W. Conor McFerren

Experience

• 

  University of Georgia Department of Physics & Astronomy

  May 2016 - Nov 2016

  Rsearcher

  As a high school intern, I was given the great opportunity by the University of Georgia's Department of Physics and Astronomy to study Gyrochronology and the possibility of planetary systems forming in binary star systems. Using Python and images provided through adaptive optics telescopes, we analyzed eclipsing patterns of stars in binary systems in search for exoplanets. Along with this, we studied rotational patterns of late-type stars to perform age-dating calculations.

• 

  University of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory

  Apr 2018 - May 2021

  Mission Operations Team Lead

  Performed as a simulation manager before being promoted to Mission Operations Team Lead, placing me in charge of Concept of Operations, Testing, and Ground Station control for the MOCI CubeSat mission.

• 

  Lockheed Martin

  May 2020 - Aug 2020

  Software Engineer Intern

  Working as a Software Engineering intern in the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, I was given the great opportunity of diving into GPU Programming. With no prior experience, I was able to leverage the CUDA C++ library from Nvidia to parallelize complex radar calculations. Through the development of this library of complex functions that exploited the efficiency of a GPU, we were able to greatly cut run times for simulations to provide fast and efficient results.

• 

  Lockheed Martin

  Jul 2021 - now

  Operations Analyst

  Using my experience in software engineering and mission operations, I perform mission and engagement level simulations using tools like AFSIM, AREPS, and STK to provide innovative and creative solutions to the defense industry's complex problems. While also being a user of analytical software, I also use my experience and education in computer science to act as a developer of in-house simulation software that is used by many different projects across the corporation.