Four AIAA Young Professionals Recognized by Aviation Week Written 15 September 2014
by Lawrence Garrett, AIAA Web Editor
One of the primary missions of the Institute is to support and
help foster the next generation of leaders who will shape the
aerospace industry, as well as the future of their organizations,
for decades to come. For this reason the Institute recognizes
and celebrates four extraordinary AIAA young professionals
who were recently honored as part of Aviation Week’s 40 under
Forty, their list of “top industry talent who are younger than 40
years old.”
The four AIAA young professionals, Jason Crusan, Jason Olivarez, Ryan Rudy, and Christine Edwards Stewart, named
to the list not only exhibit solid leadership skills, but also possess
considerable technical abilities, and a bold approach to tackling
challenges.
Jason Crusan, 37, is an AIAA
Senior Member, and an active
member of AIAA’s Small Satellites
Technical Committee. He serves
as NASA’s director for the
Advanced Exploration Systems
(AES) Division with the Human
Exploration and Operations
Mission Directorate (HEOMD),
based in Washington, DC. He
leads integration with the Space
Technology Mission Directorate
and other programs such as the
International Space Station and
the Exploration System Division
Programs. For the past two years Crusan has led a team of
more than 550 civil servants in an effort to rejuvenate and modernize
the way NASA conducts rapid and innovative technology
and systems development.
Crusan has served in multiple roles at NASA since 2005,
including as Chief Technologist for Space Operations, Program
Executive, and project manager on various technical and
management initiatives. He was a key member of the Mini-RF
(Miniature Radio Frequency) Program team, which delivered
two radar instruments to the moon to map the lunar poles,
search for water ice, and demonstrate future NASA communication
technologies.
In addition to serving as mission manager for NASA’s
contributions to the Indian Space Research Organization’s
Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon, Crusan’s career includes
numerous other accomplishments such as a highly successful
Morpheus test vehicle campaign that resulted in 14 free flights;
the creation of the first cost-sharing contract for technology
advancement for a large-scale, human-class module in space
that is set to be demonstrated on the ISS in 2015; the successful
consolidation of all radiation sensor development for human
spaceflight into a single, synergistic, development effort; and,
through his leadership and participation in the Mars 2020 mission,
helping ensure that NASA has its strongest-ever collaborations
between the Science and Human Exploration mission
directorates.
When asked how he feels about being named to AviationWeek’s 40 Under Forty list, Crusan said, “While I’m honored
to be named to [the] list, it’s really a recognition of the teams I
work with and our ability to work together to do innovative things
at NASA, changing the traditional aerospace development process,”
adding that he prefers “to share this award with those
teams, as we go about leading an aerospace transformation.”
Crusan holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Electrical Engineering
and Physics, a Master’s in Computer Information Systems, and
is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Management at
George Washington University.
Jason Olivarez, 32, an AIAA
Senior Member, is a principal project
engineer at Honeywell, based
in Phoenix, AZ. Having begun his
career in 2004 as a bearing/gear
design engineer, Olivarez rapidly
ascended from designing low level
components on commercial aircraft
to integrating large-scale aircraft
systems and helping develop
a revolutionary test facility.
In 2008, Olivarez transitioned
into his current role, working in
systems integration on the Airbus
A350 Extended Mechanical
System Perimeter program where his contributions eventually
earned him Honeywell’s 2012 Outstanding Engineer award.
Olivarez, a patent holder since 2013, was part of the
Honeywell team that developed a first-of-its-kind technology
integration facility known as the Air Systems Integration Bench
(AirSIB), where Olivarez and his team determined how to integrate
Honeywell and customer-supplied equipment and software
safely, and defined, tested, and analyzed flight-like test
conditions and procedures. Honeywell called development of
the AirSIB one of the “100 Years—100 Firsts” in its Aerospace
Centennial.
When asked how membership in AIAA might benefit other
young professionals, Olivarez said that as an AIAA member, “it’s
been great to see the increased focus on young professionals
and the resources that are now available to help YPs navigate
the technical challenges and career decisions that come with
working in aerospace.”
We asked how he feels about being named to AviationWeek’s 40 Under Forty list, and Olivarez said that he is “very
excited and honored to be included in Aviation Week’s 40 Under
Forty,” adding, “it’s great to be recognized professionally at this
level, especially when you look at the accomplishments of all the
people on the list.” He said that he’s been “very lucky to have
had great mentors and team members” throughout his career
at Honeywell and looks forward “to what lies ahead.” Olivarez
continued, “Hopefully by highlighting the achievements of young
professionals in the aerospace industry we can help encourage
and inspire the next generation of engineers.”
