In celebration of National Engineers Week, we’d like to take a moment to recognize a few of our dedicated engineering professionals and hear why they chose to pursue a purpose driven engineering career.
Nhi Nguyen, electrical engineer supporting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
As an electrical engineer, Nhi works with the Navigation and Landing Systems Group to support and maintain the FAA’s navigational aids and runway lighting technologies that are critical in airplane approaches to airport landings and enroute navigations. Specifically, she works with the second-level Engineering RVR (Runway Visual Range) team, which provides support for all RVRs. This includes site troubleshooting, analyzing circuits, implementing new hardware and software, etc.
“Every day I learn something new about the system, through troubleshooting and discovery, or through the help of mentors and peers,” she says. “The knowledge that my work is being used across the United States at various sites is mind-blowing: I know my work is making an impact, and it is the main reason I enjoy what I do.”
Nhi has always enjoyed math, science and problem solving, so she knew she wanted to pursue a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). She initially majored in mechanical engineering, but quickly discovered she didn’t enjoy the classes associated with that major. She switched to electrical engineering her second semester, and it just clicked.
“I knew the moment that I started circuit and signal analysis, electronics labs and programming that I was having fun, and I knew that this was the career and degree I wanted to pursue,” she says.
Savannah Lawson, manufacturing engineer supporting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Savannah Lawson works as a manufacturing engineer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), where she supports the fabrication of the Orion spacecraft for future Artemis missions.
“I interpret engineering drawings, write fabrication plans and work instructions, and provide manufacturing floor support for technicians,” she says. “My primary focus is working on the Orion Crew Module Adapter and Service Module on the manufacturing engineering structures team.”
Savannah says she studied engineering because she enjoys learning how to apply theoretical concepts to real world scenarios. She likes understanding the “why” behind how things work.
While Savannah was an undergraduate student, she had the opportunity to intern at KSC for the Commercial Crew program, specifically in fracture control. The internship, combined with the experience of working on the Space Coast and watching numerous rocket launches, solidified her career path in engineering. It also helps that Savannah loves a good challenge.
“I enjoy troubleshooting issues; it gives me an opportunity to solve puzzles and understand the work I’m supporting at a deeper level, which in turn prepares me to better support future work,” she says.
Bill Kraemer, senior principal software engineer supporting the U.S. Navy
Bill Kraemer is a senior principal software engineer in the Weapons and Sensors department at AFMS in Moorestown, NJ. Most recently, he’s been the technical lead for the CI/CD efforts to automate build and deployment processes for several large Aegis software projects.
“I’m proud to be a part of the AFMS and Lockheed teams that support the U.S. Navy and the Aegis Combat system. The work is challenging, and the environment is friendly and flexible,” he says.
Last year, Bill was the recipient of the 2022 Mission Software Solutions Vice President’s Award for extraordinary software engineer design/development associated with the transition of three critical Aegis combat system products (Weapons Control, Radar Control and Display) to a CI/CD pipeline. Our Lockheed Martin customer also recognized him for his leadership and expertise during this year-long strategic initiative.
Bill became interested in computer programming after taking a computer science course in high school.
“The topic was immediately fascinating to me,” he says. “The class ignited my interest in software, guided me to college studies in Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, and later to a career as a Software Engineer.”
We are grateful that Nhi, Savannah, Bill, and so many others have chosen to follow the engineering path. Their stories are just a quick snapshot of the incredible professionals across our enterprise providing innovative engineering solutions needed to solve our Nation’s most complex operational challenges, ranging from space to defense and beyond.
To learn how ASRC Federal is providing mission-focused engineering services across the full-system lifecycle and problem-solving for virtually every engineering discipline, please visit: https://www.asrcfederal.com/offerings/engineering/
