Arch Owen, '82
I graduated from Swarthmore in 1982 with an electrical engineering degree.
After debating whether to go to graduate school or head into industry, I decided
to work at GE Ordnance systems in Pittsfield, MA as part of their Edison
Engineering program. This entry-level program offered me rotating
assignments within the division, a fully paid master's degree at RPI, and time
off during the week to attend classes. While at GE I had three
assignments: the first was in a field engineering group supporting GE field
operations at Trident submarine bases; the second was in a power electronics,
machinery and controls group supporting Navy activities; the third was in a
group that designed and evaluated advanced systems involving Kalman filtering
and optimal control methods for inertial guidance and non-linear systems.
My RPI master's degree thesis was titled "Ensemble Estimation of Random
Processes with Application to Gyroscope Drift".
After being at GE for 3 1/2 years, in 1986, I took a job at BBN Technologies in
Cambridge, MA and have been there ever since. BBN is a
contract R&D company whose primary customer is the Federal government, in
particular the DoD. Jobs range in size from short 1 man month consulting
efforts, to large multi-year programs to develop and field prototype systems.
BBN is most noted for being the company that built the routers for and managed
the DARPA-Net, the predecessor to the Internet.
The contract R& D environment allows me great latitude in my career choices:
- broad technical range versus technical specialization (I went for a broad
range),
- engineering design and build efforts versus academic-like research and
publication (I tended to shy away from publications),
- technical lead vs business development vs program management vs
organizational management (I am slipping towards management).
I tend to find all fields interesting and have not been interested in
specializing. I have worked in: sonar systems; active noise and
vibration control; submarine quieting; vehicle detection, classification and
localization; bio-modeling; and underground facilities monitoring (just to name
a few). This broad range of work has allowed me to use and develop a range
of technical skills and knowledge including: control theory, structural
acoustics (air and water), signal processing, array design, real-time and
non-real time SW development, and underwater and in-air sound propagation.
The work has lead me to month long sonar sea trials out of California, Florida,
and Scotland; riding on submarine acoustic trials; field work in the
deserts with the marines; and underwater sound surveys out of Prudhoe Bay,
Alaska (in August).
Although I enjoy hard technical challenges and learning new things, I do not
have a strong interest in publishing. BBN categorizes staff as
"scientists" (those who publish frequently) and "engineers"
(those who publish infrequently). Coming out of college, I expected
to have a technically focused career more akin to a "scientist" as
opposed to an "engineer". In hind sight, I have not been
interested in or excited about publishing.
At first I thought I would primarily focus on technical work, but over time, my
career has led me into management. When I was interviewing for
admittance to Swarthmore, I asked my interviewing alum (Mr. Wes Argo) what kind
of career paths Swarthmore engineers usually took. He told me that they
often go on to become managers. I did not like the answer because I
expected to have a technically focused career. Well, my goals changed and
I am taking the path hinted at by Wes many years ago. Starting out
as a staff "scientist", I have drifted towards program
management and organizational management. I expect my career to continue
on this track.