Education
Received: M.S., Aerospace Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, May 2006
Received: B.S., Aerospace Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, August, 2004
Internships and Co-ops:
- Summer Intern, Intelligent Automation, Inc., Summer 2005
Employment:
- Senior Multi-Disciplined Engineer II, Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, AZ, July 2006- present
After completing my Master's degree in 2006, I was hired by the Aerodynamics Department of Raytheon Missile Systems (RMS). That year, I and my future wife moved from Troy, NY to Tucson, AZ. From 2006 to 2010 I developed aerodynamic models of RMS production products using wind tunnel data, made control surface sizing recommendations for new designs using aerodynamic predictive software tools, designed and/or conducted several major wind tunnel tests at Arnold Air-Force Development Center (AEDC) in Tennessee and Boeing's Poly-Sonic Wind Tunnel in St. Louis, and became an RMS subject matter expert (SME) on the topic of store safe separation aerodynamic modeling and testing (the modeling & testing of stores as they depart from aircraft to ensure that they don't re-contact the host aircraft after release).
In 2010, I transitioned out of RMS's Aerodynamics Department and into the Systems Test Directorate (no acronym here, as that would be unfortunate). My professional role changed to a facilitator for integration of certain RMS products with a wide variety of airborne and land-based launch platforms. In that role I have extensive experience with system-of-systems integration, MIL-STD-1553 & MIL-STD-1760 digital communication, requirement generation, laboratory testing, flight testing, and program management. I have influenced the Operational Flight Program (OFP) of every fighter currently fielded by the United States. As of 2016, I am a cost account manager (CAM) and integrated product team lead (IPTL) for multiple ongoing integration efforts of Raytheon products. My role also affords me the privilege of directly training substantial numbers of American Warfighters on the features of Raytheon products several times per year. Despite these achievements, my co-workers occasionally remind him that my title, "Senior Multi-Disciplined Engineer" is not due to the breadth of my skills, but a result of me being repeatedly disciplined by my superiors.
- Teaching Assistant for Milling, Lathing, & Welding, RPI Student Machine Ship, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, August 2001-August 2004
Other Interests:
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my wife & children, motorcycles, riding off-road vehicles, discharging a wide variety of firearms (including Title II arms), reloading custom ammunition, spectating the sport of Field & Track, and amateur carpentry.
Joined CeFPaC
August 2003
CeFPaC Experience
My introduction to Prof. Amitay came as a senior undergraduate through a capstone senior design project to literally build Miki's "flying bagel" concept. The team got our version of the bagel off the ground, but it lacked stability; which made for some interesting lab stories that will only ever be repeated over drinks. During the project, though, I received my first introduction to 3D-printing (which was still a novel technology in 2004). I designed the bagel's 3-bladed rotors in Solidworks™ and several variants were printed by the Watervliet Arsenal using stereolithography. The experience taught me that designing a rotor for maximum lift per unit RPM was the wrong optimization effort. Maximum rotor lift per unit of power consumed would have been a more appropriate choice. The bagel of 2004 also included 3D printed yaw control vanes (utilizing the infamous Clark-Y airfoil) that could affect bagel yaw either through mechanical deflection or via embedded synthetic jet actuators.
As a Master's candidate, I was exposed to 3D laser scanning of a Cessna 172 outer mold line. I modified that 3D CAD model into a design for an 18"-span wind tunnel model with interchangeable wing tips. The wind tunnel model was 3D printed using stereolithography to experimentally examine aileron effectiveness and the possibility of using synthetic jet flow control as a replacement for aileron controls. Active synthetic jet control was employed using hot-film anemometric sensors. The work culminated in my Master's Thesis, "The application of active flow control using synthetic jet actuators on unmanned aerial vehicles".
Research Area of Interest:
I am not a researcher in the traditional academic sense and do not endeavor to publish. That said, my primary professional interest is applying advanced technologies such that that no American Warfighter ever finds themselves in the regrettable condition of a fair fight--while maintaining profitability. (After all I am still, proudly, a slimy contractor.)