Our wonderful Modjeska Art and Culture Club brings to us the beauty of
poetry, literature, arts and music. But is there greater beauty than the
universe itself? What we learn from other worlds goes beyond the most
sophisticated rhymes, most pleasant chords and greatest human intellect.
Space exploration touches upon the very understanding of us, where we
came from, who we are and where we are going. Five Polish engineers
surrounded by spacecraft in the auditorium at NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena shared with us the excitement of space
exploration.
PRESENTATIONS
ANDREW Z. DOWEN (Program Manager, Interplanetary Network Directorate) - "NASA/JPL adds New Instruments to its Cosmic Orchestra”
Andrew (Andy) Zdzislaw Dowen,
a Computer Scientist, is finishing his 22nd year as a CalTech/Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) employee. During these 22 years Andy held
many engineering and management posts within JPL and NASA. Among those, a
Chief Engineer for Communication assets, NASA's Mission Standards
Program Manager and a Director of Operations for Space Operations
Management Office at Johnson Space Center (JSC), Huston. Presently Andy
is NASA's Multimission Ground System Services (MGSS) Program Office
Manager. He manages software development, hardware, people and processes
necessary for NASA's Deep Space and Astrophysics Missions to carry out
their scientific objectives. Andy graduated from New York University
School of Engineering with BS in Electronics and Masters in Computer
Science.
DAVID LEHMAN (GRAIL Project Manager)- “To the Moon - an Overview of the GRAIL Project”
David H. Lehman
is the husband of the tapestry artist Monique Chmielewska Lehman. He
is also a Project Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the
Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission. Prior to working at
JPL, David was a naval nuclear engineering officer on the submarine USS
Abraham Lincoln.
MAREK TUSZYNSKI (Engineer, Autonomous Systems Division) - "Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mission Overview and Video"
Marek Tuszynski graduated from Cal State Northridge with Degrees in Math and Computer Science and Masters in Applied Mathematics.
Mark
has worked at JPL for the past 23 years on many projects. The two he
favors the most are: Cassini Mission to Saturn where he was a Cognizant
Flight Software Engineer and Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) where
he performed the function of the Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS)
Project Element Manager for Flight Software.
Mark is currently working as Project Element Manager for Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Flight Software.
ARTUR BARTOSZ CHMIELEWSKI (Manager,
Solar Systems Exploration) - "Modjeska in Space, so what do space
scientists think about our poetry, music, literature and ... hamburgers"
Artur Bartosz Chmielewski,
known to Americans who cannot pronounce Czemieluski, as ABC, completed
his undergraduate studies in mechanics at the University of Michigan
and his M.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of Southern
California(USC). At JPL for 30 years, he has served as an engineer for
16 NASA missions and the director of such space projects as: Space
Technology 6, Space Technology 8, Mars Autonomous Rendezvous and, most
recently, Rosetta. That final mission, Rosetta, will land on a comet in
2014. His greatest achievements include a) building the first ever
expanding antenna that was unfolded in space to the size of a tennis
court and b) serving as a co-host for one of the Modjeska Club events.
WITOLD
SOKOLOWSKI (Materials scientist/technologist, Mechanical Systems
Division) - "Smart materials from spacecraft applications to . . .
saving a human life"
Dr. Witold Sokolowski,
is a scientist, with over 20 years of the management of material
research and technology development at Caltech/JPL, working on advanced
modern materials for space exploration. He is an author of more than 70
publications, 2 technical books (third book presently in writing), 3 US
Patents and 16 NASA Novel Technology Reports. His major achievements:
quit smoking and be designated as one of the presenters during the
Modjeska Club meeting.