SPECIALTY

Engineering physics; mathematical modeling and applied mathematics.  Flight simulation.  Systems Engineering.  Engineering studies and project design and management.  Astrodynamics and Orbital Mechanics.   Spacecraft navigation and aerospace vehicle dynamics.  Theoretical Mechanics and Systems Dynamics.

SKILLS SUMMARY

Experienced professional skilled in verifying the mathematical correctness of the equations of engineering science.  Recognized abilities for analytic problem solving and deriving mathematical models of engineering systems.  Proven skills in applied/computational physics.  Space Shuttle Flight Design Integration.  Performed navigation error analysis and mission accuracy estimation in support of NASA space missions and JPL planetary missions (Magellan, Galileo and Ulysses).  Successfully supported the certification of the 777 aircraft by my efforts in Flight Test Engineering and my contributions to the efficiency and progress of the Aircraft Systems Lab.  Design and leadership of engineering studies.  Excellent customer service and computing support skills.  Successful history of scientific applications software development.  Participation on product design and development (and R&D) teams.

Oct 2013 – Present

Applied Mathematician

Researching antenna arrays (direction finding), and physics of aircraft endurance and range.

Sept 2012 – Sept 2013

Unemployed, and looking for work; self-study in Electrical Engineering and Microwave Physics; Mathematics and Physics exercises in C++.

Jan 2011 – Aug 2012

Systems Engineer

Involved in the integration and certification of airborne communications systems and computer servers.  Develop product system specifications which include the subsystem components.  Requirements capture and detailed system design, verification and test of avionics systems for commercial and military aircraft.  Work with hardware design engineers to develop hardware technologies.  Work with test engineers to write acceptance test plans (including DO-160 qualification test requirements) and conduct design verification and environmental tests.  Used PADS layout tool to verify printed circuit board stencils.  Reliability analysis and calculation of MTBFs (Mean Time Between Failure) of COBHAM products in support of FMEA analysis. 

Nov 2008 – Dec 2010

Unemployed, and looking for work; self-study in Electrical Engineering and Non-linear Dynamics.  Discovered a hypocycloid of four cusps associated with the two-body elliptical orbit.  Completed a EE course in Digital Logic Design (and FPGAs) at CWU.  Mathematics and Physics exercises in C#.

May 2008 – Oct 2008

Knowledge Engineer (Applied Mathematician – Applied Physicist)

Participated in a small development team designing advanced marine vessels, and an advanced unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), programming in EXCEL and MATLAB.

• Researched the use of Neural Nets to perform flight and mission management.
• Mentored the college intern in curve fitting (equations to data) and regression analysis.
• Enrolled in Electrical Engineering at Central Washington University, Des Moines.
• Developed a simple finite element analysis tool and model in EXCEL.

Oct 2004 – July 2007

Systems Engineer, Modeling and Simulation Specialist

• Developed an RTSP simulation model in Vensim to give Conflict Detection Performance as a function of Closest Point of Approach and Look-Ahead Time.
• Conducted research regarding the derivation of wind data from observed aircraft behavior.
• Data collection, interpretation and analysis, in the Oceanic Tailored Arrivals project.
• Proved several mathematical theorems to support a patent application.
• Derived a differential equation for the turn angle to achieve a circular passing maneuver.
• Flight test data reduction and error analysis of GPS landing studies using MATLAB.

Febr 2003 – Oct 2004

Unemployed, and looking for work; self-study in Electrical Engineering and Plasma Physics.

Mar 2001 - Feb 2003

Airport and Airspace Simulation and Modeling Engineer

• Validated model of Chicago Midway airport against standard capacity and delay statistics.
• Conducted simulation studies of terminal and enroute traffic.
• Worked with air traffic controller subject matter experts to gather simulation metrics.
• Performed UNIX Systems Administration related tasks.

Apr 1999 - Mar 2001

CATIA Applications Programmer/Engineer

Programmed in FORTRAN 77 and C, supporting Wiring Design Engineering.

• Software Testing and Customer Support.

Aug 1998 - Mar 1999

Wind Tunnel Scientific Applications Programmer/Engineer

Programmed in Visual BASIC 5.0, supporting the Flutter Model Analysis group.

Dec 1996 - Jul 1998

Structures, Loads and Dynamics Scientific Applications Programmer/Engineer

Programmed in FORTRAN 77, supporting the Nacelle and Ground Loads groups.  Software maintenance of subroutines called from ELFINIand NASTRAN.

• Off-hours training in Finite Element Analysis and Classical Control Theory.
• Built a skin-on-wooden-frame sea kayak (west Greenland style).

Apr 1996 - Nov 1996

Mar 1994 - Apr 1995

Embedded Software Programmer/Engineer

Software modeling of avionics systems, and lab testing of actual avionics hardware against a flight simulator, programming in FORTRAN 77 and C.  Co-developed the ARINC 610 simulator software functionality.  Contributed to the certification of the BOEING 777 aircraft.

