Santa Clara University

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Kitts' leadership

Kitts, who earned degrees from Princeton University, the University of Colorado, and Stanford, served in the U.S. Air Force and worked at Ames Research Center prior to coming to Santa Clara to work on remote operating vehicles such as satellites. In 1999, while completing graduate work in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, Kitts' classmate Jeff Ota, an adjunct professor at Santa Clara, asked him to help students build a spacecraft.

Kitts liked his experience at SCU and he decided to stay. He holds a research professorship, and grants from outside organizations pay a portion of his salary and fund the salaries of his staff members. Linda Campbell, director of sponsored projects at SCU, says Kitts has brought more than $1.6 million in outside grants to run the programs. The projects he directs "help the University be in the spotlight of areas of real current interest," Campbell says.

The funding Kitts raises is used to purchase equipment and supplies and pay salaries of the five part-time employees (often graduate students) who work with him and the students to build satellites. Kitts often co-advises senior projects with Neil Quinn, a senior lecturer in computer engineering, and Timothy Hight, a professor of mechanical engineering.

"I'm very impressed with the breadth of his program," says Michael Swartwout, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering who is building satellites at Washington University. "To some extent, I'm patterning the way I run our program after what he's done at Santa Clara."

Tracking satellites

Santa Clara engineering students such as Sara Nazemian (holding satellite) and Jennifer Lundquist have worked on 10 satellites like this one during the last five years. The student-built projects - many of which can fit into a person's hand - offer aspiring engineers vital experience applying theories to real-world applications.

SCU students have the chance to follow an orbiting satellite from inside the Bannan Engineering Building on campus. On a daily basis, students are in contact with Sapphire, a satellite that Kitts and Swartwout built together. They follow it with the aid of antennae on Bannan's roof.

A computer program on the third floor of the building calculates where to point the antennae. During the 10 or 15 minutes the satellite is overhead in space, the students can give commands to Sapphire via a two-way HAM radio.

"Sapphire is also used to support data communications, perform Earth photography, and demonstrate a number of advanced automation technologies," Kitts says.

A launching pad to success

In a story he wrote for Robotics & Automation Magazine, Kitts says the Santa Clara program's mix of engineers and scientists from a variety of educational levels and from numerous organizations "creates a particularly stimulating environment for technical education and engineering innovation."

"Most importantly," he continues, "it serves to prepare undergraduates with the systemslevel appreciation for engineering that is crucial to success in their careers."

Larry Sokoloff J.D. '92 is a freelance writer and attorney in Sunnyvale. He is also a lecturer in SCU's communication department.