PLEDGE CLASS: Gamma
What were you involved in while at Penn?
I was involved in Mask and Wig (cast member), Theta Tau, and that was pretty much it! I was a MEAM major and did work study in Professor Mark Yim's Modlab.
What have you been up to since graduating?
I have been working for Lockheed Martin Space since right after I graduated! It has been a fantastic journey and I love working here. I have worked on GPS, commercial satellites, ICBMs, and dozens of research and development projects. LM paid for me to get my master's degree in Aerospace Engineering at USC.
In my current role, I lead a team of Guidance, Navigation, and Control engineers developing hypersonic (faster than Mach 5!) vehicles for various branches of the DoD. Our team develops all of our simulation and analysis tools in-house, as well as the flight software for steering these vehicles.
I have been in the Philadelphia area since graduating and just last year finally made the move out to the suburbs. When I'm not working, I can typically be found on the golf course or cooking with my fiance. Over the last year or so, I've been doing a lot of woodworking which has taken me back to my MEAM roots.
What was the biggest change, going from college to career?
Going to bed early! Seriously! It took me forever to realize that I didn't need to stay up past midnight everyday.
Other than that, the biggest change was dealing with the fact that every task and project is a group project. Just dealing with things like configuration management, interfaces between everyone's work products, and how many systems are in place to keep everyone in lockstep--it was a big change. If you aren't working in those systems, documenting your work, and getting buy-in from others, your work isn't useful to anyone.
What was/is your favorite thing about Theta Tau? Favorite OT events/memories?
My favorite part of Theta Tau was getting to be co-pledge master with my good friend Jamie McCarthy. Tau Gamma was so new (it was still a colony!) that we could pretty much invent whatever we wanted and call it tradition...do you still get a pledge brick to carry around???
Do you have any advice for us still here at Penn?
My engineering recommendation is to write as much code as you can, no matter what type of engineering you are studying. It will make you more dangerous in any field and is a transferable skill.
My life advice is don't worry too much about what job you get right out of school. Obviously, it's great if you land your dream job, but don't put too much pressure on it. I hated my first job but I learned a ton and it helped put me on the path to where I am today.
Anything else you’d like to share with/say to the brotherhood:
Don't skip class and try to avoid the all-nighters :)