A Little About Me

Hi, I’m Sam Sanders – a young and highly motivated aerospace engineer.

I grew up in New Albany, Mississippi, where I discovered my passion for things in the air above me. As a child, I loved watching airplanes fly and staring at the stars at night. I realized in high school that I had an interest in math and science. All of these factors contributed to my decision to pursue Aerospace Engineering with a focus in Aeronautics.

In college, I gained a knack for leadership and taking charge. I have become well-versed and experienced in communicating with others, both in social and work situations. I’ve been involved in multiple outreach/recruitment committees for different organizations, and I’ve also had experience communicating with others during team projects and work groups.

After graduating with my bachelor’s degree in May 2021, I began working as an Aircraft Structural Engineer for L3Harris. In January 2022, I left L3Harris to pursue a new field – guidance, navigation, and control / missile simulation, working for Modern Technology Solutions, Inc. I am currently pursuing my Master’s degree in Aerospace Systems Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville online while working full-time. I maintain an active Secret Security Clearance.

Education

University of Alabama in Huntsville
4.0/4.0 GPA
Master of Science
Aerospace Systems Engineering
Concentration in Engineering Management
(May 2022 – Dec 2024)

Experience

Modern Technology Solutions, Inc. – Guidance, Navigation, and Control Engineer
(February 2022 – Present)

• Modify and execute a six degree of freedom Fortran missile simulation on both Windows and Linux platforms to provide detailed analysis and comparison of missile performance.
• Build robust MatLab scripts to post-process large quantities of performance data and create useful plots and diagrams.
• Design missile concepts in USAF DATCOM and generate aerodynamic data for large Mach number sweeps.

L3Harris Technologies – Structural Engineer
(June 2021 – January 2022, Full-Time)
(January 2019 – May 2019, Co-Op)

• Analyzed the critical failure modes and determined margins of safety for aircraft structure modifications.
• Utilized NX CAD software, Microsoft Office, and classical stress analysis hand calculations to complete my assignments.
• Performed efficiently with a team of engineers from various disciplines in order to meet time budgets.

National Center for Physical Acoustics – Summer Worker/Researcher
(May 2019 – August 2019)

• Researched the fabrication and development process of carbon fiber pieces to be used with unmanned aircraft systems.
• Worked hand-in-hand with a team of researchers in order to determine what fabrication methods best suited our budget and time limit.
• Received training to take the FAA Part 107 Small UAS Exam.

Research & Projects

Laboratory for Acoustics, Dynamics, and Structured Materials (Fall 2020 – Spring 2021)

• Designed a small boat setup that was propelled through water using an array of ultrasonic transducers.
• Recorded the movement of the boat to solve for the acoustic transducer force and boat drag force.
• Presented my results at the 2021 AIAA Student Conference through both paper and presentation.

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Conceptual Design of a General Aviation Trainer Aircraft (Fall 2020 – Spring 2021)

• Led a team that conceptually designed a small aircraft used primarily for general aviation pilot training.
• Utilized aircraft design theory along with relevant software (MatLab, XFLR5, and SolidWorks) to determine the parameters of our aircraft as well as build a 3D model.
• Input our aircraft parameters into the Merlin Excalibur II flight simulator to visualize our aircraft’s flight characteristics and further optimize our design.

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Fabrication, Analysis, and Optimization of a Skin-Stringer Panel (Fall 2020)

• Fabricated a small skin-stringer panel from aluminum sheet metal and rivets using machine equipment.
• Demonstrated the ability to work in a hands-on setting while meeting specificied tolerances and maintaining a time schedule.
• Developed a MatLab script that predicts the compression strength of the skin-stringer panel as well as optimizes the panel design to achieve a 5% increase in strength-to-weight ratio.