JOHN VAUGHAN

John is a Research Scientist in the Advanced Materials Group at Leidos in Huntsville, AL. After spending an enlistment as a U.S. Marine, he realized that a career as a physicist was what he truly wanted. He completed his bachelor’s degree in physics at Auburn, and remained there to continue his graduate research with the Auburn Source of Attosecond Pulses (ASAP) lab, founded by Dr. Guillaume Laurent. Under work funded by U.S. Department of Energy, office of Basic Science (DOE-BES), and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), John had the opportunity to perform research and obtain valuable experimental and analytical skills for his future career. One day, while writing the draft of his dissertation, he noticed a listing for a job fair. Attending the job fair turned into more than just networking and getting practice speaking with recruiters. It landed him an internship that lead to receiving a full-time job offer at Dynetics (now Leidos). He has been working there for about three years since his PhD defense back in the Spring of 2021.

Education:

• PhD in Physics, Auburn University

Experience:

John’s first industry position involved working with an incredible team on the Laser Air Monitor System (LAMS) for NASA’s Orion program. LAMS monitors the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and humidity within the Orion space capsule and astronaut suit loops. He contributed to successful delivery of flight builds by taking roles in early-stage error analysis with Monte Carlo simulations, signal analysis, a development test campaign lasting several months, and assembly and integration of flight units. The design and performance of LAMS can be seen in articles of the International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES). By working hard and building strong relationships, he also found opportunities to do multi-physics modeling and simulation for several internal research efforts. He has enjoyed modeling processes of high-temperature material response, and compressible fluid flow that have guided planning for experiments and a test campaign.

Advice to Students:

Enjoy your personal life around your grad school experience. In college, and even grad school, you have so much freedom to meet lifelong friends, make memories, and build healthy habits. Take electives that are both technically relevant and ignite your passion. One or two semesters before your graduation, consider asking your advisor about making time for a summer internship or other opportunity to work outside your research group. If you have more than one option for job positions, pick not only by your interest in the work, but the team culture and leadership as well – it’s awesome to wake up and think “I can’t wait to work with my team today!”.