Wednesday September 6, 2023
5-6:30 p.m. • AERO 120
Smead Aerospace invites you to attend the inaugural event of a new workshop series on the broad range of opportunities for careers in aerospace engineering.
We have assembled a panel of three aerospace professionals who will discuss exciting and innovative accomplishments in our field, share experiences from their careers, and provide advice and guidance to your own path.
This will be a one-hour panel with questions from the moderator and audience, followed by an open house that gives you the opportunity to interact with panelists one-on-one.
Come learn about the amazing and exciting career paths of our three panelists:
Vanessa Aponte Williams
Director of Payloads and Guest Services, Blue Origin
Dr. Vanessa Aponte Williams is the Director of Payloads and Guest Services in the Human Spaceflight organization, Space Systems Development at Blue Origin. Vanessa’s team interfaces directly with private, science, and government, Customers, works with Strategy and Sales, and translates needs to human-centric space vehicle designs. Previously, Vanessa oversaw Mission Operations of the Human Landing System Ascent Element at Lockheed Martin, defining end-to-end mission operations integration between design and crew, and developing systems utilized to train the astronauts and flight controllers to fly those missions to the Moon. She also led Human Spaceflight Exploration in Advanced Programs Commercial Civil Space, helping shape Lockheed Martin’s strategy for deep space exploration as well as investing in the advancement of technologies that supported the vision for a thriving lunar and deep space economy. She has over 20 years of experience in the Aerospace Industry, that include working in the areas of Advanced Life Support, Controls, Dynamics and Propulsion at NASA Kennedy, Dryden, and Johnson Space Centers. She had the distinction of being a finalist and undergoing the Astronaut Selection Interview process at NASA Johnson Space Center twice (2009 & 2012).
Michael Gazarik
Vice President of Engineering, Ball Aerospace
As the Vice President of Engineering at Ball Aerospace, Dr. Mike Gazarik is responsible for overall strategic and operational leadership of the organization, which includes all disciplines of engineering, as well as program and project execution, capital investments, internal research and development and intellectual property. Prior to this position, he served as Technical Director, where he worked to align Ball’s technology development with business development and growth strategies. Gazarik brings more than 25 years of experience in the design, development and deployment of spaceflight systems. He joined Ball from NASA Headquarters, where he held the position of Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate. He has contributed to the development of technology with application to NASA’s exploration, space operations and science missions. In standing up the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, he led NASA’s rapid development and incorporation of transformative technologies that enable the agency’s missions and address the nation’s most difficult challenges.
Zachary Sunberg
Assistant Professor, Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Zachary Sunberg is an Assistant Professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department and director of the Autonomous Decision and Control Lab. He earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University and a PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University in the Stanford Intelligent Systems Lab funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Before joining the University of Colorado faculty, he served as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley in the Hybrid Systems Lab. His research is focused on safe and efficient operation of autonomous vehicles and systems on the ground, in the air, and in space. A particular emphasis is on handling uncertainty using the partially observable Markov decision process and game formalisms.