In this episode, Colton Campell shares his enthusiasm for Embry-Riddle's engineering capstone program, relates fond memories of working directly with the Bell aircraft company, talks about his unconventional career path, and encourages current Eagles to become lifelong learners. Campbell is currently pursing a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the Univeristy of Alabama.
Episode Transcript:
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Abigail Bradberry: Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of “What’s the Word, Eagle Alumni Spotlight Podcasts.” And today we are joined with Colton Campbell and Colton, why don't you give us a little bit of background about yourself.
Colton Campbell: Yeah, thanks for having me, Abigail. So, I graduated from Embry-Riddle Prescott in 2018 with my undergrad in aerospace engineering. I did the aero track so focused on atmospheric vehicles. And I also graduated in December 2020, with my master's from Riddle. At the time it was called Embry-Riddle Worldwide. Now I think it's just part of the larger integrated Embry-Riddle ecosystem. And now I'm pursuing my Ph. D.
Abigail Bradberry: That's awesome. Where are you pursuing your Ph.D. at?
Colton Campbell: It's actually at University of Alabama. They're one of the only places I found so far that has an online Aero Ph.D., program. So, haha.
Abigail Bradberry: Wow, that is so cool. And now do you have a favorite memory from your time at Embry-Riddle you’d like to share with us?
Colton Campbell: Yeah. So, I was kind of thinking about this. I have a lot of good memories of academically and non-academically. Just being around so many students and friends with kind of like-minded interest and just also such a deep level of excitement around the aerospace field. But I think probably one of my favorite experiences, or maybe more than just an experience, but the highlight of my undergrad was my capstone project. Getting to work with an industry partner. I led our capstone team working with Bell, and just getting to actually work on a real industry project as an undergrad student, where we got to bring together all of our different disciplines, and engineering areas that we had learned through the past 3 years and then culminate that into one project was pretty amazing. And we actually, that experience culminated with 2 patents under Bell's name, but with us listed as inventors on that which is pretty neat.
Abigail Bradberry: That is very neat. So, it's kind of very satisfying to tie it all together.
Colton Campbell: Yeah, and get a little bit of an understanding of what it looks like to actually have different teams working at one project, because, and the previous parts of your education here is very segregated. So, okay, I'm learning structures in this class. And I'm learning aerodynamics in this class. But then, seeing how those work together. To actually work on an aircraft was very neat and eye opening.
Abigail Bradberry: Oh, I bet, and I’m sure it prepared you well for your current job, right?
Colton Campbell: Yeah. Well, actually, yes, I was saying, I probably have a kind of non standard career history for most aerospace engineers. Actually, right now, my day job, I work at W.L. gore in their medical division. So I'm a design engineer for like aorta components and different cardiovascular medical devices. And so that's been really cool to kind of open my eyes to different areas of engineering. And then coming from the aerospace industry previously because I just started there about a year and a half ago, getting to bring in some of my knowledge and skill sets and then blend that with our team skills has been really great and has kind of led to some great opportunities. And then, on the side, I actually have a engineering consulting firm that does aerospace conceptual design. And we've done some kind of early stage feasibility analysis and conceptual design for a few UAS startups, and then also some product development. And so I kind of am still pursuing that aerospace career field on the side while obviously pursuing my education. But, yeah, a little bit of a nonstandard approach of how I got there. And it's a long story, but it's been, been really great and gotten a lot of good experience to get here.
Abigail Bradberry: Oh yea, that is very cool. Kind of a fun way to get to where you are now. And do you have a favorite part out of your current job?
Colton Campbell: Yeah. So, I guess kind of with the mix of all, mostly engineering, but being in a day job of the medical industry and then side job of aerospace and product development, the medical industry and the aerospace industry are both highly regulated. So, I get to see what to highly regulated industries look like. And they're also similar and different in those ways. But I think my favorite part of kind of the current, or the way that my career path is taking me is just the variability constantly getting to learn new things, and then also kind of cross pollinate these skills from different disciplines. And different skill sets to bring to my current team or my current jobs. And that's been really great, and it's kind of open my eyes to different ways of approaching problem solving. And then also getting to bring kind of new ideas to different industries’ problems.
Abigail Bradberry: Oh, wow! Wow! Very, very cool. And then, so with your special work schedule, what does a typical day kind of look like?
Colton Campbell: Yeah, I guess it kinda goes with that variability thing every day is a little bit different. You know I do have the flexibility of,of working at somewhat hybrid schedule, even though I do have my primary office is here in Flagstaff. So, depending on, if I go into my day jobs office in the morning or in the afternoon will kind of depend on when I do my side work and things like that. But, just in general kind of balancing the demands from various teams and various clients. Yea and just learning how to communicate effectively and how to manage your time is really important. And obviously, that's something you start to learn and work on in college. And I think that's kind of a, a great aspect of college is having a lot of demands on your time with multiple classes at once, and things like that. It kinda helps prepare you for that. I could go over what a typical day looks like, but it's kind of hard to define what “typical” is, you know. So I'd be happy to do that if you'd like, or we can just leave it there.
