Marco Quezada: Thriving on Challenge

Marco Quezada discovered MITRE by accident, and he’s glad he did. He’s now in his 16^th year at the company, where a willingness to step up to every challenge has defined his career.

An aerospace engineer, Quezada’s first job was building flight simulators.

"At that time, word on the street was that MITRE was a place for people with PhDs," he says. "I didn't have a PhD—I learn as I go—so I didn’t really think about applying for a job."

Then he got the call: A friend and former co-worker had joined MITRE and wanted Quezada for his team.

"MITRE was upgrading its aviation laboratory facilities and needed someone with experience building flight simulators," Quezada recalls. "A few months later, I was onboard."

Since then, Quezada's knack for learning as he goes has served him—and MITRE—well.

When MITRE decided to establish its first aviation research and development center outside the United States, Quezada was all in.

Taking His Engineering Know-How Abroad

The new site—MITRE Asia Pacific Singapore, or MAPS—was to have a laboratory identical to the U.S. version, the Integrated Demonstration and Experimentation for Aeronautics (IDEA) Laboratory.

"I grew up in Mexico and traveling to new places is something I enjoy, so I felt lucky to be part of the team that went to Singapore to help get the MAPS lab set up." That work quickly led to a new role—liaison between MAPS and IDEA Lab personnel.

"It's been awesome," Quezada says. "I love working with the MAPS team. One of my favorite parts of the job is when I get the chance to go to Singapore to help them set up and run the experiments there."

There's more to that than meets the eye. Test participants such as air traffic controllers are often "on loan" for only a brief period, so a delay could derail an experiment. The source code for applications needed for an experiment may have to be developed and tested in the U.S. due to security protocols. And there's a 13-hour time difference between the two laboratories, so if there's a problem, the fix can take 24 hours or more. The applications need to be right the first time.

"It’s intense, but I like it," Quezada says. "I have a great team, and we've set a high bar for excellence, so I have confidence that—even when the pressure is on—we'll accomplish our goal." In the nine years since he’s served in his liaison role, he says, they’ve never missed.

He attributes much of his success as a team leader and team player to his Mexican heritage.

"I'm from a big family, so when I make friends, when I make connections, I tend to keep them a long time and bring them in close," he says. "Working with my teammates feels like that—like they're my family. And that closeness allows us to be direct and honest with each other when we're working through a problem. And to just have fun and enjoy each other's company while we're doing it."

Answering Tough Problems with Innovation

Quezada’s contributions extend far beyond the laboratory. He also has two patents to his name. On the first, he's listed as one of the five inventors of Digital Copilot, a set of software algorithms that act as a cognitive assistant to the solo pilot. He's also the sole inventor of the hardware that enables Digital Copilot's voice-activated capabilities to function in the noisy cockpit of a small plane.

"That was tricky," Quezada explains. "Through their headsets, pilots get audio communications from air traffic control and any passengers they might be carrying, so I had to find a way to separate that audio from the pilot’s communications with Digital Copilot to avoid confusion." He did. The audio interface he developed won him his second patent.

"I don’t think anything like that would have been possible at my previous company," he says. "Here at MITRE, there's a lot of variety to the work and lots of opportunities to try new things."

Quezada is always up for that. Tackling the latest challenge is what he does—and he thrives on it.