Explore JPL - Seminar #6

This lunch-time program is designed to help undergrads learn more about the research happening at the Jet Propulsion Lab and connect them with possible SURF mentors for next summer.

Focus: Spacecraft engineering; systems engineering; geology; astrobiogeochemistry
A boxed lunch will be served.
Please RSVP at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F523JHW

Leigh Torgerson has worked on avionics and spacecraft system engineering on several Mars orbiter and rover projects, and is currently a Space Communications Networking Architect in the Communications Architectures and Research Section. He runs a Protocol Technology Lab, where the primary research is the development of Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN)  technologies to make spacecraft communications as easy and as efficient as the terrestrial internet. Leigh holds a BS in Engineering from UCLA, and an MS in Aerospace Systems Engineering from University of West Florida, obtained while serving as a Naval Aviator. Following his military service, he spent 10 years at the Lockheed Skunk Works developing avionics for planes such as the U-2, SR-71 and the F-117.

Charles Budney is a senior systems engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, where he is currently involved in the Asteroid Retrieval Mission and scientific planning for future missions to Mars. He has worked at JPL for over 15 years. Charles received a B.S in Geochemistry from Caltech in 1988 and his Ph.D. degree in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1997.