About

Major: Mathematics

Career path:

  • Master of Science in Mathematics from Colorado State University
  • Employed in the aerospace industry on a number of NASA astrophysics missions
  • Currently develops commercial products for satellite and airline industries
  • In 2004, received the NASA Group Achievement Award for his participation on the Spitzer Space Telescope Team
  • In 2006, was awarded a letter of accommodation for the design of NASA’s Kepler Telescope
“Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” (Isaiah 40:26-28)

See his #MyTaborStory on Tabor Webcast, Tabor’s YouTube channel!

In a world where:

Life choices are endless…  Mentors come and go…   Science and God seem at odds…

As a kid I remember looking up at the stars and dreaming about what it might be like to explore. One of the things that inspired me, my dad had some friends who were in science. One particular friend was on the design team for the cockpit of the space shuttle. It was that involvement, and my love of space and exploration that really got me thinking about what I wanted to do in my career.

 

I needed:

To follow my heart…  To test my wings… To pursue a future that challenged me…

I’m an explorer. I grew up knowing about Tabor and even visiting there. I really do think that exploration might have been instilled in my core as a kid, but Tabor opened up the door to exploration. I do believe college was a time when who I am emerged. If I look at what college did for me, I became who I am. I don’t know if there was a set time when I said I’m going to be an engineer. It kind of evolved.

 

Tabor provided:

Life-defining experiences… A broad education… Opportunities for leadership

Tabor allowed me to have a lot of experiences that are life-defining. That’s what going to a liberal arts college allows you to do. A lot that I learned about leadership during my time at Tabor are life lessons for what I’m doing today. What motivated me with Kepler and space exploration in general, was a desire on my part to learn more about what God created. I do believe that God created an amazing universe, and we are only scratching the surface of understanding it. So when I’m allowed to be part of a mission that helps answer one of those questions about our universe, I think it’s just one more piece of the puzzle that God allowed me to be a part of, and it reinforces how amazing this world is and how amazing God is. Before Kepler went up, existence of earth-sized planets around sun-like stars was unknown. To be a part of the mission of rewriting the history books is quite a privilege. It’s the goal of every explorer.