As we celebrate 75 years of Aerospace Engineering at Maryland, that also means celebrating our amazing alumni! We would love to hear your memories, learn what you've been up to, and share your story.
SHARE YOUR STORY & PHOTOSVisit the 75th Anniversary Webpage
Alumna Samantha Howard '20 commissioned into the U.S. Air Force after graduation and is currently a C-130J pilot. She is also a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training program at Columbus AFB, Mississippi.
She credits Professor Mary Bowden as having a notable impact on her time at Maryland. She was an active member of WIAA, and the featured student spotlight in the 2020 issue of the department's AeroContact magazine.
Photos: (top) The last moon rise before sunrise at the South Pole, winter 2021, -95F, 11,900ft effective altitude; (bottom) Reflection in the ground shield of the BICEP Array, radio telescope. Leps was in charge of the BICEP collaboration, which looks for evidence of inflationary gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background (CMB.
Alum Thomas Leps ’07 (physics, mathematics), M.S. ’17, Ph.D. ’21 has gone to the ends of the earth in pursuit of his work. Leps overwintered in 2022 at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station—the United States’ scientific research station at the South Pole—working as a National Science Foundation Station Science Lead. He also defended his Ph.D. from Antarctica—resulting in the only documented Ph.D. defense done from the South Pole.
“Dr. (Christine) Hartzell was an excellent mentor into the world of academia and pushed all of her students to produce the best work they could,” says Leps. “Christine also allowed me to abscond to the most remote place on earth in the middle of writing my dissertation, which was remarkably flexible of her.”
Leps is currently working at a space startup that is developing pharmaceuticals in LEO with the first privately funded reentry vehicle.
His favorite UMD memory? “Trivia night at Looney's after a long day working in the lab and the lab pull up competition that determined who bought the first round.”
Retired alum and Bethesda native James Costrell '65, MBA '69, pursued a 40-year career at NASA Headquarters and the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).
While Costrell landed at NASA, he reflects that nearly one third of his 1965 graduating class headed west to Seattle to take jobs with Boeing.
He also dexempliefies that UMD students have a solid history of excelling at competition: Costrell took second place at the ’65 AIAA Regional Student Competition.
Alum Mohamed Nassif ’18 currently works at Quantum Space as an Astrodynamics and Navigation Engineer. During his time at Maryland, he says one of his favorite memories was being part of the Balloon Payload Program.
“Dr. Bowden was one of the most impactful professors during my time at UMD. She was not only a great professor but also a great mentor and someone who took great joy in helping students succeed.”
Photos at right, top clockwise from top left: AIAA Holiday Party December 2017 with AIAA officers Chris Bernard, Mohamed Nassif, Ji Min Chang, Sky Onimus, Quinn Kupec, Sarah Schwenger, Anthony DeCicco, and Alice Ohringer; Alumni Cup 2018 team with Dr. Mary Bowden, Lorenzo Narducci, Ji Min Chang, Bianca Foltan, Michael Owca, Mohamed Nassif, Blaire Weinberg, & Michael Walker; Design Build Fly (DBF) 2018 team with then Aurora Flight Sciences CEO - Dr. John Langford and Sr. Engineer Chris Gee. DBF members William Whitmore, Derek Thompson, Jacob Sandral, David Petrala, Mohamed Nassif, Nash Snodgrass, Jacob McCullum, & Kat Sherman
Photo at right, bottom: AE students graduating in 2018 & 2019 including Zane Gardenhour, Luke Renegar, Sky Onimus, Lorenzo Narducci, Dale Martin, Ji Min Chang, Melissa Adams, Mohamed Nassif, & Bianca Foltan.
Lauren (Trollinger) Wolfe (’15, M.S. ’17)Alumna Lauren (Trollinger) Wolfe ’15, M.S. ’17, is currently an Aircraft Sizing & Performance Engineer at Aurora Flight Sciences.
She says some of her favorite memories are definitely the fun social department events such as Dr. Wereley bartending at the grad student socials at the College Park Museum, or the chili cook offs. “Which I 100% started at Aurora’s Boston office as soon as I got there!”
“I still brag about the Aero Dept’s sense of community and how invested the faculty and staff were (and still are, obviously) in making it such a welcoming and supportive environment for the students.”
Lauren has gotten to work on two DARPA X Planes now, the CRANE and SPRINT, and also holds patents in C-UAS capture methods and a space-efficient tube-launched UAS, both stemming from work she’s done at Aurora.
She also led Aurora’s intern program for five years, and still participates in a lot of outreach events, and is still active in the Vertical Flight Society, where she is currently on the Aircraft Design Tech Committee, as well as the President of the Federal City Chapter (along with Dr. Datta and alum Nathan O’Brien).
“I 100% can trace all the opportunities I received back to joining Gamera my freshmen year: from joining D.r Flatau’s lab for undergrad research in active flow control, to getting my first internships at PAX River, then Sikorsky…and choosing to pursue my M.S. at the rotorcraft center, starting WIAA, getting my dream job at Aurora… so many awesome opportunities that got me to where I am (and where I’m still going). Courtesy of a fantastic department and some equally fantastic students, of course!”
