MASTER’S NOTEBOOK
Aerospace Industry Holds Rich
Opportunities for MS Statisticians
Todd G. Remund, Alliant Techsystems
A
v
ariety of challenging opportunities lay in store for any who
consider employment in the aerospace industry. When one
thinks of a statistician working with engineers, the first
thought to come to mind may be statistical process control. While
this is indeed the work of many engineering-type statisticians, the
projects that involve statistical work require these and many other
skills. As one of many working in this industry, I’m sure my descrip-
tion will differ somewhat from those working at other companies.
I work at Alliant Techsystems (ATK). I’ve been there for rough-
ly the last year and a half, during which I graduated from Brigham
Young University (BYU) with a master’s degree in statistics. ATK
is a company that specializes in a variety of products. They are
best known for the rockets used by NASA to deliver payloads and
astronauts into space. These high-powered rockets pose an inter-
esting project for engineers and statisticians alike. Solid rocket
A static test in which bright flames two thirds the heat of the sun erupt
motors, such as the space shuttle boosters, require an exact science. from the nozzle of a motor
Everything depends on the chemical properties, the shape, and the
amount of solid fuel inside the motor. Once a rocket is ignited, filtering, interpolation, decimation, and a hodge-podge of math-
there is no turning back. The thrust is controlled based on design. ematical and statistical applications are developed to support engi-
Statisticians perform a vital role in aiding the process of getting this neers’ questions and needs. I would describe this job as that of a
science exact. mathematical handyman. So, for those interested, pay attention
Aerospace work allows a statistician to expand into different in your calculus, trigonometry, and numerical methods classes, to
fields. The lead statistician in my group has an extensive knowl- name a few.
edge of propellants, the solid fuel that powers the rockets. He has What classes are helpful as an aerospace statistician? Any class
developed this over the years while working at ATK. Monte Carlo in statistics or math is applicable. Widespread knowledge and ver-
simulations, designed experiments, and reliability work on propel- satility are both important characteristics in this industry. This is a
lant and all sorts of systems and mechanisms have made his career good opportunity to emphasize skills in reliability. Designing reli-
diverse and interesting. Shuttle launches have relied on deci- ability into any system is absolutely essential, and statisticians play
sions made through his expertise. Another statistician has done a crucial role. Time series, experimental design, regression, and
some fascinating work on modeling thrust behavior using time simulation are also extremely important classes to take. Statistics
series methods. degrees require a certain level of math, particularly graduate
Launch Systems, the division I work for, is located in a remote degrees. I would encourage those interested in this field to round
location in Utah. The remoteness is important due to the nature off their MS in statistics with a minor in math. It is the universal
of our work. Along with designing and producing the solid rocket language of scientists and will help develop a mutual understand-
motors, ATK administers various types of tests for these motors. ing of different topics.
The most interesting, in my opinion, are the static tests. A motor While studying statistics and math is helpful in getting a job
is mounted to a test stand and rigged up to a series of computers in the aerospace industry, I would also encourage candidates to
with hundreds of instruments to measure performance of virtually get as much research experience as possible. During my time at
any type imaginable. At the scheduled time, a countdown ensues BYU, I was lucky enough to work with some talented professors.
… ten, nine, eight … and the motor is ignited. Bright flames two The experience of working with people of different professions and
thirds the heat of the sun erupt from the nozzle, then a bone shak- backgrounds proved very useful to me later.
ing rumble is felt a few moments later. Hundreds of spectators, Keep in mind that dealing with numbers accounts for only one
employees, and others line the desert highway to watch. Often, you aspect of a career in statistics. Working in groups with profession-
see school children and their teachers attending. als is an important and large part of an analytical job. Statistical
These tests, as well as actual shuttle flights, not only provide an analysis and modeling are only useful if one is able to make them
entertaining show, but they provide data (and lots of it) to a stat- useful for others through presentation, writing, and explanation.
istician or engineer. In just a few minutes, an immense amount of I’ve found it fulfilling in my short career thus far to mutually share
data blazes through the instrument feeds and the computers used knowledge with engineers and scientists.
to process the data and is stored. Some of our responsibilities as Best of luck to those seeking to work in the aerospace industry;
statisticians at ATK deal directly with these data. Data integrity, work hard and it will pay off with rich opportunities. n
DECEMBER 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 31
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