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Forbes Magazine Honors NASA Langley Researcher Kenneth Smith

Kenneth Smith, a structural dynamics engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, was featured in Forbes magazine
Kenneth Smith, a structural dynamics engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, was featured as part of this year’s Forbes’ “30 Under 30” for Science list.
NASA / David C. Bowman

Kenneth Smith’s journey to the pages of Forbes magazine has been an unconventional one – and it’s just the way he likes it.

Smith, a structural dynamics engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, said he was very surprised to be featured as part of this year’s Forbes’ “30 Under 30” for Science list.

“It makes you have some pride,” he said. “It’s nice.”

Smith said he had no idea who nominated him for the honor, thought he suspects it was a former mentor or college professor. Nevertheless, Smith answered a questionnaire and submitted information to the magazine about what he does for Langley, which “turned into a big conglomerate of things,” he said.

“Any opportunity that’s given to me, I try and reach for it,” he said.

The honor is made all the sweeter by the winding road Smith has taken in his career.

Smith, a 27-year-old native of Streetsboro, Ohio, had no interest in space when he began college, and was a biochemistry major at Ohio State University. His father lost his job and Smith left Ohio State to transfer to Kent State University, all while working full-time to help his family.

That got to be too much and Smith took a break from his studies. While working, a friend who volunteered at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio, asked Smith to join him. While there, Smith saw and undertook new things he never thought of, and he was hooked.

“That’s when I knew I wanted to be an aerospace engineer,” he said.

Kenneth Smith is working on getting his master’s degree from Georgia Tech while working at NASA Langley full-time.
Kenneth Smith is working on getting his master’s degree from Georgia Tech while working at NASA Langley full-time.
NASA / David C. Bowman

With his newfound passion for space, Smith went back to Kent State and then transferred to the University of Akron, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering.

Kenneth Smith is pictured in a flight suit in front of NASA Langley's hangar.
“A lot of people get stuck in a rhythm,” Kenneth Smith said. “Me? I’m trying to do everything.”
Image Courtesy of Kenneth Smith

Smith is badged to Langley, but in the past four years, has been involved with NASA centers in different capacities. He worked at Langley for three semesters, starting in the winter of 2013, during his undergraduate career as part of a co-op program at Akron, spent the summer of 2015 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and spent the 2015-16 academic year at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio.

Smith has also been in the private sector, working for Space X and its Dragon reusable spacecraft. He still keeps ties with the private space sector, and is working on NASA’s Commercial Crew program with companies such as Boeing and Space X to get privately-owned spaceships ready for astronauts and private citizens.

“I look at vibration-induced loads on launch vehicles and crew capsules,” he said. “The reason I got onto Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30’ (list) is with the work that I did with commercial companies.”

Throughout his time at Langley, he’s had people along the way who helped guide him and lend a helping hand – notably Isam “Sam” Yunis, Jon Austin and Ralph Buehrle.

“I’m appreciative of all my mentors out here,” he said, adding they helped make him feel a part of the team and not just an outsider from Space X. “They’ve been really helpful.”

Among his duties, Smith helps navigate the necessary hoops to get things approved by NASA and commercial companies for testing purposes to help categorize the characteristics of a vehicle and how it reacts under different dynamic conditions.

“There’s so much historical data that NASA has, and that’s why Space X and other companies keep coming here,” he said. “It’s pretty cool they share some of their techniques, like Orion, with these commercial companies to help them out with their testing to get ready to launch people into space.”

The moment people are launched into space via NASA’s Commercial Crew program, it can be seen as a moment of outreach to people of all ages about the wonders of the cosmos – the same wonder that inspired Smith to change course years ago.

“When you see these things and someone explains it to you and you realize what the importance is, you get excited,” he said. “I think outreach is really important.”

That’s why in 2014, while a student at Akron, Smith co-founded the Akronauts Rocket Design Team to advance STEM outreach and aerospace technology.

“I think everyone should have the opportunity to see what’s out there and follow what they want to do,” he said.

Rare is the opportunity that Smith doesn’t take, as he is working on getting his master’s degree from Georgia Tech while working at Langley full-time. That workload doesn’t faze the energetic Smith, who enjoys performing under pressure and tight deadlines – all in a t-shirt, jeans and a Cleveland Indians baseball cap.

“A lot of people get stuck in a rhythm,” he said. “Me? I’m trying to do everything.”

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Last Updated
Oct 05, 2023