Rudy Gostowski Email & Phone Number

Rudy Gostowski is an accomplished educator and scientist with a demonstrated history of mentoring students and solving technical problems. After completing a Doctoral program in Chemistry at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, he became a tenured Associate Professor at Austin Peay State University, where he taught Analytical Chemistry, and conducted research in organic radicals with undergraduate students as fellow investigators. Following seven years of teaching and research, he joined NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to become a Propulsion Chemist and Materials Scientist. At MSFC, he developed and tested hypergolic fuel / hydrogen peroxide combinations, all while working with student interns. His continued commitment to education led him to being the founding Coordinator of the MSFC Propulsion Academy and a two-year assignment as Education Portfolio Manager at the NASA Headquarters Office of Education. As a NASA Administrator’s Fellow, he was a Visiting Professor for two years at Fisk University, a Historically Black College / University (HBCU), where, with Dr. Kent Wallace, founded a student rocket team to compete in the NASA Student Launch Initiative. As colleagues and friends, they continually engaged in dialogue focused on student development. Near the end of his tenure at MSFC, Dr. Gostowski joined the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) group to develop methods for measuring the efficiency of absorbents used in recycling carbon dioxide from crew cabin environments. In 2014, he left NASA and became a tenured Instructor at Triton College, a Hispanic-Serving Institution, where he continued to guide scholars on their path to achieve STEM careers. At Triton and along with student researchers, he investigated the connection of light and heat exposure to the yellowing of artist’s varnishes. This study required the students to fabricate an artificial aging chamber and a Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS) instrument. From 2020 to 2022, he was the faculty sponsor of a NASA-MINDS team at Triton that designed and built a rocket thruster to use hydrogen peroxide as the propellant. Fabrication of the thruster included formation of manganese dioxide on alumina support decomposition catalyst. In the Summer of 2022, Dr. Gostowski returned to Fisk University as Associate Professor of Chemistry. There, he works with the now Dean of Graduate Studies, Dr. Kent Wallace. Together they guide the Fisk Rocket and Balloon Technology Team to build high altitude balloons and sounding rockets for atmospheric studies.

Listed skills include Chemistry, Materials Science, Aerospace, Teaching, and 31 others.

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  Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

  Chemistry