Teaching

Summary

  • Missouri University of Science and Technology, Fall 2001 to present: Teaching courses at the junior, senior, and graduate level in aerospace engineering (astrodynamics and spacecraft design).
  • Introduced four new courses at Missouri S&T: two are part of the senior design sequence in which students design and build a small spacecraft, the third is an advanced course in Astrodynamics targeted to graduate students, and the fourth introduces sophomore-level students to spacecraft design basics by launching student-built small payloads on a high-altitude balloon.
  • San José State University, 1990 to 2001: Taught courses from the freshman level through MS graduate student level. Required teaching load was four three-credit courses per semester. Courses in aerospace and mechanical engineering were taught. Subjects included dynamics, astrodynamics, flight mechanics, vibrations, aerospace vehicle design, space systems engineering, and analytic and numeric analysis.

Teaching Highlights

  1. Advisor and Principal Investigator for the M-SAT (Missouri University of Science and Technology Satellite) research team. As part of the Nanosat-4/6/7/8/9/10 programs funded by the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and AIAA, students designed and constructed microsatellites to compete with ~ten other universities for a launch into Earth orbit. Students actively collaborate with the Air Force, NASA, and industry members to craft and hone their designs. Multiple formal design reviews were held on and off campus. The team finished in second place in the Nanosat-7 round and was named the Most Improved Team in Nanosat-4. The team placed first in the Nanosat-8 competition in January 2015 (participation is by invitation only through a competitive proposal process). The Air Force is now actively seeking a launch opportunity to Earth orbit for the current M-SAT spacecraft. A new spacecraft (CubeSat) is also under development sponsored by NASA funding with a launch opportunity expected in early 2024.
  2. Co-founded (with graduate student Yezad Anklesaria) the Missouri S&T High-Altitude Balloon program. The high-altitude balloon satellite program at Missouri S&T began in Summer 2013 as a summer camp experience for high school students and has since expanded to include a required sophomore-level course taken by all aerospace engineering undergraduate students. This program was initially developed to provide hands on experience in spacecraft design early in students’ education. Dr. Jillian Schmidt joined this program in 2015, bringing additional experience to the team from her work with the University of Minnesota Stratospheric Ballooning Team as an undergraduate student. Since the inception of this program, Missouri S&T has conducted more than 20 successful balloon launches and recoveries. Missouri S&T is participating in the National Ballooning Eclipse Project from 2022- 2024 (through an invitation-only proposal process).
  3. Primary advisor for a group of undergraduate students (“Miners in Space”) that flew multiple times on NASA’s “Vomit Comet” (AKA the Weightless Wonder) including June 2014, June 2013, June 2012, January 2009, July 2008, April 2007, July 2005, and July 2003. The Weightless Wonder is an aircraft modified by NASA that flies on parabolic arcs to create near-weightless conditions that simulate space travel. The Miners in Space are among a group of students selected by NASA from a competitive proposal submission process. Their experiments successfully tested the administration of CPR during spaceflight, arc welding and a cold-gas propulsion system for microsatellites in the Weightless Wonder’s near-weightless environment.
  4. Currently using the Space Systems Engineering lab in support of the overall astronautics curriculum through individual experiments that focus on the disciplines of spaceflight. A ground station has been completed that downlinks weather maps (visual and infrared) from NOAA spacecraft. This lab is also being used to design and fabricate small spacecraft to be placed into Earth orbit, both as a teaching exercise and for research purposes. A clean room is operational in the lab along with workbenches and various hand tools. Two senior-graduate level courses in spacecraft design were developed and offered that use this lab.
  5. Graduate students Shannah Withrow-Maser and Bradyn Morton presented a paper entitled “On-Orbit CubeSat Performance Validation of a Multi-Mode Micropropulsion System” at the 31st Conference on Small Satellites in Logan, Utah, held August 7-10, 2017. Their oral presentation and paper earned Honorable Mention with each receiving a $1,250 cash prize in a competition with five other university student papers invited to the conference in a refereed selection process.
  6. Undergraduates Kevin King and Edward Nickel of The Miners in Space team placed first in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) SciTech 2014 International Student Conference held at the National Harbor, Maryland.
  7. Undergraduate student Keith LeGrand presented a paper entitled “Initial Relative Orbit Determination Using Stereoscopic Imaging and Gaussian Mixture Models” at the 27th Conference on Small Satellites in Logan, Utah, held August 12-15, 2013. His oral presentation and paper earned second place and a $7,500 cash prize in a competition with five other university student papers invited to the conference in a refereed selection process.
  8. Undergraduate students Levi Malott and Pasha Palangpour presented a paper entitled “Small Spacecraft Software Modeling: A Petri Net-Based Approach” at the 27th Conference on Small Satellites in Logan, Utah, held August 12-15, 2013. Their oral presentation and paper earned third place and a $5,000 cash prize in a competition with five other university student papers invited to the conference in a refereed selection process.
  9. Graduate student Ryan Pahl and undergraduate student Christopher Tutza presented a paper entitled “Design, Test, and Validation of a Refrigerant-Based Cold-Gas Propulsion System for Small Satellites” at the 24th Conference on Small Satellite in Logan, Utah, held August 9-12, 2010. Their oral presentation and paper earned them first place and a $10,000 cash prize in a competition with five other university student papers invited to the conference in a refereed selection process.
  10. Graduate students Michael Dancer and Jason Searcy presented a paper entitled “Attitude/Orbit Determination and Control for the UMR SAT Mission” at the 21st Conference on Small Satellite in Logan, Utah, held August 13-16, 2007. Their oral presentation and paper earned them first place and a $10,000 cash prize in a competition with five other university student papers invited to the conference in a refereed selection process.