Supporting instrument relocation, reactivation and commissioning, and the return to routine operations with heightened automation

I am currently serving a variety of functions across a small number of operational missions at NASA and USGS. My focus is to bring prior experience from prior flight control experience to help grow teams, improve workflows, and generally help the realtime flight operations community improve in quality, efficiency, and effectiveness for the US civil-scientific space exploration programs.

As a member of a small, elite group of sustaining engineers, I operated the GEDI payload, a space-based LIDAR attached to the International Space Station. My duties included realtime operations (including manual commanding for special activities and anomaly recovery), mission planning, deep-dive subsystem analysis, improving automation processes, and providing updated and expanded documentation to maximize data capture.

Provided Instrument Remote Support Unit (IRSU) monitoring during I&T activities, engineering analysis of trending of thermal components, and contributed to the pre-ship and pre-launch readiness campaigns.

Teaches two courses (AE-451 "Vehicle Propulsion and Structures" and AE-455 "Satellite Communications"), including instruction, curriculum development, and course-oriented project development and evaluation. I actively engage my 3rd and 4th year students with routine coursework, individual and group assignments, and hands-on, real-world applications and interpretations of their engineering work. I also support their efforts for capstone projects and job placement in the aerospace industry.

Assisting in development of open-source space hardware for this 501c3 nonprofit.

As a member of a small Flight Operations Team (FOT), I performed a variety of services and functions, many of which overlap or interface with teams around the country and in a number of other companies and contracts. Key efforts included: - Providing rapid-response support after onboard spacecraft equipment failures and software malfunctions, including a solar array drive failure and a guidance/navigation filter bug, both of which caused a transition to observatory safe mode. My team and I responded within an hour to each anomaly, guaranteed spacecraft and science instrument safety, produced operational products to both restore normal operations and prevent further recurrences, and executed recovery operations in concert with the science operations and GSFC engineering teams. - Maintaining, developing, modernizing, and operating the Mission Operations Center (MOC) Training Simulator (MTS), a software-based system used to validate products, test procedures, and train the FOT - Developed, tested, refined, and implemented new products used for controlling the spacecraft and maintaining the ground system and networks/interfaces. This included written Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and computer scripts. Additionally, I inspected, recertified, modernized, and enhanced existing products to match new operations concepts and technical conditions. - Developed training plans and oversaw simulations and drills to ensure the FOT was ready and able to perform key operations - Routine duties included mission planning; communications scheduling; nominal and anomaly-recovery commandingI developed skills, knowledge, and experience in the field of spacecraft Flight Software (FSW), the realtime operating systems and applications running onboard the spacecraft. A particular field of interest is the interface between software and hardware layers in the CPU, FPGAs, and comm buses.

Multiple functions in the Mission Operations Center of the Landsat 8 mission. Primary responsibilities include overseeing day-to-day spacecraft operations and systems monitoring for onboard Command and Data Handling, RF Communications, and Flight Software subsystems.Other duties included:- Providing and coordinating flight ops team training, both on local systems and mission-specific hardware and on institutional systems and practices (for example, comsec policies). This included training and certifying new hires for on-console operations.- Operating and maintaining multiple hardware and software observatory simulators- Assisting with spacecraft and ground system automation process development- Assisting with operations concept and post-launch capability enhancement efforts, developing, testing, and implementing

Lead development, testing and enhancement of the DMS, a system to move files between computers and networks in support of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM)/Landsat-8 Mission Operations Center (MOC). Developed, implemented, maintained, and enhanced the DMS, a key component to maintaining mission operations automation for the LDCM/Landsat 8 mission. Duties included documentation, team training, software coding and troubleshooting, opscon development, and proactive development of additional automation functions in the control center.

Oversees command and control of Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM, also called Landsat 8). Until launch, scheduled in February 2013, assists in training, mission readiness tests, procedure development and testing. After launch, will be POC and Flight Operations Team (FOT) member responsible for day-to-day mission operations of the satellite and any troubleshooting required. Lead OC duties include representing the FOT in various meetings, spacecraft tests, and other critical-path activites; coordinating personnel and test objectives; and representing the team to current and future customers of the LDCM.

I produced procedures, assisted with crew training, and oversaw and executed operations for the space shuttle and ISS robotic arms. I was fully certified to perform ground control remote operation of the station robotic arm, and have participated in several high-profile activities in support of the space station's assembly. In total, I sat console on six shuttle flights and one space station increment, with additional ad-hoc support for several other activities and shuttle flights. I also participated in the simulation working group to develop and implement new simulations for training flight operations personnel.

Wrote industry news and campus interest articles for college newspaper, proofread articles and pages, and assisted in the newspaper's publication process. Inducted into Society for Collegiate Journalists. Served one year as News Editor and two years as Chief Copy Editor.

Provided one-on-one reviews with students for various writing assignments, from one page freewriting to technical writing to final reports and masters theses. Interactively gave feedback, answered questions, helped with research and organization skills, and some basic ESOL help on an unofficial basis.

Produced, developed and taught lesson plans for fifth and sixth grade students at a summer day camp. Lessons included ancient Roman culture and legacies, including military, domestic and political systems.