• Discovered a novel derivation of the perturbation equations for the inclination and right ascension of ascending node of the orbital plane.

Oct 1990 - Mar 1994

Real-time Simulation Software Programmer/Engineer

Programmed in FORTRAN 77,maintaining the kinematics model, wind and atmosphere models, and math functions of the flight simulation software.

• Taught the class Atmospheric Disturbance Models.
• Wrotethe General Simulation Model Software User’s Guide.
• Developed a software model of a GPS receiver.
• Software maintenance, software testing, and customer support.
• Solved three important and interesting problems:
• SATCOM Antenna Attitude and Pointing Problem;
• Elevation Angle Initial Value Under Conditions of Strong Cross Wind problem;
• Geometric solution for finding the correct quadrant when using Sodano’s equations to derive the heading angle.

Jun 1987 – Sep 1990

Navigation Technology Engineer

Performed navigation instrument error analysis and mission accuracy estimation, using Monte Carlo methods to achieve distribution-free statistics, in support of NASA and US Air Force space missions using the Boeing-built Inertial Upper Stage.

• Wrote software to express the coordinate transformation from the IUS to the Space Shuttle as a quaternion, which won a NASA competition.
• Supported the Magellan, Galileo and Ulysses planetary missions.
• Solo ascent of Mt. Adams, July 1990; ascents of Mt. Rainier, June 1988 and July 1989.

Dec 1986 – Jun 1987

Space Shuttle Robotics & Manipulator Systems Engineer

Supported NASA’s Mission Planning and Analysis Division, developing and validating procedures to be followed by space shuttle payload specialists when operating the shuttle arm.

• Received training in Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems.

Jul 1986 – Dec 1986

Space Shuttle & Payloads Structural Analysis Engineer

Supported NASA’s Engineering Operations Directorate, using NASTRANto calculate loads and stresses between the shuttle and payload during launch.

Nov 1984 – Jun 1986

Space Shuttle Flight Design Integration Engineer, Trajectory Specialist

Supported NASA’s Missions Operations Directorate, Flight Dynamics & Design Division.

• Managed the activities of the major flight design groups to produce a complete flight design profile for NASA space shuttle missions:
• Launch Opportunity and Launch Window Analysis.
• On-Orbit Trajectory Design.
• Landing Opportunity Selection.
• Taught the Spacelab and Astronomical Payloads Launch Window Analysis and Design class and prepared its training document.

Jun 1984 – Nov 1984

Shuttle Mission Simulator Software Documentation Engineer

Analyzed FORTRAN 77 subroutines in the Space Shuttle Training Simulator software and derived the math models therein.  Evening course in mathematical modeling and Markov chains.

Spring 2007

Autonomous Meteorological Data Derivation, APP 7784-1037, awarded March 2008.

Fall 2008

Earned a grade of “A” in the class “Digital Circuits” at Central Washington University at Des Moines, WA.  The course included a brief introduction to FPGAs.

Aug 1986

M. S. Mathematics,  The University of Houston at Clear Lake, TX

Minor: Astrodynamics

May 1982

M. S. E. Aerospace Engineering (Orbital Mechanics), The University of Texas at Austin, TX

Minors/Electives: Astronomy (Astrometry and Celestial Mechanics), Mathematics, Danish, Fluid Mechanics, Computer Science, Physical Chemistry, Swedish.

May 1977

B. S. Physics, Texas A&M University at Kingsville (formerly Texas A&I University), TX

Minors/Electives: Mathematics, Norwegian, German, Computer Science.

    Dean’s List, Spring Semester 1976.

1972-1975

Wrestling team, 192 lb weight class, University of Texas at Austin.

Nov 1991

Taught the class Wind and Atmospheric Disturbance Models to the flight systems simulation engineers working at BOEING’s Aircraft Systems Laboratory.

Nov 1990 – May 1992

Wrote chapters 3, 4.3, 5.13, 6 and 9 of the General Simulation Model Software User’s Guide for BOEING’s Aircraft Systems Laboratory.

May 1986

Taught the class Spacelab and Astronomical Payloads Launch Window Analysis and Design to the Flight Design Engineers under contract to NASA’s Missions Operations Directive, Flight Dynamics and Design Division.  I also prepared the training manual and course contents for this class.

Jan 1978 – May 1978

Taught 2 sections of Engineering Dynamics for the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, the University of Texas at Austin.

Sep 1976 – Dec 1977

Tutored undergraduate students for the Mathematics Department, Texas A&M University at Kingsville.

Jan 1976 – July 1977

Taught undergraduate Physics laboratories for the Physics Department, Texas A&M University at Kingsville.