{"id":245,"date":"2014-02-06T17:50:28","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T17:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/?p=245"},"modified":"2023-02-22T16:42:16","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T16:42:16","slug":"iab-highlight-chris-erickson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/2014\/02\/06\/iab-highlight-chris-erickson\/","title":{"rendered":"IAB Highlight – Chris Erickson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Erickson-Hi-Res-picture2.jpg\"<\/a>Chris Erickson<\/strong>
\nChief Engineer
\nEnergy & Advanced Programs
\nAerojet Rocketdyne<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris Erickson, chief engineer for energy and advanced programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne, joined the IAB in 2009, but he was already well known within the college. For several years, he had been substituting when Aerojet Rocketdyne\u2019s existing IAB member couldn\u2019t make the meetings. He really enjoyed the work, so he was happy to make his role official when the other member moved on to another position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked being on campus and seeing students learning and professors very engaged,\u201d he says. \u201cI enjoy the relationships with the faculty and dean. I find it rewarding to stay in touch with academia.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As an IAB member, Erickson brings enthusiasm, insight and experience to meetings. A Chicago native who did his undergraduate work at the University of Illinois and earned his master\u2019s degree in chemical engineering at UC Berkeley, he has 35 years\u2019 experience with Aerojet Rocketdyne, supporting propulsion and energy programs. He was Aerojet Rocketdyne\u2019s 1996 Engineer of the Year and holds four patents in innovative rocket engine power cycles. He also sits on the board of the CSUN Foundation and recently received a campus Volunteer Service Award.<\/p>\n

Through the IAB, he is an advocate for the college and an effective liaison between CSUN and Aerojet Rocketdyne. \u201cOne of the advantages is that we can inform the university of exactly what we\u2019re looking for in a graduate, and we can help direct curriculum and help prepare students for our type of careers,\u201d he says. \u201cPlus it\u2019s a real opportunity to serve as conduit for excellent talent for employees. And some of our engineers do guest lectures, and the collaborative efforts have been very fruitful too, developing technology together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erickson believes the IAB is making a difference at the college, enhancing the program and enjoying many benefits in return. Moving forward, he\u2019d like to have even more impact by expanding the collaborations between CECS faculty and Aerojet Rocketdyne engineers. There are more than 250 CSUN alumni at Aerojet Rocketdyne, and he also envisions getting some of them involved in IAB activities, such as guest lecturing at CSUN and bringing CSUN faculty to Aerojet Rocketdyne to give talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very impressed with the quality of the CSUN engineering and computer science grads,\u201d he says. \u201cThey have a really good grasp of the theoretical but good hands-on capabilities as well. Plus they\u2019re good communicators, so they have risen to various positions of leadership here. They\u2019re a big part of the company, and we want to bring more like them to Aerojet Rocketdyne in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Erickson Chief Engineer Energy & Advanced Programs Aerojet Rocketdyne Chris Erickson, chief engineer for energy and advanced programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne, joined the IAB in 2009, but he was already well known within the college. For several years, he had been substituting when Aerojet Rocketdyne\u2019s existing IAB member couldn\u2019t make the meetings. He really enjoyed the work, so he was happy to make his role official when the other member moved on to another position. \u201cI liked being on campus and seeing students learning and professors very engaged,\u201d he says. \u201cI enjoy the relationships with the faculty and dean. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecs.csun.edu\/spectra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}