Curtis Ballard

Defense & Space

Hi, I'm Curtis Ballard. Welcome to my profile!

Curtis Ballard's Bio:

Curtis Ballard's Experience:

• NASA SLS Stages Deputy Avionics Discipline Lead Engineer at Jacobs Technology and Geocent LLC

  August 2012 - May 2013

  Provided Subject Matter Expert (SME) avionics systems engineering and systems management support for the Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle. Responsible for design oversight and the integration of launch vehicle avionics (integrated hardware and software). Provided SME leadership support to the Systems Engineering and Integration Division within the Space Systems Department at MSFC. Provided direct technical support to the Space Systems Integrated Avionics and Flight Software groups. Responsible for assisting program coordination within the Space Systems Department. Duties also included, but were not be limited to the following: planning and supporting trade studies, performing systems analyses, supporting integrated avionics hardware/software design solutions and test planning, making programmatic and technical risk management inputs, coordinating and analyzing technical performance metrics, supporting design reviews, working groups and boards as well as providing regular status design and integration inputs and conducting regular programmatic/technical briefings to senior NASA management.

• Principal Engineer - Business Development at Wavelink Inc.

  February 2011 - August 2012

  Subject Matter Expert for systems and test engineering, M&S, avionics hardware and software DDT&E. Responsible for NASA procurement strategic planning and business development efforts to help diversify company with new NASA customers. Identified and helped position the company for upcoming NASA opportunities. Assisted with acquisition strategy and writing several proposals. Supported the Missile Defense Agency's Objective Simulation Framework contract. Mentored Software Engineers in the Best Practices and Principles of Software Engineering, AGILE Software Development, Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD). Provided technical support to the MDA OSF program as an SME on simulation software and hardware architecture, systems engineering and design in an Agile Development Environment. Conducted Requirements Analysis using Use Case Analysis (UCA). Utilized the Unified Modeling Language to manage the design of the simulation software and associated requirements. Developed initial studies of Hadoop database development and the Open Source rack design (Facebook) for the multi-terabyte object source and scalable simulation output files. Provided oversight for qualification and testing of avionics for the AED. Ensured software development meets DO-178B. Contributed to key avionics software documents including the SRS, SDD, SCM, etc... for hardware and software efforts in support of the development of avionics, embedded software and software integration labs.

• NASA Program Manager at System Studies and Simulation, Inc

  September 1999 - February 2011

  Systems engineering lead for avionics hardware and software development/integration activities. Facilitated multi-disciplinary engineering analyses, coordinated and expedited tasks with integrated product teams and other working groups. Coordinated analyses supporting the development and acquisition of GN&C, power distribution, telemetry, data acquisition, communications and command and control avionics. Test integration lead responsible for the development and qualification tests for critical path flight hardware. Chaired a weekly meeting with engineers to discuss integrated design goals, problems and solutions and to determine time-critical solutions for test development and risk management/mitigation. Assigned action items and tracked performance of design and development analyses as well as procurement, logistics, transportation and quality issues. Managed the payload engineering integration support for the International Space Station (ISS). Responsibilities: 24/7 on-call engineering support, hardware and software anomaly resolution, payload anomaly analysis/documentation, requirements verification activities, development of compatibility analyses, stage configuration and integrated schematics. Senior manufacturing engineering liaison for Boeing for critical ISS hardware (i.e. control moment gyroscope, pump module, large adapter plate assembly, S-band antennae and battery charge/discharge assembly). Supported hardware design reviews (PDR/CDR), and development, qualification and acceptance testing. Primary interface between manufacturing subcontractors and Boeing engineering to resolve manufacturing issues, review designs for manufacturability and track/report hardware development status to Boeing and NASA management. Developed test plans to ensure that test requirements were met and provided senior leadership for the test phase of the program. Conducted manufacturing subcontractor assessments and hardware acceptance reviews/deliveries.

• Senior Engineer at Madison Research Corp.

  November 1995 - September 1999

  Lead project engineer responsible for the design, development and integration of the NASA Material Science Research Rack (MSRR) simulation laboratory computer hardware, software and simulations. Responsible for MSRR project documentation, requirements definition, specification authorship and the design of the simulation laboratory. Wrote the processes and procedures for the design, development and integration of hardware-in-the-loop simulations. Implemented software process controls based on the ISO 9000 and SEI CMM standards, software metrics reporting procedure and configuration management plans. Developed software risk management/mitigation plans. Responsible for project scheduling, budget analyses, acquisitions, export control issues and personnel. Systems engineer and lead test conductor for the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF/Chandra) at the X-ray Calibration Facility at the MSFC. Responsible for test facility design and development, optical and imaging hardware integration and led the subsequent testing of these combined systems. Developed test procedures and processes, improved the data acquisition and data reduction procedures and developed a database system for data archiving. Lead project engineer responsible for the design and development of the Space Station Furnace Facility simulation laboratory. Responsible for the specifications, design, writing and reviewing processes and procedures for the software and hardware integration as well as software and hardware-in- the-loop simulations. Integrated flight and non-flight software with flight-like hardware and hardware simulations for software verification and validation. Member of the team who wrote the practices and procedures for the SEI CMM certification effort.

• Graduate Researcher - Propulsion Research Institute at University of Alabama in Huntsville

  January 1994 - October 1995

  Developed fluid dynamic models simulating the boundary layers of ablative rocket engine nozzles. Developed optical test and measurement systems and procedures using Doppler laser interferometry for rocket health monitoring systems plume analysis

• Propulsion Engineer at Sverdrup Technology

  June 1989 - November 1993

  Propulsion engineer for the MSFC propulsion group. Developed methods for performing reliability analyses on a number of flight subsystems as well as developing mathematical models of flight and test hardware. Increased the speed and accuracy of subsystem models and simulations. Responsible for developing the technical approach, estimating and maintaining schedules, hardware and manpower requirements and documenting the final results. Reviewed propulsion subsystems designs and authored several technical reports. Performed software development to both enhance existing capabilities and to add new ones to a failure logic modeling application, Fault Environment Analysis Tool. Responsibilities included requirements analysis, design, and implementation of graphical user interface GUI windows; user input validation, compilation, and execution routines; multiple statistical distribution generators; and various distribution "best fit" routines. Other projects include: o SSME Pneumatic Control Assembly simulation software developer. o ASRM Ignition System Reliability Assessment, Team Lead. o STS-55 SSME check valve failure investigation member. o Probabilistic Design and Risk Analyses, Team Lead. o Steady state model - Booster Technology Project Large Scale Pressure-Fed Thrust Chamber. o Development of pressurant and propellant flow path algorithms for the MSFC Test Stand 116; assisted development of the TS116 Transient Performance Math Model and software. o GUI and network development of the ASRM Requirements Traceability System.

Curtis Ballard's Education:

• University of Alabama in Huntsville

  1988 – 2012
  BSME

• The University of Texas at Austin

  1980 – 1984
  Concentration: Mathmetics/Physics/Engineering

• Amarillo College

  1978 – 1980
  Associate of Science (A.S.)
  Concentration: Pre-Medicine/Pre-Medical Studies