NSBE - Winter 2009/2010 - 12

Charles Stewart of The Boeing Company Flying Toward Design Improvement O n Jan. 28, 1986, Charles Stewart was in college doing homework and watching the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on television. The tragic end of the flight after just 73 seconds was the moment when he settled on his career path. “That’s when I first wanted to work for NASA,” he says. “I wanted to help make sure it didn’t happen again.” Today, Stewart is a flight engineer for The Boeing Company in Houston, specializing in flight software for Orbiter operations. As a major service provider to NASA, Boeing provides engineering support for the space shuttle and International Space Station. He works on the orbital maneuvering system/reaction control system (OMS/RCS). OMS/RCS uses rocket fuel to provide the thrust needed to “Boeing provides us with a lot of opportunities to be successful. They open doors by providing outstanding educational benefits.” move the shuttle at the right speed and in the right direction to maintain attitude, get into orbit, dock, rendezvous and more. “We maintain the software system and make sure that it functions correctly on every flight,” he explains. Correcting problems has fascinated Stewart since his childhood in New Orleans. “Bicycles, radios: I’d take them apart and put them back together again. My whole thing was always to improve it.” By high school, his love of mechanical things and problem-solving led him to take mechanic classes. “That spurred my interest in mechanical engineering, and by 12 • nsbe magazine the time I was a junior in high school, I knew I wanted to be an engineer.” But Stewart — always a multitasker — was interested in chemical engineering and electrical engineering, too. “I loved them all,” he says. “I enjoy projects more if there are different kinds of engineering involved. I decided that computer science was the way to connect them all.” He first received an A.A. degree in computer science from historically black Southern University at New Orleans then went on to receive a B.S. degree in computer science from Southern University A&M College in Baton Rouge, La. His insight that computer science could connect him to different engineering disciplines certainly was true: it enabled him to establish a career — now in its third decade — that has repeatedly given him the multitasking opportunities he craved. In his current job, he is responsible for software engineering that uses knowledge of mechanical and electrical engineering, as well as the chemical engineering expertise needed to safely and efficiently maintain the OMS/RCS subsystem. Stewart first came to Boeing as a college student intern and eventually became a Boeing employee in 2002. “I love it,” he says. “Boeing provides us with a lot of opportunities to be successful. They open doors by providing outstanding educational benefits.” He adds, “Boeing has an excellent diversity program. They create a work environment that makes you want to come to work, and they provide you with the tools to get the job done.” Stewart’s next goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in management of engineering and technology, with help from Boeing’s Learning Together Program. “I want to design programs and make them more efficient,” he says. “I still want to be an engineer, and design things, but I’d like to design processes, not just products. I like to see things grow and become better.” He plans to start that program in the next year or so. “The more education I’m getting, the more I’m enjoying it,” he says. “It’s amazing how the more I learn the more I want to learn.” ■ www.nsbe.org • winter 2009

NSBE - Winter 2009/2010

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