Thomas Leps Email & Phone Number

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station

College Park, Md

Pasadena, Ca

Integrated JPL technologies into UMD robotics research.

Houston, Texas

Built a test stand and procedure for running optical navigation simulations using the the proposed flight hardware for Orion EM-1. Built camera calibration images using repurposed, legacy optical hardware. Worked with flight hardware star tracker for EM1 mission. Found and isolated a software glitch in the flight camera and worked with the vendor to implement a fix.

Johnson Space Center

Testing, and proofing for hardware and algorithms used for backup optical navigation on the Orion Crew Vehicle.

Durango, Co

Design new labs, repair lab equipment, help with day to day and ABET reaccreditation administrative/organizational tasks, teach lower division lab classes, operate a 16" telescope observatory, and aid with senior design projects as well as other student projects.

Fruita, Co

I helped reverse engineer fan designs and develop new job quote procedures, designed fan systems for several major bids, and helped with the final assembly and testing of the Wall of Wind project for Florida International University, after the lead engineer was unexpectedly lost.

Prototyped, built, debugged, and repaired surface mount electronics.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Aerospace Engineering

Researching magnetorheological fluids, granular mechanics of magnetized and self gravitating grains, robotics, and asteroid plasma.

Bs & Ba, Physics, And Mathematics

Wrote theses on black hole thermodynamics and fractional order calculus.