My company has been responsible for the design and development/manufacture of the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs), the RS-68 liquid cryogenic booster engine for the Delta IV class of expendable rockets, and the F-1 main booster liquid cryogenic engines used on all the Apollo Saturn V rockets that sent U.S. astronauts to the Moon.

 

As a Senior Systems Engineer, I'm responsible for the establishment and maintenance of design specification requirements, validation and verification of those requirements, project risk and opportunity management (in my particular case, as that is my expertise), and compliance with customer mission assurance prime specification requirements and contract deliverable items (documentation and test data).

 

My EET courses at DeVry University taught me how to formulate and approach various problems in many disciplines (math, electrical engineering, system modeling, control theory) and then solve these problems. In a larger vein, I learned how to systemically look at circuits, systems, and virtually any engineering problem that required higher order thinking. It also ignited a true love of all things technical --- particularly higher level mathematics.

 

DeVry University has so changed and guided my career as an engineer, and has thus brought me so much success (both remuneration and professional advancement), that I feel it obligatory to "turn the tables" and give something back to DeVry University. My involvement is a small means of showing my extreme gratitude to DeVry University for changing the quality of my life.

 

I've given two commencement speeches for DeVry's Southern California Metro Division. I have also attended numerous Industrial Advisory Council (IAC) meetings and Tech Days at the three Southern California Metro campuses. In addition, I have spoken at various Student IEEE and other campus Career Services office assemblies.

 

I have volunteered as an astronomy outreach lecturer at a local elementary school in Moorpark, CA for the past 5 years. This involves setting up my 15" telescope for 3rd graders at Aspen Elementary School, for a public "star party" with their teachers and parents.

 

The Alumni Association provides a great vehicle for DeVry University alums to stay in touch with one another, and to maintain a connection with the institution after they matriculate. The Association is also a means for alumni to potentially get benefits as an integral group, similar to what members of professional technical societies (IEEE, ASME, AAS, MAA, etc) have for seminars, continuing education, personal life insurance coverage, credit cards (yes, IEEE and others offer their own brand of Visa/MC cards), discounts on technical reference books and text books from academic publishers, etc.

 

Association membership is a way to put something back into the system at DeVry University, as a means of paying back the institution for their contribution toward its graduates' professional successes.

 

The Association is a way for the university to provide a "virtual alumni house" for graduates, even though the school does not have a single, monolithic campus where alums can come back and meet for homecoming, etc. The best part of this is that it's open 24/7/365 (via the web/Internet), does not need physical upkeep/maintenance, and can be reached without having to fly out/spend money.