New Techshot employee John Simpson from Owensboro, Ky. is utilizing his past and his education from the University of Louisville (UofL) to work on new projects for NASA. Simpson was following graduation from UofL with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. While attending UofL, Simpson was involved in different organizations and groups including a group called LVL1 or Louisville hackers (LVL1.org). This group included engineering students that could come to an open workshop and work together toward projects. This is also where Simpson found out about the job opening at Techshot.

Also, while attending UofL as a senior, Simpson worked on a rocket team called University Student Launch Initiative for a NASA competition. This team built a 50 pound rocket that won the team a Rookie of the Year award and 5th Place overall.

Since Simpson has been at Techshot, he has been working on a slew of projects for the International Space Station. One project called MVP (Multi-specimen Variable-gravity Platform) will be used to study the effects of gravity on a wide variety of sample types. Another project that he has been working on lately is a bone densitometer that will be used on mice to x-ray their bones and their density while on the space station. This project could lead to creating new medicine that can help with bone loss while in space and eventually for bone loss like osteoporosis on earth.