Charlie Stegemoeller ’85 has participated in significant change in the Wm Michael Barnes ’64 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the space industry throughout his career. Both professionally and academically, his success has stemmed from his time spent in the department at Texas A&M University.
Stegemoeller first chose to pursue electrical engineering but switched to industrial engineering in his sophomore year.
“I understood business and became interested in industrial engineering as the curriculum enabled me to learn the business of engineering,” Stegemoeller said. “The spectrum of coursework provided me insights into the different skills required to create successful systems across a diverse range of scale and impact.”
After graduation, he took a job with NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where he started as a technical analyst performing program performance assessments of the Space Shuttle program. He credits his success in this role to the range of subjects he studied in industrial engineering, from business to engineering and systems performance.
“I built upon this core knowledge with each of my successive roles — Space Station, Space Shuttle, human research, advanced technology research and development and developing mission systems for human exploration of the moon and Mars,” Stegemoeller said.
Another highlight for him was leading a team to integrate U.S. research hardware and payloads on board the Russian Mir Orbital Space Station.
“This effort was key to the U.S. diplomatic efforts to engage the former Soviet Union adversaries into a peaceful alliance of engagement in space flight,” Stegemoeller said. “The efforts with the Mir laid the groundwork for the successful development, deployment and operations of the International Space Station, continuously crewed since October 2000.”
Stegemoeller now works as senior director for business development at the Science Applications International Corporation in Houston.
Like many Aggies, Stegemoeller soon sought ways to give back to the department that helped jumpstart his career. He joined the department’s advisory council in 2008 and said he has seen significant growth and development across the department in the last 14 years.
“To the credit of the department leadership, they have sought out a spectrum of insights and perspectives to evaluate and adjust the plans in motion to make this department of great value to the students, the university and to the industries that need these skills,” he said.
Stegemoeller also offered this advice to students: “Lean forward toward your future by learning as much as you can in every dimension during your college experience. You cannot predict which experience along your journey may become a key to your next step.”