How did you end up in the field you are in today? Who or what inspired you to pursue this career?

I have been interested in space since I was a kid -- about eight years old. Sometime around then, I read an article in a book about how scientists thought the Solar System was formed. The idea that the Sun, the planets and their moons, the comets, the asteroids -- everything in our "neighborhood" was formed from one giant cloud of gas billions of years ago was totally stunning to me. I sat there with my mouth hanging open, trying to imagine it all.... It made me feel like such an insignificant little speck of dust in the middle of all of that! And it also made me feel a sense of wonder about us humans -- for being smart enough specks of dust to be able to understand and marvel at it all. I was dying to know how people had figured out how all of that had happened, since obviously no one was around then to witness it. Since then, I've been fascinated by everything having to do with the cosmos, with finding out what is really up there in the night sky.

 

In grade school and throughout high school, I had a bit of a knack for math and the sciences. Math problems and science questions were like solving puzzles -- figuring something out always gave me a little thrill of accomplishment, like finally fitting the last piece of a puzzle together and getting to see what the complete picture really is. Around the 11th grade, I decided that I would study Mechanical Engineering in college. I considered Astronomy or Aeronautics/Astronautics, since my ultimate goal was to have a career involving space exploration -- but I was nervous about the job opportunities in that field, at the time. I thought that having an ME degree would give me enough flexibility to branch out to something different if I had to. I had surfed around enough NASA Web sites to know that a Mechanical Engineering degree was fine for working in the space program, so it seemed like a safe choice.

 

I attended undergraduate school at the University of Kentucky, and received my Bachelors Degree in 1998 (I know, I'm old!). While at UK, I participated in a "Co-Operational" program -- which allowed me to take time off from school to go work for a while in a job that was related to my field of study. Many schools have such programs, and I would encourage everyone to take advantage of them. Doing that is a perfect opportunity to gain some experience in your field, and find out whether you enjoy that type of work or not. In all, I spent two semesters and two summers working at NASA Langley on various tasks. I got to help run wind tunnel tests, design a small piece of hardware on a flight simulator, and run tests on new metal alloys -- all before graduating from college!

 

While I was in my junior year at UK, I decided to pursue a Masters Degree rather than enter the work force right away. So from college, I went to the Georgia Institute of Technology, where my studies focused on Controls and Vibration. My research topic while I was there dealt with using sensors to monitor the condition of roller bearings while they are in use, to try to predict when they would break. As an example of how this work related to the real world -- if we were able to reliably predict when the bearing in a helicopter rotor assembly would fail, that information could be used to schedule the necessary maintenance or even warn the pilot while he or she was in the air and potentially save his or her life.

 

As I was finishing up my degree and looking for a job, I interviewed with several Aerospace companies. I chose the Jet Propulsion Laboratory because I felt that their mission was my mission: the robotic exploration of space. Don't tell my boss, but I would almost work here for free! This job is just what I had been hoping for.

Who are some of the people you look up to or admire?

My mother, for always encouraging me and everyone around her to pursue their dreams.

 

My 6th grade science teacher Mrs. Firkins, and several other teachers, over the years, for finding so many ways to show us that science could be loads of fun.

 

Story Musgrave, Sally Ride, Yuri Gagarin -- really, all of the men and women who have ventured out into space.

 

Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and many other sci-fi writers -- for their vision and ability to share their ideas and stories so vividly.

What Mars-related research/work projects are you currently involved in? How do you conduct your research/work and what tools/technology do you use?

I am currently involved in the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project. I am a systems engineer -- which means that my overall job is to help ensure that the different parts of the project (like the launch system, the spacecraft and its instruments, the ground communication system, etc.) all work together the way that they should.

 

As the project has evolved, so has my role as a member of the MRO team. Right now, I split my time evenly between the Flight System Team (the people who are responsible for designing and testing the spacecraft) and the Mission Operations and Ground Data System Team (which is responsible for commanding the spacecraft after launch, and handling all of the data that it will send back). For the Flight System team, I have been involved with:

How does math factor into your work?
For some tasks, math does not play a huge role. For example, in developing the fault trees, figuring out the fact that a failed thruster will cause you to have trouble controlling the orbiter does not require much calculation (though if you wanted to know exactly how much your control would be impacted, that would). For other tasks, math is nearly the most important thing -- for example, in setting up the MATLAB model that calculated how the solar arrays moved. MATLAB is very powerful in performing the calculations that you ask it to, but you have to set up the problem correctly. I actually had to pull out my old calculus book and brush up on a few things that I hadn't used in a while to finish that task.

