My name is Dave Grant, and I am the Project Manager for the TIMED mission. My job is not strictly engineering based; I oversee the overall development and operation of TIMED. There is a lot of contracting, negotiating, financing, and scheduling involved in my job, but each part is important in order to complete a mission successfully.

I initially became interested in engineering in high school. I was always a strong student in both math and physics. Engineering was a way for me to apply what I had already learned. I was never really interested in the theoretical or paperwork oriented jobs, as I wanted to build or create something and see its final outcome.

I graduated from Southeastern Massachusetts University with a degree in electrical engineering. I then received my master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Maryland. In order to become an electrical engineer, I studied math and physics, as well as mechanical engineering.

I have worked at APL for 42 years; I started working here right after I finished college. I was able to work on many different missions such as: Polar Bear, the Hubble Space Telescope, and currently TIMED. As a biomedical engineer at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, I helped develop radiation therapy machines for the Cancer Institute.

The best part about working at APL is working with the hardware. When I first came here, everything was done in a laboratory setting. Now, everything is done on the computer instead of hardware. I enjoy my job very much and although it has changed significantly over the years, I still look forward to coming here every day and working with interesting and exciting new projects.

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