Samuel D. Gasster, Ph.D.
Who Am I?
Physicist by training, space-systems engineer by profession, teacher, and lifelong student.
I am a physicist by training, a space-systems engineer by profession, and a lifelong student of science, mathematics, and technology. My career has taken me from laboratory research in infrared spectroscopy to the design, analysis, and architecture of complex space missions. Throughout, the common thread has been curiosity: understanding how things work and finding practical ways to solve difficult problems.
I studied mathematics at MIT and earned a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, conducting graduate research in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Charles H. Townes. My work since has centered on Earth observation, remote sensing, and mission engineering, and more recently on systems architecture, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), and digital engineering.
Teaching is an important part of my professional life. As an instructor in systems engineering at UCLA, I teach system architecture and model-based systems engineering. You can read about my courses on the teaching page.