What have you learned so far?

Since my background was Mechanical Engineering rather than Aerospace or Astronautics, it seems that everything I do at work is a learning experience. But I must say that I learned the most about the details of how our orbiter works by actually modeling parts of it (the solar array motion work, again), and by trying to figure out how to "break" it (the fault testing). As they say, "you learn best by doing."

What do you like best about your job?

The thing that I like best about my job is the problem-solving aspect of it. I really had a great time figuring out how to model the motion of the solar arrays, and working with the other people on the project to figure out how to test how the orbiter would response to various problems. Not only is it just cool to be working on this stuff (sometimes I sit back and think "Wow, this thing is actually going to Mars!"), it also makes me feel good to know that my work will really contribute to making this mission a success.

 

I also like the fact that my job involves working with a lot of people. We have a terrific team working on this project -- it is full of extremely bright, talented scientists and engineers who also happen to be some of the nicest people I know. Although we are serious about the job that we have to do, we also find time to joke around with each other and have fun.

What are the most common misconceptions that people have about what you do?

I think the most common misconceptions that people have about what I do is that it is boring, that engineers in general are dry, old people who sit around staring at a computer screen all day. Not at all! The work that we do involves tracking down information and solving problems in creative ways, which can be challenging but fun. You often end up chasing things down strange paths, and ending up learning/doing things you never expected. Plus, as I mentioned before, our team on MRO tends to have quite a playful spirit at times. I probably shouldn't tell you the details of some of the practical jokes that get played from time to time -- I'll just say that it gets pretty lively around here sometimes!

Where have you traveled for your work? What's the favorite place you've been so far?

On this project, I usually travel out to Denver, Colorado, where Lockheed Martin is located. That is the company that is actually building the orbiter for our project. Before I joined this project, I traveled to Montana and Utah for conferences related to some other work that I was involved with. It is hard to pick a favorite -- I enjoyed Montana, because it was winter when I went, and I got to go snow-shoeing for the first time. But it is hard to beat spending time in Colorado -- since when I am there, I can look into the clean room where the orbiter is being assembled, and see the actual hardware that will eventually be sent to Mars.

What was the strangest or most incredible thing that happened to you while conducting your work?

I have only been working at JPL for a few years, so I don't have very many strange or incredible stories to share, yet. But maybe the most interesting thing so far has been the time that I spent helping out a colleague on a short "Search for Non-Conventional Life" study that he was doing.

 

For that study, just a few of us formed a team and set out to do a little research into what other types of life (aside from those based on water and carbon) might arise out in space. We wanted to determine whether the types of instruments that we typically send out on spacecraft would be able to detect them. We started out by reading up on what asteroids, comets and the moons of our solar system might be made of (to get an idea of what kinds of raw materials are out there to work with). We studied the current theories about how asteroids and comets are distributed throughout the solar system and calculated how much sunlight there might be on those bodies (to get an idea of how much "free" energy organisms would have available). We talked with an Astrobiologist here at JPL, to learn about the chemical processes that organisms use to turn food into energy. We also looked into "extremophiles" here on Earth -- those are organisms that thrive in places that seem to be uninhabitable by any form of life, like under the snow in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, or inside rocks in the desert, or on the deep ocean floor, near vents of hot gases. We read about the bacteria spores that were discovered inside a camera that had been taken to the moon, left on the surface for 3 years, and then brought back during the Apollo missions. We learned that when scientists put those spores into a culture in the lab, they actually revived and started growing again! Finally, we spent some time using everything that we had studied to come up with our own ideas of new life forms that might develop on extra-terrestrial bodies in our solar system. Based on those descriptions, we came up with the types of instruments and detection methods that we thought would be useful for finding them. Of course we don't know if any of those types of organisms really exist -- but we sure learned a lot during the study. And who knows? Maybe one day we will discover life out there and find out whether we one of our ideas was close. Anyway, I had a great time with that task -- I would never have imagined getting to working on something like that.

What were your favorite books as a kid? Why?

