Since he saw his first airshow when he was five, Justin “Hasard” Lee knew he wanted to be a pilot. While the path to achieving this dream wasn’t easy, today, Major Lee serves as the Chief of F-35 Training Systems for Luke Air Force Base located outside of Phoenix, Arizona. He also hosts a '2019 Top Podcast' called "The Professionals Playbook" where experts at the top of their fields share insights based on credibility and experience. 

In this latest episode of ae², Citizen-Scientist Astronaut Candidate Dr. Nadia Maarouf joins us from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Maarouf shares her journey from competitive athlete, studying Olympic-style Taekwondo, to Medical Scientist / Crew Medical Officer for an upcoming mission at the Mars Desert Research Station – the largest and longest-running Mars surface simulation facility in the world.

Innovation in personal and commercial aircraft isn't just found in large corporations. Much of what is exhilarating about the future of flight is found in smaller "new aero" companies like HopFlyt. In this episode of ae², we talk to one of HopFlyt’s co-founders, chief financial officer, and chief test pilot, Rory Feely, about the future of aviation.

For those depending on a Test Program Set (TPS) software as part of their Automated Test System (ATS), preventing premature obsolescence is critical for mitigating risk and keeping the system running. While interrogating technical choices is critical, don’t underestimate the power of personnel management as a tool for future proofing. Personnel obsolescence can be just as detrimental as technical obsolescence.

If Dousic founder Brian Moore wrote an autobiography, it might be called "From Music to Technology and Back Again." Brian grew up in Greenwood, MS where he developed his love of music. Growing up in a deeply religious family with a minister for a father, he was not allowed to listen to the blues at home, but developed a taste for the genre, as well as soul and Motown, anyway.

Selecting the instruments we use in our systems is not an arbitrary or easy decision. Our engineers spend a lot of time evaluating options to determine the products that will ultimately be the best fit for our customers applications. We try to stick to using the catalog of instruments we’ve thoroughly evaluated as much as possible, because every time we need to learn a new instrument, there are time and monetary costs involved. 

In this episode of ae², we talk to Product Development Consultant, Business Owner, and Author Don Reinertsen. Don works works with companies who are thinking about process improvement methodologies to apply to their product development cycle. More specifically, he helps people who are thinking about these various approaches in a non-critical way. For example, someone who read in an article or heard at a conference presentation that Method X will improve your product development process and then decides that's what his team will do. Almost inevitably, Method X fails.

That's when these people turn to Don.

A common challenge for our armed forces veterans as they transition out of the military and into civilian life is building their professional and personal network. Kymberli Speight, a former Air Force officer herself, recognized this problem and after a civilian career that included human resources, recruiting, and contract administration, she decided to become a career coach for military executives transitioning to the private sector. As a career coach, she noticed that while everyone recognized the importance of networking, people struggled in learning how to apply it.

This episode of ae² explores networking and the inspiration for Kymberli's new book, I Need To Know You: How to Meet Ordinary, Extraordinary People and Improve Your Life.

A little over a month ago, just as I had recovered from COVID, I dropped a 600 lb case of equipment across my foot, breaking my 5^th metatarsal pretty good. I’ve been in a boot ever since and will for another two months as I write this.

Immediately the world looked different from my perspective. I’d never spent time considering just how to deal with stairs before breaking my foot. Now it was one of the most concerning things. How do I take a shower now? Or get in and out of my truck? All new problems to solve. In the last five weeks, I’ve gone from crutches to a combination of Scooter and Peg Leg, depending on what I need to do. It’s been challenging, as many things take much more effort to accomplish, not to mention the pain.

I’ve gotten better at other things too. I can get across our manufacturing plant faster than ever before. Since getting around takes more effort, I’m more efficient at deciding when best to move and what I can do without needing to move. I’ve become more focused and efficient, much more aware of my surroundings and perhaps most of all, more introspective of the process of change, and what to expect. For that, I’m thankful for the experience.

All of Texas is going through that right now. This last week of winter weather in Texas has brought untold damage and heartache for all who call Texas home. Texas isn’t unique though. All of us will certainly face our share of disaster, heartache, loss, and challenge. We don’t have the choice to completely avoid challenges in our lives. What we do with those challenges is the important question.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what makes a great whiskey great, then this episode of ae² is for you. For this interview, we left the office and traveled a little further into the Texas Hill County to Blanco, TX to chat with world-renowned whiskey expert, author of Whiskey Distilled, and master blender, Heather Greene. Greene has a diverse background when it comes to whiskey, and today, she is the CEO at Provision Spirits, the maker of Milam & Greene whiskies.