Chapter Two of my story starts with a career ending basketball injury. “You need to figure out what a Mechanical Engineer does,” I told myself. This personal call to action led me to an internship as a Turbine Engine Structures Engineer at the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). A new passion instantly emerged. The canvas was most overwhelming; opportunities for creating the impossible—seemingly endless. I was determined to contribute to the Aerospace Industry. No obstacle would get in my way. Not even a Leukemia diagnosis, which forced me to write my Ph.D. dissertation during a stint in the Intensive Care Unit. The reward for this relentless passion has been a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), The Most Promising Scientist in Government at the STEM Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference, AFRL Early Career Award, and a few AFRL Aerospace System Directorate recognitions for advancing small-scale supersonic propulsion and turbine engine sustainment technologies.
Executing the mission of Hyphen Innovations is the Third Chapter of my journey. Like the previous chapters in my life, I will create the impossible on a canvas that will define the future of Aerospace and Defense technologies.