Clockwise: Graduation Spring 2006, Ashley Korzun, W. Ethan Eagle (paper in hand to make paper airplanes to throw at ceremony), Jacob King and Eugene "Gene" Cook; Eagle, Ashley Korzun (now Dr.), Julie, and Sam Trepp at the AIAA cook-out (spring 2006); 'unknown' students posed a cardboard cool-aid man in a hole punched in the brick wall at Campus Drive and Rte 1; and Aero Honors ceremony for honor's grads.
Alumnus W. Ethan Eagle ('06, M.S. '07) went on to complete his Ph.D. at Michigan where he worked on pathbreaking research in infrared diagnostics and laser-based diagnostics while at Sandia National Labs. He then took a tenure track role in combustion at Wayne State University before leaving in 2018 to pursue design and innovation.
He later returned to UMD as a lecturer as he developed a consulting business for invention and innovation. In addition, he helped President Pines's "Engineering for Us All (e4usa)" initiative, building one of eight units for the inaugural curriculum, and creating the workshop design for the 2018 symposium at the Hotel which outlined the goals for the e4usa effort.
He left UMD in 2022 to work for a small consulting business, and has been full time in the organizational innovation space, with a specific focus on militaries, and their dominant client is the United States Air Force.
Reflecting on his time at Maryland, Eagle remembers Professor Chris Cadous and the 311H course where they built a rocket engine and lab testing the results, calling it "Epic."
"As a grad student TA, we helped to resolve 'moving shock waves' in the same class," says Eagle. "[There was] great student directed inquiry, and it definitely left a lasting impact on my thinking as a student and eventual professor."
Sarvesh Sethi ('14)“Dr. Robert Sanner and Professor Mary Bowden went beyond in terms of what I would describe notable,” says alumnus Sarvesh Sethi (’14). “They made me fall in love with aerospace engineering, controls, aerodynamics, and RC flying. So much of what I do today is based on what I learnt that time because it was the love and purpose for the subject that they created which made me want to learn more of it!”
Sethi went on to receive his M.Sc. in finance and management and currently works as director of Dots and Hawks, Inc. supplying American, Swiss and Indian enterprise drones, provides drone services, tech integration, and converts hang-gliders to drones. I am also authorized for nationwide BVLOS drone operations in Canada.
During his time at UMD he was recognized with an academic scholarship and was vice president of the Experimental Flying Club which was started (and still continues) during my time to design, build and fly hang gliders.
“If it wasn’t for UMD, my love for aerospace and flying might not have been the same.”
Alumnus Joshua Elvander ('94), Senior Vice President of Engineering at MagLev Aero, was an undergraduate assistant in UMD's Space Systems Laboratory where his scuba certification enabled him to participate in lab eperiments. "That was a lot of fun."
During his career, Elvander has been the program manager of underwater searches for notable missing aircraft such as Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra, and Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
"I was VP-Engineering at Terrafugia when we became the first flying car to receive an FAA certification (there is a model at the Smithsonian, and more importantly it was a clue on Jeopardy recently)," he says. "I was the VP-Hardware at an autonomous flight company (Merlin Labs), and now am SVP-Engineering at an electric aviation company."
Elvander enjoyed so many of his classes, particularly Dr. Lewis, Dr. Donaldson, Dr. Akin, Professor Winkelman, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Barlow, and especially Dr. Korkegi, but he does reflect, "I really wish I'd paid more attention in my math courses."
“Many professors helped shape my perspective and career,” says alumnus Mike White (’80, M.S. ’81). White previously led the Air and Missile Defense Sector at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) and after 37 years there, he became the inaugural Principal Director for Hypersonics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering working with Dr. Mike Griffin.
“Dr. [John] Anderson was a tremendous influence as my advisor,” says White. “Instructors from JHU/APL like Griffin, Rivello, Billig, and Waltrup were not only great professors with real world expertise, but they also became my mentors when I graduated and went to work at APL.”
“Connections made at UMD shaped my entire career. The academic challenge and foundation was only eclipsed by the life-long friends and colleagues.”
Retired alumnus, and Silver Spring native, Marc Bensimon ('66) led an impressive career contributing to a number of space-related projects. Among his many roles, he worked as a Flight Dynamics analyst for sounding rockets at the GSFC, publishing several AIAA papers (1966 to 1975), was an initial developer of the Space Shuttle OFT pallet concept (1975), Program Manager for the Hubble Space Telescope (1982-83), Program Manager for the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (1984), and Deputy Program Manager for the Space Station Freedom Program (1989 to 1993).
His favorite UMD memory? "Visits to Pax River Test Station as part of our propulsion courses."
Stories / October 25, 2024
Stories / April 25, 2024
Stories / March 26, 2024
Stories / March 4, 2024
Stories / October 25, 2023
Stories / October 3, 2023
Stories / September 14, 2023
Stories / March 31, 2023
Stories / March 28, 2023
Stories / March 23, 2023
