Steven Shepard was born in Lansing, MI, growing up in nearby Haslett for the majority of his childhood (with stops in Atlanta, GA and St. Louis, MO). He played multiple sports, learning from his dad, including football, tennis, basketball, baseball and soccer. At an early age he fell in love with Star Wars and later in high school, was inspired by the book Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy, by Kip Thorne. This led him to pursue a career in aerospace engineering, where he graduated magna cum laude with his bachelor and master of science in engineering (aerospace engineering) degrees from the University of Michigan, before embarking on a career at Lockheed Martin Space (LMS) in Sunnyvale, CA. Steve specialized in gas dynamics and fluid dynamics during his studies, with an additional focus on electric propulsion while at Michigan; this included supporting NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn. Steve spent the first part of his career designing satellites for multiple customers in LMS's Special Programs directorate, as well as helping design the propulsion system for NASA's Orion mission to return humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond. His expertise centered on propulsion and thermal spacecraft analysis and design, where he contributed to the successful launch of three satellites. Presently Steve is a research manager at LMS, where he leads a group of talented scientists and engineers in the Hypersonics and Advanced Materials directorate at LMS's Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, CA. Of particular interest are high energy laser-material interactions, nanomaterials and advanced high-temperature materials and coatings for hypersonic applications. Steve competes in multiple United States Tennis Association (USTA) tennis leagues and tournaments, trains Muay Thai, picked up skiing, enjoys biking and hiking the many wonderful locations sprinkled throughout Northern California, is an avid traveler, voracious reader and is a member of multiple animal welfare and environmental advocate agencies. He lives in San Jose, CA with his girlfriend Moy and four cats (Callie, Spartacus, Maximus and Daenerys).
