THE 'E' IN STEM: Josh

Career Spotlight: Aerospace Engineer

The first time I ever thought of aerospace was when I was five years old. I was lying in bed listening to my mom read me the book “We” the autobiography of Charles Lindbergh, the first pilot to make the daunting and dangerous flight across the Atlantic in 1927. As I lay in my pajamas listening to my mother’s voice, I saw myself zooming over bright green forests, golden plains and sparkling seas. As the years went by my mother stopped reading to me as I went to sleep but that didn’t stop me from travelling across the solar system and winning of space battles through books. As I quickly read story after story, a desperate desire took hold of me; how can I make these stories a reality?

As I grew older, my attention slowly changed from the heroes and the places they went to how they got there. I wanted to know how to make it possible to get to the outer edges of the galaxy. That's when my interest in math, science and engineering began. I knew that whoever came up with the devices that were used in the books I read would have to have a strong understanding of physics and chemistry. I also knew that they would also have to figure out how different mechanisms could be put together and be able to visualize complex systems in their head. This desire eventually led me to pick aerospace engineering as my career path. As I learned in my studies, it is one thing to have a dream and another thing to make it a reality. When you are knee deep in homework, tests, papers, and battling phrases like 'Spherical Bessel function' it’s easy to give up and strand yourself on the earth. But as someone who made it through, I have to say that nothing beats the view once you are in orbit.

Working as an aerospace engineer I know that I am making a meaningful contribution to the space industry and mankind’s future of traveling through the vast void that is space. I now invite you to dedicate your time to this great cause so that one day we won’t only be able to look up at the stars but to float through them.

About the Author: Joshua Smith has his Masters and Bachelors of Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder focusing in the fields of Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems Engineering. Currently Joshua works at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Sunnyvale California, pursuing a career in Advanced Hypersonic Reentry vehicles.