I was a huge science fiction fan. One of the first sci-fi books that I read was A Wrinkle in Time and the sequel, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I liked those types of books because reading them was like taking a journey into the unknown -- you never knew what strange people, places and things you would find on the next page. I thought it was especially cool to think that some day, scientists and engineers might really make some of the things that were just fiction in those books; that is where the idea for the communication satellites and many other modern marvels came from, after all!

 

I also liked fantasy novels, like Dragonlance. Those were just pure fun -- I day-dreamed about what I would do if I lived in a world where magic and dragons were real. Too bad we didn't have Harry Potter back then -- but that's OK, I still get to read those now.

What was your favorite subject when you were in middle school?

I liked my science classes best in middle school (though Band ran a very close second! I played the Clarinet). I just liked finding out the details about how the world worked.

What did you think you were going to be when you grew up?

Actually, even though I loved math and science, I toyed with several possible career choices before settling on engineering when I was about 17. Some of the other things I thought I might be when I grew up were a pilot, archaeologist, or lawyer. I think being a pilot was appealing just because of the thrill of flying. Archaeology was attractive because it is all about digging for clues and figuring out what had happened in the past based on those clues. Being a lawyer seemed to me to have a lot to do with piecing clues together, too -- and debating with people to convince them that your view was right, which I also liked. And what do you know -- now my job seems to have bits of adventure, fact-finding, puzzle-solving and debating all built in.

What advice do you wish someone would have given you at the time?

I wish that someone had told me to branch out a little. Being in the band took up a lot of my spare time, but I wish that I had tried a few more things, anyway. I finally figured that out towards the end of high school and tried out acting with the drama club, and I really liked it. I wish that I had gotten into that sooner, or tried some of the other activities that were available during middle school.

Why do you think it is important for students to make comparisons between Earth and Mars, and what can we hope to learn by doing that? Why explore the solar system in general and Mars specifically?

I think that it is important for students to learn about out solar system for a number of reasons. First of all, learning about other planets teaches us a lot about our own. For instance, we know that Venus is covered in a thick layer of clouds, and it is extremely hot on the surface. That has increased our understanding of the Greenhouse Effect on our own planet. Mars is cold and dry -- but we are pretty certain that it was not always that way. Some of you may have heard the talks given by NASA scientists about what we have learned from the past Mars missions, and what we are learning from the rovers right now. In one of those talks, someone mentioned that it is important for us to know how Mars lost its water, to better understand why Earth did not, and how the Earth might continue to change over the long term.

 

I also happen to think that eventually the human race will expand beyond the Earth and make permanent colonies on the other planets and moons. If you think ahead not just 50 or 100 years, but 1000 and 2000 years into the future -- it seems inevitable to me that will happen. But our great-great-great etc. grandkids will never manage that unless they know what is out there, and we have to start gathering that information sometime!

 

Lastly, I think that it is important for people to have something awe inspiring to think and dream about -- it provides a sense of wonder and inspiration that I think is an important factor in life. I am probably biased because I have always been fascinated by space, but I think teaching kids about the solar system, and how we have already managed to reach out to so much of it, is a great way to give them that.

What one thing would you most like students to learn from participating in JASON Expedition: Mysteries of Earth and Mars?

I would most like students to get a sense that Mars is a real place, a whole world out there waiting for us -- not just a red dot up there in the sky that is too far away to be of any significance. It would be great if students developed an appreciation for what we can learn about our own planet from studying Mars and the rest of the solar system. And I would like to see them get infected with the same enthusiasm that I and many others share for space exploration.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in studying science?

I would advise them to try to keep in mind that learning is not all about memorizing facts and equations. The important thing is to learn critical thinking -- so that you will be able to think your way through new types of problems that you haven't seen before, and come up with creative solutions. That is what you really need to be successful as a scientist or engineer (and many other fields, too). Facts and equations are just tools that you use to do this; they aren't the "be all and end all" on their own.

When you are not working, what do you like to do for fun?

I am still seriously addicted to reading -- some of my current favorite authors are Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time series), J. K. Rowling (no one is too old for Harry Potter!), Stephen Baxter (great sci-fi), and still Arthur C. Clarke. I also enjoy hiking and camping, beach volleyball, roller-blading, playing with my cats, crossword puzzles, drawing, playing pool (even though I'm no good at it), and hanging out with my friends.

Any final thoughts, words of advice, personal philosophy?

This is your life -- find something that you love to do, and go for it!