Jaden Shakar ’17 is a Propulsion Engineer for the Turbo Machinery Team at Blue Origin in Kent, Washington.

If you could take three faculty members for coffee, who would you choose?
First and foremost, former math and physics teacher Dr. Ragini Narasimhan. Her willingness to invest time in me helped me develop my math and science skills. Mr. Chestnut. During Geometry and Proofs class, he put bonus questions on the test, and I’d write notes to him, like, “Nice try with this question.” Former math teacher Mr. Peabody. My friend [and current roommate] Jay Naidu ’17 and I showed him a spoof video about not understanding engineering, and said, “That’s how we feel when you are explaining statistics to us.” That video led to many laughs.

What seeds were planted at UPrep that helped you later?
I had freedom to choose my path. I put extra effort into math and science because I enjoyed it, a passion that led me to study engineering at University of Southern California (USC). I realized I excelled by spending time in the UPrep math office asking questions. This was a practice I took with me to college. I learned self-discipline and found success in the last two years of college. Natural talent will only get you so far—you have to put in the work.

Tell me about your path from UPrep to Blue Origin.
I’ve always had an interest in aeronautics but didn’t realize I wanted to go into rocket science until I took a turbine design course during my last semester at USC. I love the hands-on aspect of starting from scratch to build something while addressing the problems at every step. When I interviewed at Blue Origin, I presented my work from this course. Conveniently, we were building a turbine much like the one used in their rockets. I also talked about a self-led endeavor of building a quadcopter from scratch. This interview landed me my current job as a design engineer. I have my own hardware that I am responsible for, and my colleagues and I make both rotating and static hardware for the BE-4 engine.

What’s your favorite part of your job?
I am passionate about problem-solving. The dopamine hit comes from the day to-day wins of figuring something out. The overarching goal that I haven’t experienced yet is having a hand in designing something that you see at a rocket launch—a piece of my mental effort going to space. The New Glenn rocket with the engine I work on hasn’t launched yet. I think engineering is captivating because it is the closest thing to having a superpower.