Olivarez earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in
Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University.
Ryan Rudy, 34, a Boeing flight test
engineer, is an AIAA Lifetime
Senior Member and has been an
active member on AIAA’s Young
Professional (YP) Committee since
2008. Rudy currently serves on the
AIAA Board of Directors as the YP
Liaison (2013–2015). Previously,
he served as chair of the YP
Committee from 2012–2013, as
well as on the AIAA Publications
Committee from 2008–2012.
Based in St. Louis, MO, Rudy
currently works on the F-15 Saudi
advanced flight-test program
for Boeing Test & Evaluation. Rudy made his mark within the
industry by helping the Boeing 787-8 program achieve a critical
milestone in its path to first flight by serving as the project lead
and technical expert for gauntlet testing. Rudy’s efforts and leadership
also helped demonstrate that the 787 could maintain and
operate at exceedingly low temperatures in environments such
as Alaska.
When asked how membership in AIAA has helped advance
his career, Rudy spoke of the many ways that AIAA has helped
him. “AIAA has given me numerous opportunities to continue to
develop and practice leadership skills,” adding, “it’s one thing to
be lead teams within one’s company where the chain of command
or program priorities incentivize completing a task, [but]
having to recruit team members, motivate and influence them to
complete tasks in a volunteer organization is a completely different
leadership challenge.”
Rudy went on to say that AIAA has given him the “opportunity
to connect with many talented individuals who are passionate
about aerospace,” adding that the connections “with
these colleagues and friends” are something that “continually
re-energizes” him each time he attends an AIAA conference. He
is also thankful for the opportunities that AIAA involvement has
presented him with, such as serving on the advisory board to the
yearly Aviation Week Workforce studies, which has given him
“the opportunity to influence national issues like the aerospace
workforce.”
When asked how he feels about being named to AviationWeek’s 40 Under Forty list, Rudy said, “I’m humbled by this
award, thankful for the opportunities I’ve had to make a difference,
and proud of the work our teams have done that [has
been] recognized.”
Rudy earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Aeronautical Engineering
from the Pennsylvania State University and is nearing completion
of a Master’s degree in Systems Engineering, also from
Penn State.
Christine Edwards Stewart, 30, an AIAA Senior Member,
currently serves as Lockheed Martin’s Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter (MRO) Operations Systems lead, based in Littleton, CO,
and is responsible for MRO spacecraft operations. She led the
flight team that executed MRO observations of the comet ISON.
These observations were later featured in a Science Channel
special called, “Super Comet ISON 2013.”
Before working on MRO, Edwards Stewart was a key member
of the Grail-A spacecraft extended mission team, developing and
executing flight operations that
allowed the two Grail spacecraft to
fly at unprecedented low altitudes
over the moon. These low-level
flybys allowed for measurements
of the moon’s gravity field with
extraordinary accuracy.
In addition, Edwards Stewart
was a mission controller for the
launch of the Jupiter-bound Juno
spacecraft and the comet flyby of
the Stardust spacecraft. Recently,
she has been focusing on, and
developing methods for, how
aerospace companies can apply
model-based systems-engineering and 3-D virtual-reality environments
for spacecraft development and production. In August,
she was presented with Lockheed Martin’s Technical Innovation
Award for her team’s efforts in creating a virtual development
environment.
When asked how membership in AIAA has helped advance
her career, Edwards Stewart replied that the AIAA community
provided her with her “first opportunity to give a technical presentation
in a professional setting.” Describing how that opportunity
came to fruition, Edwards Stewart said that while a student
at MIT, an AIAA chapter had just launched an annual symposium
where students could present their internship experiences.
She called that symposium “a defining moment” of her early
career because she “not only learned how to give professional
presentations, but also realized that [she] loved doing it.” She
added that since making that first presentation, she has “enjoyed
presenting research results at conferences and speaking at
many events as a JPL Solar System Ambassador.”
When asked how she feels about being named to AviationWeek’s 40 Under Forty list, Edwards Stewart replied, “I am honored,
and I am inspired by the accomplishments of the others
[on] the list. In the future, I hope to continue to make a difference
in the aerospace industry and inspire the next generation of
space explorers.”
Edwards Stewart earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s
of Science Degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT, she helped
teach classes as a Graduate Teaching Fellow and worked on
the SPHERES miniature satellites.