James W. Wood III

We are often asked who we are, but it isn't until our lives come to a close that our life's memoires are truly set in stone. Although there is much time for me to continue to grow, one defining aspect of who I am was my upbringing on a family farm where I learned to work hard. This determination to succeed is what drove me to simultaneously pursue Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Studies: Communications, Physics, Minor-Science Education. Building bridges is what my Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) degree has been designed to do. I have a strong communications background as well as technical experience. It is through my diverse work experience with a team of technical integrators that I have learned to coordinate on both sides technical and non-technical in an efficient manner.

Peter Drucker once said, "More business decisions occur over lunch and dinner than at any other time, yet no MBA courses are given on the subject." It is with this mentality that I have spent the past years refining my networking skills; because, when it comes down to it, many hands make the heaviest load a little lighter. I chose to attend UCF after completing my Associate of Arts in fall of 2008 in hopes of being able to intern at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. A few months after I began in spring 2009, my hopes became reality as I was offered an internship within the Kennedy Education Office. After doing an extended detail there, learning how to manage programs locally and across the agency, I transferred to the Vehicle Integration and Launch Support office within NASA's newest program. Here I have learned how to integrate between hundreds of people and how to communicate between the technical and non-technical worlds. Through my unique experience, I have worked on movie sets as press support, helped to coordinate the 40th anniversary for the Apollo program as well as the 50th anniversary for the Mercury Program, and even built a prototype excavator that may soon be sent to the Moon. Through various programs I have had the extreme pleasure of working with the public, and specifically students. In the future, I hope my role allows me to still shape the future generations and to inspire them to pursue a higher education with in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.