Troy Skinner

Experience

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  University of Alabama in Huntsville

  Jul 1999 - Jul 2012

  Lecturer

  Instruct courses in Fluid Mechanics, Solid Mechanics, Electronic Instrumentation, Computer Aided Design, and Engineering Design along with the associated laboratories. Develop lecture materials, unique design projects, and laboratory experiments for freshman through senior level students often including custom made hardware and software. Provide guidance for students and project teams with planning and construction of term design projects in the UAHuntsville Engineering Design and Prototyping Facility utilizing manual and computer controlled material removal and forming techniques as well as additive fabrication methodologies. Director of Academic Advising for all Mechanical Engineering majors above the sophomore level. Faculty Advisor for the UAHuntsville Space Hardware Club, managing the organization activities in projects including the development of a CubeSat, AAS/AIAA CanSat, and AIAA Planetary Rover. Oversee undergraduate research and development of solar energy systems at the Propulsion Research Center Solar Thermal Laboratory. Participate in a Faculty panel as a representative of the College of Engineering discussing the expectations of college professors to incoming potential students during summer orientation. Active member of the undergraduate Mechanical Engineering program committee implementing curriculum changes to the undergraduate program. Show less

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  BANGHAM ENGINEERING

  Jul 2012 - Dec 2017

  Engineer

  Responsible for the development and implementation of data acquisition and control systems associated with blast testing of liquid and gaseous launch vehicle fuels. Produce all technical diagrams, blueprints, and equipment lists associated with all test programs and proposals. Regularly test Hydrogen/Oxygen explosion overpressures in association with the development of blast models utilized to predict crew/vehicle survivability in the event of an accidental launch vehicle explosion. Constructing updated blast models for accidental liquid and solid rocket vehicle explosion events and developing a coupled fragment acceleration model. Assisting with efforts to predict and map fragment sizes and distribution associated with accidental launch vehicle explosions. Creating a library of data and test programs associated with liquid propellant explosive test programs. Show less

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  Jacobs

  Dec 2017 - Feb 2020

  Senior Engineer

  Responsible for the development and implementation of data acquisition and control systems associated with blast testing of liquid and gaseous launch vehicle fuels. Produce all technical diagrams, blueprints, and equipment lists associated with all test programs and proposals. Regularly test Hydrogen/Oxygen explosion overpressures in association with the development of blast models utilized to predict crew/vehicle survivability in the event of an accidental launch vehicle explosion. Constructing updated blast models for accidental liquid and solid rocket vehicle explosion events and developing a coupled fragment acceleration model. Assisting with efforts to predict and map fragment sizes and distribution associated with accidental launch vehicle explosions. Creating a library of data and test programs associated with liquid propellant explosive test programs. Participate in the debris recovery and documentation related to launch vehicle failures. Show less

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  N2L, Inc.

  Feb 2020 - now

  Founder & Co-Owner

  • Specialty sub-contract business under Jacobs Space Exploration Group (JSEG) contract.• Owner and founder of an engineering services and testing company; N2L, Inc. based in Huntsville, AL. This is a continuation of the Blast and Debris responsibilities at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), which is a direct result of the contract work associated with the previous employment at Jacobs.• Responsible for hiring and managing employees on the JSEG contract.• Work with third party accountants, lawyers, insurance agents, and retirement plan managers to ensure all company and employee requirements are met.• Communicate and advise third party launch providers on risk to crew and payload associated with off-nominal events during ascent.• Produce and maintain employee evaluation procedures and benefits packages.• Designed and procured a 30 ft long by 90-inch diameter shock tube to represent the void in the center of the Space Launch System (SLS) Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) propellant grain. • Instrumented SLS Solid Rocket Motor to determine shock transient associated with booster ignition and the driving function behind throat plug debris generation.• and manufactured a new fragment acceleration system to test ascent debris impacts on SLS Core Stage and Booster components. Show less