Aerospace leader Robert Rashford, ENG, '82, president and founder of Genesis Engineering Solutions, is scheduled to deliver the alumni keynote address to the Class of 2022 at the College of Engineering graduation ceremony on May 4th. 

Rashford began his career as a structural and test engineer for General Electric Space Division and Fairchild Space Company. He also served as Product Development Lead for the First Servicing Mission of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) at Lockheed Martin. 

He would go on to found GES in 1993 to provide engineering and product development support of space flight along with critical Ground Support Equipment (GSE) hardware for some of NASA's flagship missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the International Space Station (ISS), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and now Roman Space Telescope (RST).

"We are thrilled that Robert has agreed to share his deep engineering and leadership experience with our students," said Keya Sadeghipour, Dean of the Temple University College of Engineering. "His journey is a wonderful example of how they will be able to apply their experience at Temple to the professional world." 

Rashford has received eight NASA Achievement Awards for work performed on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions, and JWST. In 2011, he received NASA's Contractor Excellence Award, and in 2002, Mr. Rashford was awarded "Excellence in Science & Technology" from the Institute of Caribbean Studies. 

He is also the co-Inventor for the patented Portable Real-Time 3D Non-Destructive Examination technology with an application to detect flaws for aircraft, pipelines, and composite materials. Rashford will be joined by Sat Sugita, ENG, '22, who will deliver the student address at the ceremony. 

Learn more about the College of Engineering graduation ceremony and Temple University Commencement here>