Expert: Paul Soderman - 11/8/2010

Question
I am an aspiring Aerospace Engineer and am required to interview someone who is in this field and I would be honored if you would answer a few questions for me. Thanks very much!

Interviewee name:  

Interviewee’s specific degree:   

Interviewee’s place of employment:  

Please describe your engineering field.

What is your current job title?

Please describe your particular job and duties.

What is your average work schedule?

Starting with high school, describe your educational background chronologically.

If you had it to do over, related to your career or education, would you do anything differently?

What advice would you give to me as someone interested in pursuing a career path similar to yours?  

Answer
name:  Paul T. Soderman

degree:  BS and MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering

employment:  mostly retired but do some consulting for NASA and industry.  Formerly I was an Aerospace Engineer Group Leader at NASA Ames Research Center responsible for planning and executing wind tunnel studies aimed at improving our understanding of aeronautics and related technologies. I retired in 2004 after 38 years at NASA.

A normal day at NASA involved examination of scientific literature, planning experiments, writing code for data analysis, analyzing experimental results, meeting with my peers, assigning tasks, requesting support from management, writing reports, etc.  I traveled 4 to 6 times a year to various laboratories or scientific conferences.  Much of the work was done in the office, but we also worked in the lab, in the wind tunnels, and in the field conducting experimental studies.  Normally we worked an average 40 hour week, more during wind tunnel tests.

The projects I worked on can be found in engineering libraries - search on my name.  One project I was proud of was the investigation of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica.  I did the aero design of the gas sample instrument.  We found what causes the hole, which led to the worldwide banning of fluro-hydrocarbons.  In addition to aerodynamics, I specialized in aeroacoustics and did many wind tunnel studies of aircraft noise and technologies for reducing noise.

Education:  Astoria High School (Oregon), Oregon State U. (two years), U. of Washington (three years for a B.S. degree), U. of Washington (one year for a M.S. degree), graduate work Standford U., numerous Jr College classes in computer programming and French.  If possible, I would have taken more classes.

Study hard, have fun, find a job you enjoy doing.
Paul