Employers from space industry giants Blue Origin, Planetary Resources, Systima Technologies, and Raytheon Company are visiting Washington State University to recruit and teach students about careers in the space industry.
The event kicks off with information sessions from each company from 4-7pm on Oct. 25 in Engineering Technology Research Laboratory, room 101. These sessions are designed for students to network with employers and learn more about the company. Planetary Resources will be presenting from 4-4:45 p.m. Blue Origin will be presenting from 4:45-5:30 p.m. Systima Technology will be presenting from 5:30-6:15 p.m. Raytheon Company will be presenting from 6:15-7 p.m.
On Oct. 26, the event continues with interviews in the Lighty Student Services Building 160 from 9-11:30 a.m. Students are encouraged to come dressed professionally and prepared with resumes.
Students have the opportunity to meet and eat with recruiters at a no-host Student Lunch with Industry from 12-1 p.m. in the Compton Union Building, room 204.
Cougs in Space Day concludes with a Panel Discussion and Networking Reception from 4-6 p.m. in the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education building, room 203. Students are encouraged to ask questions about the companies and careers in the space industry. Student attendees will receive a WSU “COUGS in SPACE” t-shirt.
Blue Origin is an American privately funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos with its headquarters in Kent, Washington. Recruiters from Blue Origin include Outreach coordinator, Ryan Crompton, who served in the Boeing Autoflight and Avionics flight test and certification group at for five years, Fluid systems design engineer, Ronald Bliesner, who has designed, built, and tested cryogenic systems and components for both the New Shepard and New Glenn vehicles, and WSU alum and engineer, Justin Bahrami, who has worked on cryogenic systems, including the Genii UAS, an aircraft that is intended to be powered by liquid hydrogen and a PEM fuel cell.
Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining company, is led by entrepreneurs in the commercial space industry and former NASA engineers. The company’s vision is to expand humanity’s economic sphere of influence into the Solar System by providing resources for people and products in space, with a near-term goal of identification, extraction, and refinement of water from near-Earth asteroids. Recruiters from Planetary Resources are Talent Miner, Eric Fraiser, who has recruited for technology research and product development teams at Apple, Google, HTC, Oracle, and Microsoft as well as a long list of technology start-ups and industry casualties, Director of Mechanical and Thermal Engineering Peter Illsley, who was on the Planetary Resources team that developed and landed the rover on Mars. He was in Mission Control during the “6 minutes of terror” landing sequence, waiting for the rover to activate so that he could stop holding his breath.
Systima Technologies is a premier manufacturer of qualified energetic systems and components, and complex integrated systems supporting the Defense, Space, and Commercial Markets. Systima’s state-of-the-art Kirkland, WA facility has over 110,000 sq/ft for engineering and analysis, prototype development, testing, qualification and production. Systima’s Environmental Testing Lab (ETL) is also located at the Kirkland, WA campus with over 5,000 sq/ft of testing space to support system qualification. The ETL also provides testing services to the aerospace and commercial industries. The recruiter from Systima Technologies is Chief Engineer, Hunter Golden, who has 23 years of experience in research, development, and test of aerospace and defense systems. Golden has been with Systima for over 10 years as an expert in the design and development of new pyrotechnic systems.
Raytheon Company is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. Founded in 1922, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, capabilities in C5I (command, control, communications, computing, cyber and intelligence), sensing, effects and mission support services. The recruiter from Raytheon Company is Senior Principal System Engineer and Manager III, John Schlaerth, who has over 20 years of aerospace industry experience, from propulsion systems and solar arrays, to airborne radar systems and systems engineering. He is active in new business pursuits focused on the design and manufacture of next generation earth observation payloads, and is overseeing the research and development of low exported torque pulse tube Cryocoolers for space applications.
For more information, contact Sandra Brabb, Voiland College Professional Practice and Experiential Learning, 509-335-3740, brabb@wsu.edu.
