As pictures from the Mars rover, Curiosity, stream back to Earth, students and faculty can know that Kenneth Brown, member of the board of trustees, contributed to the project.
Brown worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1987 to 2011, and worked on one of the rover’s science packages from 2007 to 2010, he said.
Brown said that he worked on the Tunable Laser Spectrometer, which studied atmospheric and sub-surface gas measurements on Mars.
“I was responsible for capturing test-bed assembly and inspection data records and drawings as well as assisting with flight hardware integration,” Brown said.
Brown received his bachelors degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta, and a masters degree from Clark Atlanta University.
One of the many questions Brown usually gets asked is what the importance of the Mars mission is and what people will be able to learn from it, he said.
“By understanding Mars, which many scientists think is a precursor of an older Earth-like planet, we can see if there was life on Mars to see if we can see what Mars was, to help us understand Earth’s future better,” Brown said.
He added that missions like this also allow the development of technology that we “take for granted” in everyday life, such as iPads and cell phones.
Students were taking advantage of the immediate data that the Mars rover mission was providing, Perry Hacking, astronomy professor, said.
He said that many of his students were following the adventures of Curiosity from the JPL website (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/).
“There will be many contributions from the rover mission in future textbooks based on the data the rover on the surface produces,” Hacking added.
Brown said he sees opportunities for students in aerospace fields at local companies.
“EC can help feed the aerospace industry, even with two-year degrees, that if you are a programmer you don’t necessarily need a master’s degree in programming,” Brown said. “But if you have that kind of skill coming out, people are going to swoop you up.”
Brown added that it’s a really good bargain to get a community college background before transferring to the four-year schools.
Brown said he sees his connection to the college as a trustee being inherent due to his family and roots in the community.
“I feel a connection just because there’s a responsibility,” Brown said. “There’s a strong possibility that my kids are going to be here the way tuition is going in this country.”
Brown said he currently resides in Carson and works at Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy and technology consulting firm, as well as being an adjunct professor of physics at California State University, Dominguez HillsHowever he said that being a board member was “one of the hardest jobs” he has had.
Due to his connection to the district, Brown said he appreciates the opportunity he has had to direct the future of the college rather than having somebody from the outside do it.
“I just don’t think about these students, I think about the eighth and ninth graders who are coming up and what kind of campus this is going to be in three or for years,” Brown said.
