Marcel Mabson

Born in the great state of Hawaii while my mother was stationed on the Naval base. I have always enjoyed science from a young age, my uncle introduced me to space while we were watching an Apollo documentary. Since then, I always knew a career in space is something that I wanted to do. While in Elementary school I would read any book I could about space, I even could tell you the names of all the space shuttles, what year they built and there first launch, I also began learning about astronomy and became fascinated in the field. On my 5th bday my godparents gifted me my first telescope and on that same night we looked at the planet Saturn, small in size that telescope allowed me learn more about astronomy and take what I learned in books and see them in real life. My junior year of high school, I wanted to get an early start to my college search, I knew astronomy and space were my ideal fields but many colleges and universities I attended open houses seemed too large and I felt I wouldn’t get the exposure I required in the field. I attended an open house at Capitol Technology University (then Capitol College) and knew their AE program would be my best track to working on a NASA mission. In fall of 2006 I was selected as a flight operator on NASA’s TOMS-EP mission and that was my stepping stone to greater missions. Since graduation I have worked on over 12 NASA and commercial missions, attended various conference and help run the Space Flight Operations Training Center (SFOTC), to train the next generation of spacecraft operators.

Areas of Expertise:

• Spacecraft ground software test engineer

• Onsite support to Spacecraft flight operations team members during all operational phases of a mission.

Biography:

Education

• B.S. in Astronautical Engineering

Professional Achievements

• Installing and upgrading the Space Flight Operations Training Center at Capitol

Honors and Awards

• NASA'S LDCM group achievement award

• 2010 Capitol College student achievement award

• 2017 Capitol Technology University Faculty service award 

Volunteer/Service experience

• Board member Science and Engineering Partnership

• Provide neighborhood children views of the planets and deep sky objects

• Provide open house tours for the AE program at Capitol

When Professor Mabson is not teaching, he is:

• When I am not teaching I’m enjoying family time with my wife Katherine and daughter Grace. My wife and I enjoy wine tasting and seafood, so during warm Maryland days we are typically out exploring on the eastern shore. Days at work can also be stressful, so to relax I enjoy making BBQ on my smoker and working on my classic Mustang. When everyone in the house is sleep and the skies are clear you can always find me using my telescope tracking asteroids, monitoring variable stars and looking for supernova’s until the early morning hours.

What good simple advice do you give to your students?

• As the famous Astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei once said: “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them”.

• I make the point to student’s early on in the AE program, the topics they will learn will be difficult and they will ask many questions. The goal is that you are here because this a career path you have chosen, these topics may seems difficult, but once you grasp the initial concepts a new world of exploration awaits you