Abigail Bradberry: No worries. Everyone's typical day look a little bit different, but you've given us some good insight. And now at your current job, do you do a lot of writing?
Colton Campbell: Yeah. So a lot of writing mostly because even in really technical specific engineering disciplines, and today's kind of like highly cross team and collaborative projects, you have to rely on communication as an engineer, even though some engineers think you don't have to. It's actually really important. And especially in today's kind of highly digital and distributed team type collaborative workforce writing is really important. And so, whether it be kind of direct report write-ups for cataloging projects in our quality system network. Or if it's just enter team communications through Powerpoint, I use writing pretty much every day.
Abigail Bradberry: Oh ok, and what genre of writing would you say you rely on the most?
Colton Campbell: Yeah, I think Powerpoint is probably one of our biggest tools for just making slide decks. For me, I think it's a very approachable medium to be sharing technical information, especially when it revolves around data analysis or design decisions. You can use a lot more visuals, and it's a little bit more free form in how you structure your data there. And it's a little bit more approachable to not overwhelm someone with a bunch of text, especially when people are busy. They don't want to really see a 3 page document coming through. They'd rather see a 3 or 4 slide Powerpoint coming through, or something like that. So Powerpoint, or Google slides, or any, any deck tools like that are probably my most common tools.
Abigail Bradberry: Ok, and now did you use a lot of Powerpoint or Google Slides at your time at Embry-Riddle or was it kind of a shock when you came to the workplace to be using this so much?
Colton Campbell: Yeah, I think most of my communication for courses and for capstone during my undergrad was definitely PowerPoint especially when we were doing our design reviews with Bell, and then, internally. I think Powerpoint was the most approachable medium for that as well. Especially since a lot of those were kind of live presentations and standing up and presenting the data. It makes the most sense to kind of have a static deck behind you.
Abigail Bradberry: Awesome! And that leads me right into my next question for you. Have you noticed any big differences between workplace writing and college writing whether that be in your undergrad or in your master's program?
Colton Campbell: Yeah. As far as communication goes I don't think so. I think, especially with the capstone like, I really wanna emphasize how great Riddles capstone program is because it really kind of gives you this first phase, and it's not perfect. And it can't be because industry projects take a decade to develop an aircraft perhaps you know. Whereas you have to do it in a couple of months and then detail it in a couple of months. But yeah, I think undergrad really did a great job kind of preparing me for what technical communication looks like. But a lot of that just comes through practice and and real-life feedback for your teams and things like that which will obviously be expanded as you enter the workforce. So not a huge difference in technical communication or writing. But one of the biggest differences that I have noticed in transitioning-- and I still kind of have my foot in both camps since I still am in education-- But in education, you learn problem solving skills. But the problem typically has an answer, and there's typically a finite amount of time before you get the answer, whether it be a test or homework, or things like that. And in industry, your job is to solve problems that nobody knows how to solve, and there's no clear path and no one's gonna tell you how to do it. So it's your job to kind of figure it out and kind of build that roadmap to success. So it is an adjustment because you have to learn to trust the skills you've developed in your knowledge and then also continue to grow that those skills and knowledge so you don't stagnate as the industry evolves around you.
Abigail Bradberry: Oh yea, I’m sure that’s a part of leaving college that’s often overlooked, but it’s a really good thing to think about. And do you have anything you wish you would have known before you left Riddle?
Colton Campbell: Yeah, so I guess it was really hard for me, even with Capstone. It's kind of hard to understand what it means to be an aerospace engineer, or an engineer, or whatever your discipline is, and I can't speak for all engineer disciplines, but I think aerospace engineering is unique in the sense that it's a very it's a specialized but very broad field, because within aerospace engineering you have electrical and aerodynamics and mechanical engineering, and all these different things. So I wish I would have spent more time interfacing with industry professionals, and kind of understanding what these different roles in the aerospace engineering field, what their day-to-day jobs looks like, and kind of where I may be interested in trying to go. You don't always have a choice in what you do for your first job necessarily, but just getting anything to start gaining experience, whether that's internships while you're in college, or when you graduate, kind of seeing your first few jobs is almost apprenticeships in the sense of you’re building skills that are gonna help direct your career where you want it after that. So I think with that in mind, just my biggest advice in general would be to learn to love learning, and then also learn to become a lifelong learner. And I think that'll open a lot of opportunities and doors, and take your career places you've never thought before.
Abigail Bradberry: Alright, and that was great advice. Thank you so much Colton, and a big thank you for being on our podcast with us today. We hope you all enjoyed this episode and stay tuned for more!
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Amelia Chesley: This podcast is supported by the Department of Humanities and Communication at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. Abby Bradberry is our host, Matthew Haslam is our Department Chair, and I’m Amelia Chesley, Assistant Professor of Professional Writing. Find us on YouTube, or reach out if you’re an alumni and would like to be featured in a future episode.
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