Karl Roush, PhD

karl@karlroush.com

Space and systems-focused engineering excellence, quality leadership, and innovative thinking.

Current: Senior System Quality Engineer @Draper working on NASA's Lunar Lander program and radiation-hardened power electronics across the full product lifecycle.

Previous: Component Engineer for RS-25 turbopumps on SLS, with a PhD in long-duration sustainment strategies. Earlier R&D in hydrogen propulsion, hypersonics, satellite constellations, and emissions-reduction technologies.

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Concurrent: Outside aerospace, I lead 417-DevOps, teaching AI/ML and app development through creative, gaming-inspired approaches. Explore my work at github.com/karlroush


Experience

Senior System Quality Engineer

Draper, Space + Electronic Systems divisions 
  • Comprehensive quality assurance across product lifecycle, driving root cause analysis, vendor management, and strategic improvements in manufacturing processes
  • Leading small sat electronics and space power production transition
  • NASA CLPS Lunar Lander development + supplier management
June 2025 - Present

Senior Project Component Engineer

Aerojet Rocketdyne, L3Harris Technologies 
  • Complete life cycle management linking internals, customers, and suppliers. Varied focus on cost savings projects and non-conformance investigations
  • Turbomachinery Additive Mfg. Development Lead, manager for >$1.8M/yr of hardware and 65+ components
  • Volunteer leadership role in "Learn, Launch, Play" employee resource group
  • Sending people back to the Moon :)
May 2021 - June 2025

Aerospace Systems Design Lab (ASDL)

Graduate Researcher
  • Design and Evaluation of a derivative engine model for supersonic transport aircraft
  • Test stand design and feasibility study of H2 fuel cell light aircraft
  • Evaluating smart airport technologies & prioritization in partnership with FAA, NIA, and OST
Fabrication Lead, Air Force Research Lab: Aerospace Propulsion Outreach Program
Air Force Research Lab engineering design competition focused on development and testing solutions for small scale jet engines
August 2018 - May 2022

417-DevOps

Founder, CEO 
  • App development focusing on the Riot Games API
  • Large scale data analysis with ML/AI supplements
  • Goal is to educate others while showcasing the potential of untapped data
March 2021 - Present

Competitive Innovation Consultant

MindSumo, HeroX, Wazoku 
  • Ranked #3 of 350,000+ solvers
  • Chosen as a winner for 93% of competitions (Mindsumo All-Star average= 20%)
  • Ranked 3rd Overall, 1st in Engineering, 1st in Science
  • Awarded wins from AAA, Mozilla, NASA, Siemens, GSK, et. al
May 2017 - Present

UTSR Gas Turbine Industrial Fellowship

Southwest Research Institute: Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy
  • Standardized unit conversions in NPSS, deployed for world-wide use
  • Determined NPSS viability of hybrid cycle UAVs for ISR missions
  • Designed and built laser PIV system for <10% of quoted industry cost for low speed turbulence testing
May 2019 - August 2019

Education

PhD, Aerospace Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

"Adapting the Past for Future Flight: Preliminary Design Framework for Long Duration O&S Aerospace Programs"
Minor in Statistics
Quals areas: Systems Design and Optimization (Fixed Wing Vehicles), Structural Mechanics and Materials

Master of Science, Aerospace Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

"Development of a Modular, Python-Based Architecture for the Environmental Design Space (EDS)"
Concentration: Systems Design & Optimization (aircraft design and propulsion)
Research work in hypersonics, space based ISR, smart airports, & aviation emissions.

Methods

  • Advanced Design Methods
  • Systems of Systems Engineering Fundamentals
  • Numerical Analysis & Algorithms

Applications

  • Preliminary Aircraft Design
  • Experimental Design and Construction
  • Industrial Mathematics

Bachelor of Science, Aerospace Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Highest Honors, AE BS/MS Accelerated Program + ΣΓΤ Honor Society

Oxford University

Mansfield College, University of Oxford

GT Study Abroad program to learn first-hand through the lens of multiple European cultures.
Combined travel (music and arts focus) and residence in Oxford (AE focus).

