Top aerospace minds discuss career lessons learned

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  A recent American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics(AIAA)-hosted presentation on "lessons learned during a career in aerospace" provided a forum for aerospace engineers from around the country to meet and discuss ongoing challenges.

Guest panelists for the event, held at the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI), included Dr. Ed Kraft, Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) chief technologist; Dr. David Elrod, Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) general manager; Steve Pearson, ATA deputy general manager; Lowell Keel, former ATK vice-president for X-Programs and X-43 program manager; and Don Sauvageau, ATK space systems director of advanced space programs.

ATA is the mission support contractor for AEDC.

They discussed key lessons learned from their time in the aerospace industry, on hypersonic programs, space transportation and AEDC's ground test capabilities in support of the aerospace industry for more than 50 years.

Peter Montgomery, AEDC Space and Missiles deputy product branch manager, said the event, which was hosted by the local AIAA chapter, was important for several reasons, but he felt it was a good first step in addressing one particular issue.

"The aerospace industry is at a critical crossroads," he said. "A steadily increasing percentage of the aerospace work force is approaching eligibility for retirement, and there is a high risk of not having enough engineers and scientists in the education pipeline to step in for those that will soon depart the industry.

"It is therefore very important to inspire tomorrow's aerospace workers and those who will lead them to pursue a long-term career in the industry, while preserving and passing on the key lessons the current leaders have learned during their time in the industry."

Montgomery, who chaired the presentation, added, "Events like this are important because they provide a forum to reach out and connect with the next generation, encouraging them to join the industry, reminding those currently in the industry what makes this such an amazing career field, and inspiring those with experience in the industry to step up into leadership roles."

Dr. Stan Powell, an AEDC Fellow and an ATA engineering specialist, said the local AIAA chapter's choice of participants and topics covered provided a valuable opportunity for everyone who attended to find common cause on several issues.

"Those guys on that panel deal with much more difficult problems than I do, but listening to them is very good because they're bright guys and they've got the best interest of this place and the people who work here at heart," he said. "And they care about the things that are important, like integrity and that's something we haven't talked about and we absolutely have to."

Dr. Powell, who came to AEDC in 1978 after completing his doctoral degree in aerospace and mechanical engineering from Iowa State University, said integrity is high on his list of things needing to be addressed, especially among his peers at events like this presentation.

"The number one thing, and I was glad that they brought it up, is whatever you do, whether you're an engineer or someone cutting the grass or whatever, you've got to maintain your integrity," he said. "If you give that away, you've got nothing left. No matter how bright you are, if a person knows that you have compromised your integrity, they've got every reason to ignore you."

Montgomery said the panelists at the presentation represented a good cross-section of the aerospace community.

"This group of speakers had experiences that cut across many different parts of the aerospace industry, including aviation, hypersonics, solid rocket and space transportation system development, aerospace ground testing, modeling and simulation, aerospace technology development and more," he said. "With such a broad background of experiences, it provided something for everyone in attendance, and I believe the event was enjoyed by all who could join us."

Rick Gamble, ATA's Space and Missiles Product Branch manager, was impressed by the event's speakers on several levels. He said the senior leaders who addressed those attending the event had clearly given their best effort during each stage of their careers and this paid off in preparing them for subsequent assignments.

"They all chose, or were open to, assignments when presented, but they didn't seem to think that 'I need to try this specialty or that so that I can get promoted,'" Gamble said.

It was his impression that these senior leaders had used their experiences to advise and mentor their respective staffs, peers and subordinates on career planning, setting goals and the best ways to achieve those goals.

Gamble also spoke about another topic the panelists brought up during their presentation, the subject of risk.

"Part of my role is to inform the local decision-makers of the risks present in our undertakings and advise them on a course of action," he said.

Dr. Powell agreed with Gamble's approach and said dealing with risk is a balancing act between avoiding it to the point testing is less effective and being reckless and thereby potentially endangering personnel and damaging ground testing facilities and infrastructure.

