As a doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut, Aidan Browne made a career decision. Academia would be his path forward — but only after gaining industry experience in a manufacturing environment.
“The best professors were the ones having first done great work in industry,” he said. “I wanted to be one of them.”
With a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering completed, Browne went to work for Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International. In his role as a senior electrical systems engineer, he was part of a team that developed and created two life support systems for the International Space Station: the Oxygen Generation Assembly and the Water Processor Assembly. Next came an internal shift to a division where his work as a systems engineer included using cutting-edge technology to solve challenges that could be encountered by Joint Strike Fighters, among the military’s most sophisticated aircraft.
“This is where I gained real manufacturing experience,” Browne said.
After one more industry stop at General Dynamics, which had recruited him to Charlotte to help produce biological and chemical defense products for the U.S. military, Browne made the move he’d eyed since graduate school — specifically, to UNC Charlotte. Now an associate professor of electrical engineering technology, he also directs the Master of Science in Applied Energy and Electromechanical Engineering program.
“The time was right,” he recalls.