Expert: Paul Soderman - 5/3/2011

Question
I am a high schooler and i need to interview an engineer and i was wondering if you could answer this short set of questions.

1) please describe your engineering field.

2) what is your current job title.

3) please describe your particular job and duties.

4) what is your average work schedule

5) starting with high school, describe your educational background chronilogically.

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

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

Answer
Steve
I get many questions like this so I have a standard reply that may not answer your questions in the correct order.

Degrees:  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.  Not counting the wind tunnels, our primary tools were computers, books and technical reports.

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.

I loved the challenge of investigating new technologies, new ideas and working with enthusiastic, talented people.  The downside was dealing the government bureaucracy and interminable meetings on budget planning and self improvement.  I think the same might be true of any large organization.

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.

In high school I recommend you take as many math and science classes as possible.  That said, many engineering students struggle with writing and English, so be sure to work at that also.  For engineering schools, you can do a google search and narrow your choice down to academic record, location, and cost.  It is hard to find a bad school at the undergraduate level that is accredited.
Paul