Ben James - Entrepreneur, “Mad Scientist”

In this special episode David got to go to Firefly Aerospace, just north of Austin in Cedar Park, to sit down with Founder and CEO Tom Markusic. Tom is one of the most experienced leaders in the aerospace industry, having previously worked as the Vice President of Propulsion at Virgin Galactic, Senior Systems Engineer at Blue Origin, Director of the Texas Test Site and Principal Propulsion Engineer at SpaceX.  This one was super special for us and we appreciate Firefly for letting us come say hi!

Mr. Ondler has served 28 years with NASA, starting in the Advanced Programs Office and eventually  becoming the assistant director of Engineering at the Johnson Space Center. After NASA, Matt started his own robotics company, Houston Mechatronics, and joined Axiom Space as Chief Technology Officer.  At Axiom, Matt is helping develop the worlds first commercial space station and paving the way for new industry in space.

Amiee Quon is a UT alumna who now works at JPL. Amiee has worked on a number of robotic missions, most recently being the Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, as a chamber test engineer. Amiee is also involved in the National Community College Aerospace Scholar program where she mentors community college students and helps open them up to the world of space and robotics.

Ben James is a seasoned product leader and entrepreneur who is passionate about mixed and augmented reality systems, electric transportation, and education. He was one of the original members of Texas Guadaloop and is a self declared "Mad Scientist," always tinkering and building things. We always love chatting with Ben and he has some great stories!

In episode 9, we are joined by Dr. Moriba Jah. Dr. Jah is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin where he is the holder of the Mrs. Pearlie Dashiell Henderson Centennial Fellowship in Engineering. He has previously supported Mars missions as a spacecraft navigator and is an avid science communicator. He is currently working on ways to manage and track space debris to preserve humanity’s access to space.

In episode 8, Vik Parth will be coming on the show. Vik Parth was the team captain of award-winning MIT Hyperloop II team, and he is currently the Director of Innovation and Product Strategy at Arrow Electronics Research Affiliate at MIT. His work has been featured at MIT, Wired Magazine, The University of Texas at Austin, TEDx and SXSW.

For episode 7, we will be hanging out with Paul S. Hill. Paul Hill spent 25 years with NASA developing space station construction techniques, and supported 24 missions as a Flight Director, including Space Shuttle and ISS missions. Paul then served as the Director of Mission Operations for Human Spaceflight for 7 years. Paul is now an author and speaker, applying his Mission Control expertise to help create high-performing teams.

Gary Bond will be joining us for episode 6. Mr. Bond worked for Boeing for 26 years, becoming a technical fellow there then joining Solvay as a Technical Fellow in 2020. Gary’ composites specialist, a USAF veteran, and creator of LaminateLife.com. In his free time you can find Gary up in the sky in his Grumman AA-5B Tiger.

In episode 5 we are bringing it back to Hyperloop. We will be sitting down with Josh Giegel, who is helping to lead one of the most exciting companies in the Hyperloop industry, Virgin Hyperloop. Josh has worked at many different rocket companies, from NASA to SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. He then went on co found Virgin Hyperloop where he is currently CEO.

In episode 4, we will be joined by another one of UT’s own. Dr. Leon Vanstone is a Rocket Scientist, Aerodynamic Engineer, and Science Communicator. He was the director of the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab, and is a lecturer in rocket system design, fabrication, test and launch.