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From June to August, I had the privilege of teaching a group of six bright, motivated Northeastern University undergraduates the exciting subject of aeronautical propulsion. At the lovely Northeastern University – Seattle campus, located in South Lake Union, we met four days a week for a fire-hose-style six-week compressed course. The students tackled everything from supersonic flow with heat addition to engine cycle analysis; from component efficiencies to CFD.

For their final design project, the students split into three teams of two, each designing a different propulsion system: a turbofan for a regional commercial jet, a turbojet for a supersonic military interceptor, and a rocket engine for a kick stage to orbit.

Bringing in the experts

When I asked fellow members of the AIAA PNW council, all veteran propulsion engineers, to help find judges for the final presentations, they were more than happy to help. Council Chair Dave Krismer recruited two longtime propulsion experts from Agile Space Industries, Doug Greisen and Ron Portz, who were joined by Dr. Matthew Rines of Blue Origin for an afternoon of presentations.

Meet the judges

Doug Greisen, Agile Space Industries. Doug is an Engineering Fellow at Agile Space Industries with more than 25 years of experience developing, qualifying, and flying in-space propulsion, from hydrazine thrusters and storable bipropellant engines to Hall thrusters and nuclear thermal propulsion. During 14 years at Aerojet Rocketdyne, he rose to Chief Engineer and Principal Engineer for in-space bipropellant rocket engines, and led the auxiliary engines on the Orion European Service Module that flew successfully on Artemis I. His teams also delivered hardware for missions including NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and LADEE. Before joining Agile, he led the systems engineering group at USNC-Tech and served as lead systems engineer for NASA’s Nuclear Thermal Propulsion program. Doug holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington.

Ron Portz, Agile Space Industries. Ron has more than 30 years of hands-on experience in spacecraft and launch vehicle propulsion. He began his career at NASA’s Shuttle Logistics Depot, testing, troubleshooting, and repairing Space Shuttle main propulsion, reaction control, and environmental control hardware. He went on to design cold gas, solid, and liquid propulsion systems at Orbital Sciences Corporation, then spent two decades as a Senior Project Engineer at Aerojet, leading propulsion systems from concept through delivery. Along the way, he was part of the team behind the Parker Solar Probe, the fastest object ever built by humans. Ron holds a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida.

Dr. Matthew Rines, Blue Origin. Matt is a software engineer at Blue Origin, where he has worked on the New Glenn rocket since January 2023. His flight software has flown on both of New Glenn’s successful launches. Matt earned his B.S. from the University of Virginia and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Presentation day

The students were nervous and excited to share their work with professionals who have built hardware that actually flew to space: Doug led engines on NASA’s Orion spacecraft that flew around the Moon, Ron helped build the fastest object ever made, and Matt’s software has helped put New Glenn in orbit.

Each team presented three times, once to each judge. It was challenging, but it let students tailor the conversation to each judge’s expertise and interests, which is exactly the kind of skill they’ll need in industry.

The students learned a great deal, and the judges got the spark of inspiration that young engineers’ enthusiasm always brings.

The value of connection

I’m grateful that relationships built through AIAA let me connect my students with professionals at the height of their careers. They got to see what’s possible and receive focused feedback on their hard work.