Adam Steltzner

Engineer

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Palm Springs, CA US

“When you look back at your life, you remember the great highs and the great lows. The middle sort of doesn't stand out that much, so never fear risking the great lows in pursuit of the great highs.”

Videos

By Roadtrip Nation

Adam Steltzner

Milestones

My road in life has been direct.

Isn't sure if he ever graduated high school, dropped out of the Berklee College of Music.

Found himself continually pulling out of things just as they got serious.

Realized he was becoming his father, who'd never really had a passion.

Wanted to find something he loved and commit to it, so he took an astronomy course at a community college.

Says the equation "f=ma" changed his life; he realized that physics used a beautiful language that he wanted to learn.

"Surrendered to the learning process," worked really hard at his education and earned a Ph.D. in engineering physics.

Led the mechanical engineering of the Curiosity Mars rover landing.

Says his job has definite "failures," but thinks that attempting and failing is always better than not trying.

Keep following my journey

Education

High School

Bachelor
Mechanical Engineering
University of California-Davis

Graduate
Engineering Mechanics
California Institute of Technology

Doctorate
Engineering Mechanics
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Career

Engineer

I'm an explorer of the solar system, student of human nature, engineer, writer, speaker, and general loose cannon.

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

Engineering

Science

Accomplishing Goals

Interviewed By

It's a Journey--Not a Destination

In Palm Springs, the road-trippers interview Adam Steltzner, a NASA engineer with an unlikely life path who directed the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. Later, in Taos, New Mexico, the team discusses going with the flow of life with Sherry Grathler, a river guide who backed out of a career in law to pursue the outdoors.

Adam Steltzner

Engineer

Videos

Adam Steltzner

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Engineering

Science

Accomplishing Goals

Interviewed By

It's a Journey--Not a Destination

Related Leaders