Fellow beachside Florida Tech engineering graduates Ford Mattice and John Grant share prestigious honors awarded via the Northrop Grumman Engineering and Science Student Design Showcase, yet they had not met until after Saturday’s commencement exercises.
Grant, 45, of Satellite Beach, and Mattice, 28, of Indian Harbour Beach, represent two very different academic paths as successful “returning,” or older, bachelor degree students, demonstrating that, with the right motivation and a great deal of hard work, it’s never too late to start a new career.
Grant, who chose civil engineering as his focus, is a father of four children from age 26 to 14, and put off college while he served for as long as he could in the Air Force Reserves in para rescue and spent time coaching wrestling at Satellite High School.
“Para rescue is an awesome job. I ended up doing it 27 years but my body was starting to hurt. People ask me ‘how do you switch (to an office job)?’ and I tell them I have already done a bunch of physical stuff. I’m ready to do something else. Probably worked out better like this in the long run. I initially got into reserves to go to college. I knew I wanted to go to college once I got out because I still wanted to be an engineer,’’ he said.
Grant got an associate’s degree from Eastern Florida State College in May 2015 and entered into Florida Tech full time. From that point on he had a 4.0 GPA.
“My kids haven’t said it but I’m sure they are tired of seeing me sitting at that table studying until 2 a.m. They knew where to find me. For me a bachelor’s degree means I can go to work,’’ he said.
Grant was part of a team honored for best civil engineering project for designing a new environmentally friendly three-story building for light manufacturing for 1,000 employees in Palm Bay including analyzing soil conditions, traffic requirements, water runoff, and codes with minimal impact on the environment.
“What we tried to do was emulate professional drawings and I think that’s what really gave us the edge,’’ he said.
According to the university, Florida Tech engineering and science students for more than four decades have been required to complete a hands-on, detailed senior project before graduation for a spring competition. That competition is now underwritten by a $1 million donation from as part of Northrop Grumman’s commitment to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs.
Another top award winner in the program, but in the aerospace engineering division, Mattice, grew up in Melbourne and took six years off after graduating from Eau Gallie High School, spending most of that time delivering pizzas.
“I took the time off because I wasn’t invested or motivated. I was just burned out from high school. After six years I just wanted to stop delivering pizzas. It’s probably a common story in this area but I grew up watching shuttles and always wanted to get into the space program or space business in some way. I never thought I would be able to pay for this school but I got a two year presidential scholarship and got accepted,’’ Mattice said.
He would love to work on the Orion program some day. “There’s a lot going on around here. This university has a good tie with the Cape and a lot of the top companies,” he said.
As team leader Mattice is looking forward to an actual launch test of the Aerospace Wire-Repair Intelligent Systems Experiment (ARISE). The team has spent the past year developing a test for self-repairing wire for use on the International Space Station.
“It’s a program by NASA creating a payload to go on a sounding rocket to be launched out of Wallops Island, Virginia in 2018. It’s not orbital. It’s just a ballistic launch but they say that space starts at 100 km and this will go 150 km. Our payload is going to be testing a new wire insulation repair material.”
The technology is certified for aircraft use, Mattice said, but not yet for use in space. “We set it up to test in a vacuum and micro-gravity environment. This was very much similar to having a job. Not only are we trying to solve a problem but we are putting it in a rocket. I think that in general is part of the cool factor in this project for me,’’ he said.