Amentum is shining a spotlight on the talented engineers who are helping us to create a secure and vibrant future.
What is your role at Amentum?
I am an associate chief engineer.
Describe a typical workday at Amentum for you (Day in The Life):
The great thing about working in Integration is that every day is different than the day before. One minute I might be reviewing engineering drawings for a new system we’re building, then I might be working with our operations team to overcome a challenge we’re facing with our vehicle processing, and then I’ll be in launch control center going through a training simulation to prepare for the Artemis-2 launch.
What do you enjoy about working for Amentum and what do you find most rewarding about supporting the Intelligence Community?
I really like the people I work with. Every day I get the opportunity to experience the great things that Amentum employees are doing to get Americans back to the moon. I’m constantly learning new things from them.
Sometimes when work is stressful, I’ll look at the vehicle assembly building and remember what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and that helps motivate me
What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering, and how has it shaped your journey at Amentum?
In high school I was leaning towards becoming an architect, but one evening I saw a tv show called BattleBots, and that changed my life. The next day I went through a catalog of careers in my high school guidance councilors office looking for whatever profession would allow me to build BattleBots, and I saw that mechanical engineers built robots, and from them on I just wanted to be an engineer. The great thing about “building bots” as a hobby is it helps reinforce the things I’ve learned and work and vice versa. Working with my hands and making bots in my garage has made me a better engineer, and becoming a better engineer has made my bots better.
Any insights or perspectives you gained working for Amentum that you didn’t expect?
Believe it or not, but rockets are really complicated. Lol. In all seriousness I knew rocket science was not going to be easy, but it was eye-opening as I learned more about the Artemis program and everything that goes into preparing a rocket for launch, launching it, performing the mission, and then recovering the crew when it safely splashes down. The ground systems alone account for 55 subsystems and they all need to work together with the flight systems in a perfectly choreographed dance to get to a successful mission.
