Justin Fuller is one of those people who knew from a young age what he wanted to do with his life. Thankfully, Hilliard provided classes that paved the way for him to follow his desired career track.
He became interested in engineering when he was in middle school. Then, flying remote control planes was one of his favorite pastimes. He recalls becoming frustrated with the hobby, however, as the expensive lithium batteries that powered the model aircraft would frequently swell up and die. As any good engineer would do, he spent countless hours researching basic electrical principles and battery chemistries to find the root cause.
On entering high school, he was pleased to learn that Hilliard offered four years of introductory engineering courses.
“Of all my high school experiences, these courses likely influenced my life beyond school the most,” he said. “Each course provided me with exposure to various engineering fields and gave me a sense of direction when determining which field I wanted to pursue.”
After graduating from Davidson in 2015, he attended The Ohio State University where he obtained his bachelor’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Today, he is an electrical engineer at Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, Colorado. He specializes in power electronics and is responsible for the early design and analysis of electrical power converters or power supplies used on various spacecraft, satellites and space probes.
While the design predates his employment, his group is responsible for the power design on NASA’s Orion spacecraft which recently launched on Artemis 1 a few weeks ago and will soon be used for the next manned lunar mission. Justin is currently working on designs for large geostationary satellites including those used for GPS navigation and early-warning missile detection.
In his spare time, he enjoys taking advantage of the beautiful Colorado scenery through backpacking, hiking (including summiting the Rocky Mountains) and photography.
