ALUMNI PROFILES AND FEATURES

drones, I would not have dreamed I could bring them into the classroom to have students program and test!” he said. “The field of technology and science keep me engaged and fascinated. And as a teacher, if I am engaged in what I am learning and teaching, I hope that translates enthusiasm to my students.”

T.J.’s classroom motto is “Teach Like Your Hair is On Fire” – to teach with enthusiasm and care for his students. He works hard to bring opportunities from different fields into his STEAM classroom, connecting students to incredible learning opportunities.

“I think this next generation will need to be comfortable with implementing technology and programming into their chosen field of work and study. I do like how some states are making computer science programming an alternative replacement course to either a science or math, or even a foreign language, requirement,” he said. “There will need to be some more flexibility and alternatives in terms of pathways to tech skills. But in all this, we can not lose our humanity and humility. Technology cannot solve problems that are from the heart and the mind. We are fallible and imperfect and need God to save and transform us.” T.J. has provided his students with the chance to Zoom with a pediatric heart transplant surgeon in San Antonio, TX, after learning from a heart dissection; welcomed a brain researcher entrepreneur to teach in his science lab; has had Navy experts show students their responsibilities and followed that by an atmospheric experiment; and Zoom-called a SpaceX engineer so his students could ask questions. He also takes students to Science Olympiad and robotics competitions.

“Teaching STEM is an exciting place to be. I get to hopefully inspire my students through the subjects and lessons and projects. I hope to tap into their potential and expand their range, expand their perceived limitations, or their self-imposed limitations (fixed mindset versus growth mindset),” said T.J. “If I can be engaged and excited about what we are learning, I hope that will inspire and excite most of my students. I love learning and I love working with young people. Maybe that’s why teaching is God’s calling for me.”

He sees teachers as life coaches, there to encourage their students through fun and engage them with hands-on learning while setting goals they can support them to achieve, in STEAM and beyond the classroom walls.

“I am most proud of encouraging my students and supporting them through their success, not just in my class, but in life. I am most proud of any lasting fun and encouragement I can provide my students, and that they know I care for them, not only as my student but also as a person. I do think it is a privilege and an honor.”

T.J. graduated from Columbia College Chicago with an undergraduate degree in animation and earned his M.Ed. from Wayland Baptist University.

Robert, his wife Cynthia, and their children, Ace and Aviana.

in hand. “Science hypothesizes an answer to a question, then attempts to prove that answer as truth, thereby reaching into the unknown to discover truths about reality. Technology enables us to propose design solutions to valuable questions,” he said. “If we ignore technology, our scientific answers may be irrelevant to society. If we ignore emerging science, we won’t build technology that drives progress. The best engineering applies our discoveries to better civilization, usually enabled by effective business teamwork.”

His approach extends to his small business, AirMorph. Robert is building a prototype in his garage and just published “Enabling Local Aerial Mobility (LAM): Design of an Ultralight Solar Distributed-ElectricPropulsion Short-Takeoff-and-Landing (STOL) Aircraft Recumbent-Electric-Bike Hybrid” (www.airmorph.com). The article covers commuting by aircraft in a safe, economical, sustainable, easily-usable and socially accepted way.

“Autopilots enable people to fly aircraft with single-digit hours of training, and unmanned systems will enable more efficient logistics at many aircraft scales. We’ve been dreaming of a future where we fly where we want to go since before The Jetsons and most of the hurdles are now regulatory, not technical,” Robert said of the project. “I want to enable people to fly daily, saving people from spending years of their life in transit and inspiring them to build further and ‘leave the surly bonds of earth.’”

Jenn credits Lew Ritter’s physics class for helping her realize that math, something abstract, could be practically applied to the world.

“I think that class really did inspire me to pursue aerospace engineering in undergrad. It gave me the confidence that engineering is basically applied math, and I had experience doing that, so even when that major got hard, I stuck with it because I had developed confidence early,” she said. “In my work at NASA I get to directly mentor early career folks, but I also get to see how hundreds of innovators across technology areas (ranging from robotics to lunar mining to earth remote sensing) across numerous sectors (industry, academia, NASA workforce) are advancing the possible and inspiring our imaginations.”

With her field changing so quickly, there are things happening now that previously were unthinkable, such as commercial spaceflight.

“Twenty years ago it was a science fiction fantasy, 10 years ago it got closer to reality with the first Space X cargo delivery to the space station, and today we are seeing the first commercial suborbital and orbital flights,” said Jenn.

Another big movement she’s involved in is the sustained commitment to the Artemis program – the goal to return a human to the moon – across administrations.

“This gives us a clear path to return people to the lunar surface, this time to stay, since that kind of work requires a sustained multiyear commitment across administrations and political parties,” said Jenn. “I am proud that NASA continues to believe and invest in the people, ideas, and innovation that can help us discover, explore, and make the world better. The organizations I lead invest in early stage, breakthrough ideas, and we have an appetite for risk that enables us to change the possible. That’s a pretty cool job, but it’s also a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly. NASA inspires, empowers, and pushes us all to think above ourselves, our neighborhoods, and our countries, and to reflect on the fragile and beautiful planet that humanity enjoys, needs, and should steward with extreme care and gratitude. There isn’t another Earth for a long, long way.”

“I have always been interested in the intersection of technology, policy and innovation. So often technical and scientific decisions with profound effects on people are made without all the appropriate technical voices and perspectives at the table. I feel compelled to put my technical ability to use for public benefit, and to bring a systems thinking approach and technical quotient or “TQ” to the policy making table.”

Jenn, who has an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida and a master’s of science in technology policy from MIT, lives in Washington D.C. She was featured in Popular Mechanics in 2014 in this photo. Photo credit: Philip Friedman