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Kevin Gormley |
A Hands-on Education
Kevin Gormley
November 2007
Just about everybody learns on the job. But few learn like Kevin
Gormley. Since joining MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System
Development (CAASD) in McLean, Va. in 1999, this lead systems engineer
has earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in systems engineering
at the University of Virginia.
Gormley credits MITRE with making this possible. The company's
educational assistance and Accelerated Graduate Degree Program allowed
him to spend up to 20 percent of his work week pursuing his degree.
"My management team and all of my colleagues were very supportive,"
he says, adding that he was able to call on several co-workers with
doctorates in similar fields to act as sounding boards.
He is particularly grateful to one of CAASD's senior simulation
modeling engineers, who served as a member of his dissertation committee,
noting that "Despite being 110 miles away from my advisor in Charlottesville,
I had a great advisor right here at work." He is also thankful to
his former officemate, who had recently finished his own doctorate.
"His example inspired and encouraged me at every step," says Gormley.
Gormley's course work taught him a great deal, and he learned a
lot more from researching his dissertation on "Research and Development
Planning: Selecting and Scheduling Projects with Approximate Solutions
to a Markov Decision Model." However, Gormley's education continues
at MITRE. "In some ways, it's like a university here with MITRE
Institute courses and Technical Exchange Meetings. Though I do some
theoretical research, I also have practical, hands-on projects where
I can see concrete results."
In fact, as part of the team working on the Florida Airspace Optimization
project, he designed the complex methodology that identified $30
million of annual delay reduction benefits in the heavily traveled
"snow bird" corridor that extends from Boston to Miami. He's currently
working on a project that's taking him to Alaska for a couple of
weeks, where he is investigating airspace issues around Anchorage.
Drawn to Aviation Early
Gormley also learns a lot from CAASD's weekly Tech Talks and MITRE's
Technology Speaker Series, which have covered subjects such as nanotechnology,
bio-inspired robots, and Internet technologies. He especially enjoyed
hearing Tim Berners-Lee talk about how he invented the World Wide
Web and listening to MIT professor Michael Hawley discuss his development
of imaging systems for a 40,000 digital photo expedition in Bhutan.
Yet, as academically minded as Gormley is, it was romantic tales
of travel and adventure that led him to MITRE and his work in aviation.
Growing up, he was regaled with exciting stories of flight from
a grandfather who did air stunts as a "barnstormer" in the 1930s
and from a father who'd flown all over the globe as an air courier
for the State Department. As his interest and aptitude in engineering
grew, he remained drawn to aviation.
Gormley first became aware of MITRE while a high school student
at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in northern
Virginia. "Several classmates who interned at MITRE talked about
the cool things they did, so I looked into it myself," he says.
During his undergraduate studies at Princeton University, Gormley
spent two summers working in MITRE's Department of Defense federally
funded research and development center on simulations of sensors
and of military vehicles clearing mine fields. After graduation,
he returned to MITRE, this time to CAASD.
With his full academic schedule and demanding professional work,
one might not expect Gormley to have time for much other than a
little sleep. However, he still manages to give back to the community,
taking advantage of another MITRE benefit: paid time for approved
volunteer activities up to 40 hours per calendar year.
In recognition of his more than 100 hours of work with Fairfax
County's Volunteers for Change program in 2005, he received a bronze
Presidential Volunteer Service Award for activities that included
gardening at the National Zoo, helping children make kites at the
National Air and Space Museum, and dealing blackjack at a retirement
community gala.
Now that his college work is behind him, Gormley has a little free
time on his hands. "For the first time in years, I no longer have
to feel guilty about going to the movies with friends or just working
out," he says.
—by Faye Elkins
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