Robert Lightfoot Jr., president of Lockheed Martin Space and alum of the University, visited the University’s American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics chapter on Tuesday.
AIAA is a national club that focuses on networking and community building within the aerospace industry.
During his speech, Lightfoot discussed what he believes are important characteristics that every young engineer should have, such as a good attitude, the ability to work well on a team, and strong communication skills.
Lightfoot graduated from The University of Alabama in 1986 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
While at the University, Lightfoot said he took a personality type test in one of his engineering classes. He was an ENFP while most of his peers were ISTJ.
“The head of the engineering department put up the squares on the wall, and I’m the only one in that square,” Lightfoot said. “I didn’t match any of the rest of my colleagues in engineering.”
Tony Holeman, president of UA AIAA, said he believes bringing in guest speakers is important for the confidence of the chapter, especially for the younger members.
“Imposter syndrome is a very real, big thing,” Holeman said. “I feel like bringing people who have that experience and having the students see that they were in their shoes and that they also didn’t know what they wanted to do, and here they are at the end of it, kind of makes people feel more confident.
“These kids who are in a situation where they don’t think they fit in, hearing from another engineer and someone from here that they can relate to, it just helps them,” Holeman said.
After graduating, Lightfoot spent 29 years employed at NASA in multiple positions. He spent most of the beginning of his career there doing propulsion testing.
“The feeling of sitting on a console with T-minus 9 minutes and the launch conductor goes ‘shuttle propulsion manager go or no go?’ … there’s no feeling like it,” said Lightfoot. “Especially when everything works like it’s supposed to.”
In 2018, he retired from NASA and went back to Huntsville to work for a smaller company called Firefly Aerospace for a short period of time before eventually joining Lockheed Martin Space in 2019.
“I’m really interested in potentially getting an internship at Lockheed Martin,” said Adit Patel, a junior majoring in aerospace engineering. “I figured, of course, coming today would be a good opportunity to talk with him.”
Lightfoot’s speech covered multiple aspects that he said he thinks are important for every engineer to have.
“Don’t hit the snooze button,” Lightfoot said. “If you want to hit the snooze button instead of popping up and going to work, then find something else to do.”
His tips and pointers for students are what some attendees said set him apart from other guest speakers.
“I really liked how he talked about what we can do as students,” Patel said. “Usually, groups are just like ‘hey, we’re Lockheed Martin and this is what we do.’ I thought it was unique that he gave tips.”
