Biography
"Knowledge is only useful in the context of creativity"
I currently work for NASA Langley Research Center as a Research Aerospace Engineer. In the summer of 2017 I received my Masters of Science in Structural Engineering with minors in both Business Administration and Construction Management from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I have published over a dozen papers on ceramic matrix composites with a specific focus in characterizing material behavior in extreme environments. I received the best paper award at the 2019 Joint Army Navy NASA AirForce (JANNAF) conference APS subcommittee with a study investigating the effects of thermal loading on refractory composites.
While in undergrad, I served as the President of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics UNL student chapter (AIAA). I have experience in high power rocket design and launches after taking a lead role in the 2011 and 2014 Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC). I was also an active member of the 2011-2012 University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) and led the 2013 USLI team. In 2013, I also took part the RockSatC program assisting in the design of PEKK 3D printed battery plates. These battery plates were designed as key structural component to power another experiment during space flight. The other experiments goal was to verify the reliability and usage of Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pump in a microgravity environment. The EHD pump is the leading method in non-mechanical cooling methods for space applications. Both of these experiments brought me to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, giving the team and I the resources needed to complete our goals and tasks.
I had Jake as a physics and astronomy teacher in high school over a decade ago. At the time I wanted to be an architect and design highrise structures. But I noticed that my passion toward creating was limited by the laws of physics and not aesthetics so I went into engineering. I only found this out with my own discoveries derived from curiosity driven lectures and experiments. The vehicle for that was rocketry.
Turn the clock ahead when I served as the AIAA Outreach Coordinator in 2013, I had the idea to join up with Jake Winemiller to start the mission of improving the science classroom in public schools. Teaching to curiosity and letting the drive of the student take the wheel is so much more important than memorizing equations and taking tests. I hope we can instill our philosophy of teaching to teachers all over the world.