Projects

Aerospace

Analysis of Aviation Emissions Policies
  • Analysis of key stakeholders' roadmaps to hit 2050 emissions targets
  • Identification of revolutionary technologies to aid in meeting these goals
  • Created attainability and readiness metric to compare technologies
Jet Engine Cycle Analysis & Optimization
  • Off-design cycle analysis of a separate flow turbofan in NPSS
  • Modified aforementioned model to statisfy numerous temperature and pressure contraints
  • Optimized engine parameters for longest range when mounted in a scaled version of the Boeing 737-800 to notionally represent a next generation, single-aisle class variants called the B737-MAX.
Engine Component Prelimary Design
  • Designed & optimized: compressor, combustor, and turbine of a small, single spool turbojet engine
  • Evaluated off-design performance, supporting design decisions

Computer Science

NASA Discovery 2: An NLP Driven Mission for Topic Generation from NASA Datasets
  • Wells Fargo Campus Analytics Challenge 2019 winner
  • Used Natural Language Processing to generate topics based on publicly available NASA dataset
  • The approach used extends beyond the popular LDA method to identify topics present in the data set descriptions.
  • Consequently, this method could be used to tag similar datasets or quantitatively determine the topical overlap.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) Semantris Solver
  • Uses a computer vision in combination with Merriam-Webster's Thesaurus API and an NLP model built from Google News data
  • Solves the Google Experiment Semantris
  • Revamped version of @pravj's project "semantris-solver" ,
Lifestyle Importance Weighted Carbon Footprint Reduction
  • Wells Fargo Campus Analytics Challenge 2018 winner
  • Built a machine learning model that recommends lifestyle changes to minimize carbon footprint without affecting life quality
  • Attended the 2019 Wells Fargo Analytics Summit to present to top level data wranglers
LoL Player Stats
  • Tool that returns numerous player stats from their League of Legends match history
  • Designed to be an introduction for data analysts in Esports
  • Utilizes Cassiopeia, a well-documented Python wrapper for the Riot API and provides clear use case examples
Positional Presence
  • Spent two days learning from scratch how to use the Riot Games API
  • Built a tool to determine the relative differences in role presence at an apex competitive level in the game League of Legends and compare across regions
  • Used statistical analysis to demonstrate the relative agency of each role and the difference in playstyles from regions ranging from North America to South Korea

Skills

Awards
  • AIAA Abe M. Zarem Graduate Student Award in Aeronautics (2021)
  • PhD, MS, BS in Aerospace Engineering
  • US Department of Energy UTSR Gas Turbine Industrial Fellow (2019)

  • Eagle Scout Rank Award, Bronze Palm and Gold Palm
  • 3x Wells Fargo Campus Analytics Challenge Winner (2018-2022)
  • International Best Use of Data- NASA Space Apps Hackathon (2016)
Soft Skills
  • Project Management
  • Aerospace Manufacturing
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Cross-functional Team Leadership
  • Data Science

Engineering Tools
  • Additive manufacturing (metal)
  • Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS)
  • C++, MATLAB
  • Multidisciplinary design optimization
  • SolidWorks, Inventor
Programming Languages
Design
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects
  • Blender

Volunteering

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Professional Aerospace Technical Society


Current: Palm Beach Section YP representative
Prior: Atlanta Section memeber, GT Student Chapter Chair + Graduate Liason.

GreyHat

Information security club
Vice President (2019-20), External Comm Admin (2018-19)


GreyHat is GT's cyber security club, hosting lecturers and lessons with a goal of teaching practical skills in analyzing, exploiting, and defending computer systems, along with reverse engineering of applications.

HyTech Racing, Aero-composites

Georgia Tech's Formula Student Electric Team
HyTech Racing is an award-winning student-run organization dedicated to furthering students' engineering experience through the rigorous design and development of Formula SAE electric vehicles.

Scouting at GT

Georgia Tech club for Scouts
A group for former Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to continue their scouting lives at Georgia Tech by initiating and taking part in adventure and service opportunities. We work to give back to the community.