Karl Roush, PhD

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

Current: Senior System Quality Engineer at Draper, supporting NASA's Lunar Lander program and radiation-hardened power electronics production across the full product lifecycle.

Previous: Component Engineer for RS-25 turbopumps on SLS, with a PhD focused on sustainment frameworks for long-duration aerospace programs. Background in turbomachinery, hydrogen conversions, hypersonics, and satellite constellation research.

• • •
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

June 2025 - Present

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 transition from development to production
NASA CLPS Lunar Lander development and supplier management

Senior Project Component Engineer

Aerojet Rocketdyne, L3Harris Technologies

May 2021 - June 2025

Managed full lifecycle coordination across internal teams, customers, and suppliers, delivering cost savings and resolving non-conformances
Turbomachinery Additive Mfg. Development Lead, manager for >$1.8M/yr of hardware and 65+ components
Led "Learn, Launch, Play" employee resource group
Sending people back to the Moon :)

Graduate Researcher

Aerospace Systems Design Lab (ASDL)

Aug 2018 - May 2022

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

Prev: Fabrication Lead, Air Force Research Lab (Aerospace Propulsion Outreach Program)
Engineering design competition focused on development and testing solutions for small scale jet engines

417-DevOps

Founder, CEO

March 2021 - Present

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

Competitive Innovation Consultant

MindSumo, HeroX, Wazoku

May 2017 - Present

Ranked #3 of 350,000+ solvers
93% win rate across entered competitions (platform All-Star average: 20%)
Ranked 3rd Overall, 1st in Engineering, 1st in Science
Awarded wins from AAA, Mozilla, NASA, Siemens, GSK, et al.

UTSR Gas Turbine Industrial Fellowship

Southwest Research Institute: Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy

May 2019 - Aug 2019

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

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)"
Systems Design & Optimization focus with research work in hypersonics, space-based ISR, smart airports, and 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 satisfy numerous temperature and pressure constraints
Optimized engine parameters for longest range when mounted in a scaled version of the Boeing 737-800

Engine Component Preliminary 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: NLP for NASA Datasets

Wells Fargo Campus Analytics Challenge 2019 winner
Used Natural Language Processing to generate topics from publicly available NASA dataset
Approach extends beyond popular LDA method to identify topics in data descriptions
Method can tag similar datasets or quantitatively determine topical overlap

NLP Semantris Solver

Uses computer vision with Merriam-Webster's Thesaurus API and NLP model from Google News data
Solves the Google Experiment Semantris
Revamped version of @pravj's "semantris-solver" project

Carbon Footprint Reduction ML

Wells Fargo Campus Analytics Challenge 2018 winner
Built ML model recommending lifestyle changes to minimize carbon footprint without affecting life quality
Presented at 2019 Wells Fargo Analytics Summit

LoL Player Stats

Tool that returns numerous player stats from League of Legends match history
Designed as an introduction for data analysts in Esports
Utilizes Cassiopeia Python wrapper for Riot API with clear use case examples

Positional Presence

Built tool to analyze role presence differences at apex competitive level in League of Legends
Compares competitive playstyles across regions from North America to South Korea
Uses statistical analysis to demonstrate relative agency of each role

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)

Domain Expertise

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

Developer Tools

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 member, GT Student Chapter Chair + Graduate Liaison.

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.