downtown and are enjoying our more permanent
existance (this is the 1st time we've lived somewhere for more than 6 months
:) If any of you are in Houston, please drop us a line- we'd love to have
you over and there will always be a futon reserved for Academy people in
our apartment! We are slowly and steadily making progress in our effort
to create a JSC NASA Academy and I am optimistic that we can achieve this
by 2001. Also, if you are at all interested in a job at JSC as a civil
servant, now is the time to act! Please don't hesitate to give me a call/email
if you'd like to talk about this and I'll direct you to the right people.
The flood gates are open (for now) and I'd really like to see as many of
these jobs as possible go to Academy alumni. Take care and keep in touch!
Name: Alex Koerger
Email: science@alumni.washington.edu
Homepage: http://www.waspacegrant.org
Current contact info: 206.387.8387
Work company or school: NASA Regional Educator Resource Center Network
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Coordinator
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
Science education is still my passion. Besides
the NASA RERC, I'm also teaching science programs to elementary school
kids visiting classrooms to talk about various space science things (it's
all very cool). Meanwhile, I'm hoping to go back to school next year
for my M. Ed., and I'm entertaining a possible job offer to teach elementary
school full-time next year (keep your fingers crossed).
Name: Jamie Lennon
Email: jamie_a_lennon@yahoo.com
Homepage: www.ssl.umd.edu
Work company or school: University of Maryland, College Park - Aerospace
Engineering Department
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Masters, en route to PhD
Major work/school project(s): Color based visual tracking for an astronaut
EVA assist vehicle
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
I've returned to the College Park area, merely a
few miles from our former residence on Knox Rd. I'm a research assistant
at the Space Systems Laboratory, working on a vision system for a rover
to follow astronauts on planetary surfaces. I also just received
an NSF fellowship (the GSRP didn't come through). I hope to finish
the Masters by next
spring and will most probably head on to the doctoral level... although
a recently developed interest in mission training may make that decision
more difficult.
Name: Jenny Mindock
Email: jmindock@ufl.edu
Current contact info: I'm moving and travelling, so my parents' address
is best for now:
262 E. Hornbeam Dr.
Longwood, FL 32779
407-862-7764
Work company or school: University of Florida
Work title and/or major and degree sought:
B.S. in Aerospace Engineering
Major work/school project(s): Spacecraft Design and Operations
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
I've just completed my 4th year at UF, and will
graduate with my B.S. in December (only 1 more semester to go!).
This summer I'll be taking a trip to Europe for 3 weeks with close friends,
in between being a bridesmaid in 2 weddings. Then I'm moving to California
for 8 weeks to work for Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale. I'll be working
on satellites, so I'm very excited to learn!
I'll return to UF in August for my last semester.
After graduation, I'd plan to work in the industry for 8 or 9 months before
beginning grad school in the Fall of 2001.
Name: Deanne Rogers
Email: adr@asu.edu
Current contact info: home: 480-921-9042
Work company or school: Arizona State University
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Geology, M.S. student
and graduate Teaching Assistant
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
I've just finished my first year of graduate school
at ASU, and will be working as a research assistant this summer (the low
temps in Phoenix will be >100--yikes!). I'm working under Phil Christensen,
on a Mars surface compositional study using data from the MGS Thermal Emission
Spectrometer. I've just received a Space Grant to continue this research
in the fall. I'm having a good time out west, making trips to San Diego,
Las Vegas, Grand Canyon,etc.
Name: Travis Sparks
Email: Travis.Sparks@nasa-academy.org
Current contact info: 927 N. Highland St.
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 528-4306
Work company or school: User Technology Associates
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Presidential Technical
Fellow / Product Engineer
Major work/school project(s): Managing the implementation
of Asset360 for customers. Asset360 is the main product of Percuity,
a User Technology Associates subsidiary.
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
I've been living in Arlington, VA for just about
a year now. This area is certainly a lot different than the small
Indiana town I grew up in, but I'm adjusting to city life. I currently
work at User Technology Associates (UTA) which is a computer software and
consulting company. I've worn a number of different hats while at
UTA. I've helped launch two subsidiary companies; I've redesigned
software development processes; I've developed software; I've tested software;
I've been a sales engineer; I've been a recruiter; I've also played a number
of other roles. I can honestly say that this has been a great learning
experience.
All that said, I am in the process of changing my
career direction slightly. Sometime during the summer of 2000 I will
either seek out a new job in Northern Virginia doing Systems Engineering
or Product Development or I will move back to Indiana and start an e-commerce
business of my own under the umbrella of an Entrepreneurial Incubator that
is part of my alma mater, Rose-Hulman. I do hope that sometime in
the very near future that I can direct my career toward something a little
more space related.
Many of you know that I have a girlfriend named
Shanna. We've now been together for over 6 years. No marriage
plans yet, but as always were hoping sooner rather than later. She
just graduated from Indiana University in Elementary Education so we'll
see what happnens now.
Name: Rich Sturmfels
Email: sturmfels@airseds.com
Current contact info: 1500 Ottawa Beach Rd, #56, Holland, MI, 49424,
(616)786-4531
Work company or school: The Michigan Technic Corporation
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Project Engineer
Major work/school project(s): ASTOR and STEP-AIRSEDS tethered satellites
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
Having a great time at work, couldn't ask for a
better job. Work for a boss who takes care of his employees and we all
have a good time while getting a little bit of work done... Hopefully in
a couple years I'll have some flight experience through our ASTOR project.
Check us out at www.airseds.com if
you wish.
Recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery so I
can go back to my undergrad school and teach those kids how to play intramurals.
Name: Stephanie Thomas
Email: sjthomas@alum.mit.edu
Current contact info: 540 Memorial Dr., Apt. 302
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-577-5511
Work company or school: MIT
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Aero/Astro Masters of Science
Candidate
Major work/school project(s): Research Assistant, MIT Space Systems
Lab
Research project: I'm working on developing
a Hitchhiker mission for the space shuttle to do studies of Hall thruster
and PPT (pulsed plasma thruster) plumes. For my thesis, I'm doing an overall
conceptual design of the the experiment, plus ground studies of the Hall
thruster here at MIT in our new vacuum tank. At the moment I'm acquiring
all the equipment I'll need; I'll be using a thrust balance, Langmuir Probes,
and Faraday cups on a 200 W Hall thruster plume. The overall objective
of the experiment is to characterize the plumes of these thrusters as they
behave in space, as all ground studies have some facility effects and any
space-based data that currently exists is proprietary. The plumes from
these electric thrusters do contain various neutrals and ions that can
do damage depending on their exact direction and energy; this is in general
what we seek to quantify.
General discussion:
Well I'd say that life here in Cambridge is good.
Matt and I have been married for almost a year now. Matt works for Agency.com
as a computer consultant, where he builds web-based applications for other
businesses. He also plays volleyball (and soon, softball) regularly with
the folks from Agency. In addition to my research I still do various music
groups; this year I sang in the chamber chorus, started voice lessons,
and played oboe in a chamber group, the Wind Symphony, and the Wind Ensemble.
Together, we also played on the Aero/Astro D-league ice hockey team this
winter! Matt was one of our best scorers.
In terms of the near future, I expect to finish
my degree in December or January, and I'm going to concentrate my job search
on the DC area. Matt is hoping Agency will be ready to start their DC office
by then so that he won't have to switch companies. But either way, look
for us in the DC area next spring.
Hope everyone is doing well! --Stephanie
Dryden 1998 Academy… you're up next! Please send me your entry in a timely manner!
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