Meet distinguished engineer Pedro S. and learn how his super-human characteristics and experience have led him to success. Photo Credit: SDL | Allison Bills
If you have seen the TV series M*A*S*H, you may remember the super-human character Corporal Walter Eugene “Radar” O’Reilly. Radar’s sensory perception and astute hearing abilities led him to finish his commander’s sentences and predict others’ needs. Distinguished Engineer Pedro S. is SDL’s real-life Radar. His work ethic, humor, and super-human skill to know a customer’s software requirements before they do is unmatched. SDL founders Doran and Kay Baker must have foreseen Pedro’s potential to excel when they hired him nearly 34 years ago, as he has contributed to SDL’s most notable programs to date.
The Early Years
Growing up in Honduras, Pedro devoured his mother’s food and his family’s encyclopedias. He enjoyed reading and studying aerospace, rockets, and astronomy. He moved to the US to study electrical engineering at Utah State University because “math is a universal language, and it came easy” to him. He envisioned returning to Honduras to work at a power company and make sure people had power in their homes. Any other career goals seemed either unimaginable or unachievable. Fortunately, something new appeared on the technology stage that would change Pedro’s career trajectory.
An Unknown Journey
Notable companies like Apple and IBM began building and selling personal workstations or computers as Pedro began college. There was a growing need to design software for hardware. Pedro’s first SDL assignment was to build test hardware for CIRRIS 1A and write the software to run it. He taught himself to write software and naturally understood how it interfaced with hardware. Today, Pedro develops ground systems to support the various phases of instrument integration, testing, calibration, and mission operations. He also works in the Lab on expensive detectors and their associated electronics.
Super-human Capabilities
Modestly, Pedro describes his main job at SDL as writing software, but he also serves in other important capacities. One of his favorite parts of his work is using his creativity to build better tools and meet customers’ needs faster. SDL’s Civil & Commercial Space Division Director, Alan T. said, “I don’t know how many times I have been using capabilities he has developed and said something like, ‘It would be great if it could do this…,’ and then Pedro has shown me how to use that same feature, which he had already included in the software.”
Mission Success
Currently, Pedro operates the mission operations center for NASA’s AWE (Atmospheric Waves Experiment) mission. Each day, he uses software he created to monitor payload health and process the imagery that AWE obtains from its perch on the International Space Station. He converts raw image pieces that have been received as packets into real-time data, which he calibrates and geolocates to make them visually accurate for program scientists to use. Additionally, Pedro uses his expertise to help “put together” the electronics for a different program’s focal plane module. These roles are similar to his past roles on several other programs. Working at SDL has been “beyond a dream” for Pedro, and he never saw himself becoming a distinguished engineer in the aerospace industry.
“Distinguished” to the T
As a distinguished engineer, Pedro has reached the pinnacle of his career and technical expertise. But as instrumentation and computers continue to evolve, he also develops his expertise. He often consults on several SDL programs and works with a variety of teams. “Overall, Pedro is a team member who exemplifies ‘steady excellence.’ You can count on him. He will think of all the details, and what he delivers to SDL customers is always top notch,” remarked CVS Deputy Division Director, Teresa J.
Pedro values the work of leaders to manage others and appreciates that he gets to do the engineering work that he loves. “I have to retire sometime,” he noted, so he also recognizes the importance of using his time to mentor engineers who will follow in his footsteps.
Free Time Fun
With his dedication to SDL, it is difficult to see how Pedro has much time left for family or fun, but he does. In his spare time, Pedro enjoys cooking his mother’s Honduran recipes, riding his bike around Cache Valley, and doing yard work as “therapy.” He and his wife take family vacations with their two daughters and son-in-law. They visit almost any Disney destination or Pedro’s siblings who live on three different continents. On weekends, Pedro is also known to watch about five soccer games at once, which instantly illustrates how he manages multiple tasks on many SDL programs.