Robert Rashford
President/CEO at Genesis Engineering Solutions, Inc.
Invented the world’s first portable 3D non-destructive evaluation (NDE) system
Robert has over thirty-five years of experience in aerospace engineering with some of America’s leading high-tech companies. He founded Genesis in 1993 and has maintained a customer focus that has driven growth. Through his leadership, Genesis provided solutions for all four servicing missions of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station, and the James Webb Space Telescope. Robert’s passion to mentor the next generation includes serving on multiple boards of Universities with an eye to providing industry insight for the future generations of engineers and technologists. He also encourages young talent through internships and STEM outreach programs.
Rashford was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on 15 June 1957. He moved to the United States in 1978 and has degrees from Temple University and the University of Maryland.
His first invention of a dry laser cleaning tool for flat panel displays in 2001. This tool replaces the use of “wet” cleaning methods with harmful chemicals. T
Rashford is now working in the field of nanotechnology developing very small circuits for use in computers. He believes the day will come when a computer can be rolled up and put in your pocket. He has many more visions of the future.
Today, he says to young people,” Expect challenges in your life; if you have no challenges, you do not live- use each one to motivate you to achieve great things.”
Rashford co-invented with Charles Rivera the world’s first portable 3D non-destructive evaluation (NDE) system. This invention was used in the maintenance of the United States Government’s Hubble Space Telescope. Rashford also invented a protective enclosure for use in transporting orbital replacement units (orus). Rashford designed and developed unique spacecraft support systems for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Airborne Support Equipment (UASE) at the Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC). At General Electric, he designed and tested a variety of spacecraft for both commercial and military applications. At Bechtel Corporation, he designed a nuclear reactor support structure. He has designed numerous highly complex engineering systems that successfully flew onboard NASA’s Manned Space Flight Programs
NASA BIO
Robert Rashford currently serves as the manager for both Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) Electronics Compartment (IEC) and Optical Telescope Element Simulator (OSIM) as part of the James Webb Space Telescope project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
He has held the IEC position since May 2005 and the ISIM position since July 2009. In his position, Rashford is responsible for the overall engineering development of the IEC and OSIM, managing the cost and budget, making sure the entire system is delivered on time and that they meet technical requirements.
Prior to this position with Webb, Rashford was the Project Manager and Principal Technical Lead for the development and delivery of space flight hardware at Genesis Engineering Solutions. He was responsible for designing, developing and executing manufacturing techniques to reduce time, cost and improve product performance.
From September 1987 to January 1991, Rashford served as the Structural Engineer and Project Engineer at the Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC). There he designed and developed unique spacecraft support systems for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Airborne Support Equipment (UASE).
Rashford worked as the Design and Test Engineer at General Electric (GE) from 1983 to 1987. In this role, he designed and tested a variety of spacecrafts for both commercial and military applications. From January 1982 to January 1983 Robert was the Design Engineer for Bechtel Corporation, where he designed a nuclear reactor support structure.
Over 20 years, Robert has managed to design a great number of highly complex engineering systems that successfully flew on board NASA’s Manned Space Flight Programs. These programs include the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Missions in 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002. Also, he led the technical team during the development of similar space flight systems for key NASA missions to the International Space Station (ISS). He was a member of the Instrument Engineer team for NASA’s CoSMIR, CoSSIR and AESMIR, where he designed, studied, fabricated, integrated, tested and successfully delivered the final project.
Robert received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Temple University in Pennsylvania in 1982, as well as a Master’s in Science in Engineering and Management from the University of Maryland in 1993. Robert’s hobbies include playing racket ball and cooking Caribbean dishes.
or his extensive work, he received many awards, including four awards from NASA for his work on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and the Hubble Space Telescope. He also received an award for Excellence in Science and Technology from the Institute of Caribbean Studies.
Resources; Nasa Bio site and GES Bio