by Danielle Vaughn, staff writer (The Gazzett Virginian)
Former Halifax County resident Kevin Reynolds is living his lifelong dream working as an aerospace engineer at the NASA-Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
“Big accomplishments start with big dreams,” Reynolds said. “If you dream of something big, and you find people who will help to support you in that dream, then doors will open for you.”
The 2003 Halifax County High School graduate is currently working as principal investigator on a project he proposed. He was awarded the Center of Innovation Fund for the project on January 1.
During the course of the project, Reynolds and other Ames engineers partnered with contractors and students and interns from several California Universities along with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Northeastern University to build two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in less that two months using 3D printing.
“The exciting thing about 3D printing in general is that it allows you to take a virtual model of a part or component and then build from that virtual model a physical object. The traditional way of building objects has been using methods like metalworking and woodworking to produce a part that is usually based on a mechanical drawing, but the main difference with 3D printing is that you can build parts that have the resolution of the printer that is generating them,” Reynolds said.
In this particular project, Reynolds said they experimented with 3D printing several parts for a small aircraft less than 8-feet long. They printed parts for the wing sections and the nose cone, which is the part of the airplane that holds the sensors used for recording information about chemical concentration humidity, temperature or weather along with several other parts.
According to Reynolds, the purpose of the project was to use 3D printing in a new and innovative way that will help to accelerate the pace they produce new aircraft for science missions.
These aircraft are flown into parts of the earth they want to better understand such as volcanoes, hurricanes and wildfires.
The aircraft built during Reynolds’ project is scheduled to fly over the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica in the spring to understand the chemistry going on inside of it. The information could possibly be used to help predict when the volcano is going to become active.
Reynolds said in the future if the project continues, they hope to send an aircraft over a volcano in Hawaii. The aerospace engineer explained these particular aircraft also may be used to monitor coastlines for illegal fishermen and those trying to enter the country illegally.
The aircraft also has the potential to monitor crops in order to predict when they’re going to die.
The project will end in December with the possibility of extension if a partnership with an outside agency can be made to carry the work forward. Agencies considered for partnership include the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and several other agencies.
Reynolds said one of the biggest take aways from working on the project is learning how to be an effective leader.
“I was one of the youngest people working on the project, and so a lot of the people who were working for me had a lot more advanced degrees or they were older. They had more experience. So one of the main takeaways I had from the project management side is when you’re running a project, it’s important that you don’t have hierarchy in your project, and you allow everyone to have a voice, and you respect the opinions of others,” Reynolds said.
What he enjoyed most about working on the project was changing people’s minds about something they didn’t think was possible.
He said there were skeptics at the beginning of the project who said the project wasn’t going to be worth the time and saying it would be difficult to accomplish what they were trying to do in such a short amount of time.
“We showed over the course of the summer that we could build two new airplanes in less than two months, and that was probably the biggest remarkable achievement of what we did. My goal is to eventually get to the point where we can design these airplanes and go to the final flying aircraft in less than a week,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds has been working at NASA-Ames since 2010 starting off as a co-op student while completing graduate coursework at Stanford University. Upon graduation, he was hired to NASA-Ames as an aerospace engineer.
His desire for wanting to have a career in aeronautics came from an experience he had as a child.
“When I was younger, I used to like to climb trees a lot on my dad’s farm. One day while I was climbing trees, there was a fighter jet that was flying low to the ground. It came by very close to the treetops, and surprised me to the point that I almost fell out of the tree. Looking back on it, I’m glad I didn’t fall, but it made me much more interested in learning how to design airplanes,” Reynolds said.
His dream is to build a personal airplane that will allow him to fly to work from his house, and he has a design on the table that he says still needs “a little more work.
“One of the reasons I became an engineer is because I wanted to create ideas for a new airplane and then be able to realize those designs quickly, so I can test them out and see if they work,” said Reynolds. “If you have big ideas, engineering is a way for you to take those ideas and realize them quickly.”
The aerospace engineer graduated as valedictorian in the Class of 2003 at Halifax County High School and later from Norfolk State University with a dual Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics with a minor in electronics. He is also a graduate of Stanford University with a degree in aeronautics and mechanical engineering.
Kevin is the son of Nathalie, VA residents, Arthur and Margaret Reynolds. Kevin suggests having values plays an important role in where people end up in life and encourages young people to remain humble as they make progress toward their dreams.
