The School of Engineering and Computing presented “American Frontiers: Fairfield Alumni at the Edge of Earth, Sea, and Space” as part of the Robert "Bob" Sobolewski '70 Family Distinguished Speaker Series.
Fairfield alumni are driving the next era of discovery—from missions to Mars and microgravity research, to deep-sea exploration and development of military technologies.
Part of Fairfield’s America250: The Promise and Paradox programming—an initiative through which the University explores 250 years of the American experiment—“American Frontiers” showcased three Fairfield alumni making a mark in their respective fields: NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s Joe Sauvageau ’79, PhD; Blue Origin’s Manjot Singh ’23; and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab’s Stephanie Brij-Raj ’21.
Andres Leonardo Carrano, PhD, dean of the School of Engineering & Computing and former NASA faculty fellow at the Marshall Space Flight Center, introduced the speakers and brought the audience up to speed on the differences between “old space” and “new space” before inviting the alumni to share insights and practical applications from their work.
Stephanie Brij-Raj graduated from Fairfield magna cum laude with a BS in electrical engineering. She currently serves as an undersea warfare analyst at Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab (APL), following her time in the APL Discovery Program, which allowed her to explore a variety of roles within the research center—from space and exploration to asymmetric operations, force projection, and air and missile defense. “Many of our current submarines were designed and built in a time before modern cyber threats,” she said. That’s why, she explained, her work focuses on identifying potential vulnerabilities and determining how current platforms can be upgraded. “I’ve been on submarines,” Brij-Raj said, “and I’ve spoken directly with the warfighters who depend on them.”
Manjot Singh earned her BS in mechanical engineering with a minor in mathematics. At Blue Origin, she is a crew systems, payloads, and launch vehicle engineer, whose focus is on the systems inside the crew capsule. She works on the New Shepard Program out of West Texas—the facility responsible for launching Katy Perry and an all-female crew into space. “Reducing the cost of accessing space is one of [the industry’s] biggest goals right now,” she said, noting that Blue Origin is one of the companies leading that effort. Ultimately, lowering costs is what will make space more accessible. “Reusable systems are a major part of that,” she added. “Not having to build new components for every launch dramatically reduces expenses.”
Dr. Joe Sauvageau earned his BS in physics and mathematics from Fairfield before pursing his MA and PhD in engineering physics at Stony Brook University. He is a principal engineer at California Institute of Technology’s NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), as well as supervisor of the imaging system architectures group. He shared that his team developed the cameras used to capture both upward- and downward-facing views of the parachutes during a Mars rover landing.
As an undergraduate at Fairfield, Dr. Sauvageau remembered following the launches of Voyager 1 and 2. He noted that although their cameras have long since been turned off, both spacecraft continue to send data back to JPL to this day.
After their individual presentations, Dr. Carrano led a panel discussion with all three alumni, drawing out more of their personal insights. Brij-Raj spoke about APL’s lunar-dust research, aimed at enabling a sustainable presence on the moon. Dr. Sauvageau joined the perennial moon vs. Mars debate: “The current administration and Congress set our priorities,” he said. “Moon first, then Mars.”
Noting that the event showcased both recent and seasoned Fairfield graduates from engineering, computing, and science programs, Dr. Carrano said, “I believe that the strength and quality of any academic program is always best demonstrated through its alumni outcomes.”
The Robert "Bob" Sobolewski '70 Family Distinguished Speaker Series will continue to bring distinguished alumni and industry-leading innovators to campus for conversations that inspire, educate, and reflect the School of Engineering and Computing’s mission of “engineering for a higher purpose.”
