In true Mudd form, engineering major and aspiring astronaut Robert Panish ’06 is looking past NASA to the real future of space travel. Betting that the trend toward private space ventures will continue, the recent grad recognizes that working for a small aerospace firm is where it’s at.

With a $10,000 Astronaut Scholarship Foundation scholarship and a night of hobnobbing at the annual Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Kennedy Space Center in Florida under his belt, it looks like Panish is well on his way to a bright future. But it all started with Mudd.

“I’m interested in space vehicle structures, vibrations and controls and I’ve worked on all these things as part of my coursework, research or Clinic projects at Mudd,” says Panish.

Panish received one heck of a lesson in structure while participating in the Mudd’s Frank and Frances De Pietro Fellowship in Civil Engineering program. He and four other students worked to create an early warning system for firefighters that predicts structure collapse.

“We got to work with firefighters in our research to monitor the structural integrity of burning buildings,” he explains. “Then we got to present our work to FIRESCOPE, a group of fire officials commissioned by the governor of California to manage all fire emergencies in the state.”

Next stop for Panish—MIT’s Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering Department, where he’ll work toward his master’s and Ph.D. From there, the sky is definitely not the limit.