Dr. Robert O. Shelton – NESC Academy Biography

Robert Shelton is a lead simulation engineer in the Simulation and Graphics Branch at JSC. Shelton received his doctorate in mathematics from Rice University in 1975. Dr. Shelton joined the Simulation and Graphics Branch in 2009 assuming the lead for the team which developed version 2.0 of the JSC Engineering Orbital Dynamics (JEOD) software. JEOD 2.0 was a complete rewrite of the previous code to be object-oriented C++ with generalizations to support simulations beyond earth orbit. In 2012, JEOD 2.2.1 received a Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) rating of level 3, and the current version (3.1) retains this rating. Along with his participation on the EOM Verification and Validation Check-Cases, Dr. Shelton’s work included serving as the simulation lead for the Morpheus lander project and his next assignment will be assisting with the simulation verification and validation effort for Commercial Crew. Dr. Shelton also continues to improve JEOD and serves as an expert on orbital dynamics and other areas of mathematical modeling.