Johns Hopkins APL Employee Named Year’s Most Promising Black Engineer

Jason Bunn, of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md., received the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Most Promising Engineer on Feb. 16 at the 16th annual Black Engineer Awards Conference. Bunn was among more than two dozen African-Americans receiving awards during ceremonies at the Baltimore Convention Center.

As a member APL’s Space Department, Bunn helps develop attitude-control systems for APL satellites. He developed algorithms for NASA’s CONTOUR (Comet Nucleus Tour) mission — launch date July 1 — that will guide and control the spacecraft past at least two comets, and point science instruments at the comet’s nucleus during flybys and the antennas at Earth during data transmission.

His work also included simulation of wind effects on the tether of a very high-altitude balloon concept.

“He achieved a breakthrough that allowed a faster-than-real-time simulation,” says Tom Strikwerda, Bunn’s supervisor. “Analysts can now explore many more issues in less time. His efforts also led to development of a video to better depict the study results to program sponsors.”

The Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference is sponsored by Lockheed Martin Corp., the Council of Engineering Deans of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the U.S. Black Engineer and Information Technology (USBE & IT) magazine, published by Career Communications Group, of Baltimore.