In essence, Dr. Powell indicated that in regard to ground testing, a measured and intelligent approach to risk-taking was essential, taking into the account that risks are inherent in that process. He emphasized an intelligent approach to testing that would allow valuable lessons to be learned in the process.

"That's why you 'test before flight,'" he said.

Dr. Leo Daniel, the Martin Luther King Jr., visiting professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, was one of those who had been in the area to attend the recent Joint Propulsion Conference in Nashville.

"I attended this event to learn more from these great leaders in aerospace engineering," he said. "[I wanted to know] what made them very successful in the 1960s, a fit that is very uncommon in today's aerospace industry. I learned about perseverance, determination and encouragement, which will form a benchmark in professional development."

Dr. Daniel felt the presentation was excellent overall and added, "All presented a convincing argument and it is well worth repeating. I enjoyed every moment of it and I look forward to another round of such a meeting."

Another person who attended the presentation was Ron Schlagheck, a former NASA program manager for the materials science research projects, who retired in 2006.

He was in the area representing the AIAA and Arnold Community Council to assist them with getting congressional support for various projects for both NASA and AEDC.

"I am in a learning process for the needs [of] AEDC and [its] mission since I am new to the area," he explained. "I also was trying to set up a visit with Dr. [Robert] Moore, UTSI's executive director to get a better understanding of the future needs for UTSI and how AIAA can help."

Schlagheck said, "I was involved in, among other things, the investigative experiments that required microgravity to solve the physics and chemistry equations. Previously, Ron was the Hubble Space Telescope Director for on-orbit systems verification. I worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville for more than 37 years before retiring in 2006."

With a master's in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida and a doctorate work in Systems Engineering at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Schlagheck had worked many cross-discipline projects for NASA, both on the domestic and international scale.

"I decided to participate in this meeting because I wanted to see if the panel's career lessons learned were common in nature or matched many of my own personal experiences while I was employed," he said. "No matter where you worked and what projects you were responsible for you, there are many common traits and underlying work discipline principles that makes projects successful."

One of Schlagheck's biggest concerns, like many of his peers, is the future of aerospace engineering and the state of academics in support of that field.

"With the current nature of higher productivity and extreme schedule pressure, the business of mentoring younger engineers and 'dumbing down' the answer/decision for management is not what I experienced in the first 20 years of my career in NASA," he acknowledged. "As schedule deadlines and resources became more critical, the time 'pie' for allocating good supervisor practices and individual mentoring with the junior employee has been reduced and is not considered as important in many aerospace job environments."

He also spoke about the issue of risk and risk taking in ground testing.

"You have to always take risks in engineering and management decisions in order to balance the project end product performance, available resources and schedule limitations," he said. "Of course, the key factor behind trading off the correct level of risks is in the project assumptions made.

"On many projects, the time pressures don't allow you to adequately investigate the underlying factors used to assign the proper risk level made in determining the end product."

Like Dr. Powell and Gamble, Dr. Schlagheck spoke of striking a balance, but not allowing limitations to escalate risk avoidance when it is not warranted.

"If there are too many unknowns where overall risk cannot be estimated with reasonable certainty, the engineer/manager needs to push back and get more time to analyze," he said. "More group input needs to be made in working through the project/program risks. Too many times, just the manager in his/her office does the assessment in a vacuum. I would like to help in this area, in order to grow a stronger work force for future AEDC project opportunities."

Looking toward the future, he said, "Aerospace for the next two decades or more will have to be more innovative and creative to be able to compete for the government and international market share for new projects. Commercial, government (i.e., NASA and civilian agencies) and military will need to come up with new approaches to balance the customer requirements against measured project evaluation factors (cost and schedule) and political influence."

The presentation was organized by the AIAA Space Transportation Technical Committee, supported and promoted by the local AIAA Tennessee Section and their partner societies in the Arnold Association of Professional Societies.