Rocket Man: From Dream School to Dream Job

Dream School

Embry-Riddle was Samir Ahmed’s (‘23) dream school since he was in middle school.

“I knew it was big in aerospace, and that’s where I wanted to go,” said the aerospace engineering major.

Ahmed grew up with books on astronomy and space and remembers being fascinated watching NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity animation of the seven minutes of terror with his father.

“It’s just been a passion of mine,” he said.

Find Your Niche

Samir Ahmed ('23) sitting at mission control. (Photo: Samir Ahmed)

If you’re ever on campus looking for him, chances are he’s in the Experimental Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, or ERPL, where he’s been actively involved since his first couple of weeks as a student.

“Initially, I didn’t know what type of engineer I wanted to be,” he explained. “I just knew I wanted to be an aerospace engineer.”

Through his work at ERPL, he found what he calls his niche – propulsion engineering, a specialty in the field of aerospace engineering that involves the design of systems used to accelerate a type of aircraft into space. Typically, it either involves solid, liquid or hybrid propulsion. Ahmed primarily focuses on liquid propulsion.

The highlight of his work in the lab has been designing his own manufactured liquid engine – from the initial design sketches to submitting the plans for the parts to be produced.

“The day that all the hardware came in...picking it up...the hardware whose design I spent staring at for the past four months...seeing it in my hands...[I thought to myself], ‘I designed that,’” he said of the full circle moment.

ULA Internship

Ahmed believes it was his work with ERPL that helped him stand out and secure an internship with United Launch Alliance (ULA) as a propulsion test engineer intern working with the group responsible for engines, tanks and ground service equipment; essentially anything that connects fuel to the rocket.

The highlight of his experience with ULA was being able to sit in mission control and make a couple of callouts during one of the launches, which he had a hard time believing was happening.

“This only happens in the movies, and now I get to sit in one of the rooms,” he recalled thinking at the time.

Ahmed advises future and current students to, “find a niche and build your passion around that,” which is exactly what he did. “I was involved with the rocket lab, and that’s what got me my internship, and my internship got me my job.”

Dream Job

After graduation, Ahmed will be taking his ERPL and ULA experience with him to Huntsville, Alabama, where he will begin his professional career as a propulsion engineer for the combustion devices group at Blue Origin.

“I’m going to design rocket engines. That’s the niche I built my passion around,” he said excitedly. “To actually start as an entry level rocket design engineer with one of the biggest players in the aerospace industry is huge.”