On this monthly column, Defense Day by day highlights individuals from across the federal government, industry and academia whose efforts contribute each day to national defense, from this system managers to the human resource leaders, to the engineers and logistics officers.
TJ Mathieson is the Chief Integration Architect for Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems Sector, where he’s chartered with enhancing, optimizing and implementing integrated, solutions across all of Northrop Grumman’s space and ground platforms. He also serves as the corporate’s Space Chief Architect for JADC2 where he focuses on incorporating space systems into integrated, multi-domain and multi-service solutions.
How did you get entangled within the defense industry or community?
The Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy had essentially the most profound impact on my profession trajectory.
I used to be in elementary school once we watched the primary launch of a teacher to space. I distinctly remember the unexpected turn of events, the silence that fell upon us within the room, and the teachers suddenly leaving the room without explanation. We were quickly ushered home where parents world wide were trying to clarify what happened. I’d spend the remaining of my education and profession attempting to work out learn how to prevent that form of incident from ever happening again.
Oddly enough, that event also ignited an innate desire inside me to get entangled on the hands-on level to be an astronaut someday. Even at a young age I loved tinkering, constructing and taking things apart, so pursuing engineering and aerospace felt like a natural progression. After college I had the chance to hitch Northrop Grumman, working on high-end space technology which opened my eyes to the capabilities, possibilities and impact of the space and defense industry.
In my current position at Northrop Grumman, I deal with finding recent ways to utilize, operate and connect our space systems to enable truly integrated and interwoven multi-domain capabilities.
What are some challenges you faced working through your profession?
It will probably be an actual challenge to seek out the reason behind each successes and failures, but I consider every part might be viewed through the lens of broader systems considering. I used to be fortunate early in my profession to work on extremely complex space systems, and not only work on, but investigate, fix and forestall failures from happening.
Ultimately, I can be accountable for the complete utility of those systems in a really dynamic landscape. Sometimes these systems are hundreds of miles away – where we don’t have the posh of seeing or touching the very thing we try to repair.
Once we are working through complex solutions to seemingly “unsolvable” problems, we learn quickly that there aren’t any coincidences.
All the pieces. Is. Related.
Let’s think concerning the butterfly effect but apply it to space systems: a small disturbance can lead to a big imbalance.
Space is a really isolated environment where balance is critical (thermal, power, forces, etc.). Once we establish the balance of a system, any minor disturbance is noticeable in multiple dimensions and may affect every part. This has taught me to understand systems considering and theory, ultimately driving me to pursue a PhD in systems engineering. My focus through my operational support work, my doctoral research and continued work in my current role is on using systems in a different way and understanding the complete impact of latest solutions. This all began by a deal with finding recent and revolutionary ways to make systems survive and thrive.
Did you’re feeling like you mostly had sufficient mentors and leaders to assist guide you? Why/why not?
I even have had the privilege of great mentorship that empowered me to go looking for my very own solutions. The only best tool several of my mentors gave me is just the boldness to try. I’ve learned a lot from the technique of digging into challenges and attempting to create unique solutions and I encourage team members and mentees to do the identical.
I credit much of this to one in every of my first mentors, chair of the anthropology (…not aerospace!) department in college. He showed me that our source of inspiration doesn’t necessarily must be entrenched in our work – it could possibly, and persistently should, come from other parts of our life. I consider this sort of balance, like that of complex space systems, is very important to stability, purpose and success.
How do you’re employed to be a mentor to yourself or to younger counterparts?
I take the same approach to that of my very own mentors – to encourage people to get entangled and ask “Why?”
Taking a systems considering approach has positively impacted my ability to innovate, so I hope to indicate my younger counterparts learn how to appreciate that approach and adapt it to their motivations. Particularly within the space and defense industry, it’s necessary to grasp that systems considering looks at connected wholes, relatively than separate parts to get after a number of the nation’s hardest challenges.
What are a number of the under-appreciated positions within the defense field, the unsung heroes that help the job get done with less recognition?
Operators and deployed personnel are, for my part, a number of the most important positions on this field. It’s these people on the front lines ensuring the equipment and systems created perform the job they were designed for, and persistently, other jobs and functions for which they were never designed. These roles are vital and might be largely neglected and undervalued.
How can the industry improve in promoting these individuals and constructing them up?
We will apply the butterfly effect with people: Within the defense industry, it’s not only creating and integrating technologies, it’s also pulling together the people in any respect levels to grasp the impact their specific role has across a mission chain. Allowing operators to tell design and designers to assist optimize operations is all a part of improving what we do within the industry, and it creates avenues of growth and recognition across the workforce.
Moreover, continuing to supply opportunities for diversity of thought will probably be vital because the space industry evolves within the years to return. Diversity of thought is strictly what helps organizations like Northrop Grumman solve the world’s hardest problems in space.
Moreover, the industry must proceed to recruit, retain and develop the highly expert STEM talent we’d like for the longer term space enterprise.
How has the culture modified around diversity inside your profession?
I believe we’re moving in a positive direction of making more room for everybody to talk up and produce their ideas to the table, especially our younger workforce. Through open innovation challenges and idea incubators to research and development competitions, we’re actively encouraging diversity of thought and broad participation for everybody across the corporate, no matter their phase of profession or role. That is just one in every of some ways younger generations are actively helping us define the longer term of space.
What’s your advice for brand new entrants to the defense/military community?
My suggestion is to get entangled on the operational end of the industry as early as possible. Take the time to see how the systems we construct are used, and never used, and learn the challenges and constraints that warfighters take care of each day.
I used to be fortunate enough to be thrown into an operational setting very early in my profession at Northrop Grumman. We needed to learn to adapt with the equipment we had available to us, forcing us to think on our feet and discover a approach to make things work. This shaped how I approach every part in my profession – from systems engineering to large scale mission architecting and even mentoring.
Individually, knowledge is the one thing we don’t inherently leave behind once we leave this world. Everyone’s individual knowledge and private experiences are gifts that must be shared to assist others enhance their very own knowledge, understanding and creativity. I hope we are able to collectively cultivate lifelong learners with a growth mindset, an innate curiosity concerning the world and a desire to share what they learn along the best way.
Solving complex problems requires a deep interest and willingness to grasp different ideas. Sharing these insights empowers not only the present generation, but future generations to construct on what has been learned over time.
What do you see as the longer term of your sector in national defense?
I see the space domain bringing concerning the next technological evolution because it is quickly becoming the backbone of recent society. The changing space economy and influx of interest and capital is driving recent industrial business models and giving us the chance to rapidly advance disruptive capabilities.
As we’ve seen lately, many terrestrial and even airborne functions are transitioning to space as a consequence of the rapid growth within the space-capable industrial base. With this transition, we’re learning recent ways to leverage space for every part from scientific research and discovery to national defense.
I consider we’re on the forefront of reworking how we as a civilization operate and grow in space, to incorporate how we protect and defend freedom of navigation in space. I’m looking forward to seeing how we’ll construct upon our technological innovation for complex systems and use that technology in recent ways.
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