About Brian

Brian in front of a rocket at the JAXA ISAS facility in Sagamihara Kanagawa, Japan.

Quick Bio

Brian McLaughlin is an engineer by profession and by hobby. Brian earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from North Carolina State University and a masters of engineering in systems engineering from the University of Maryland. With a solid foundation in software, Brian was initially exposed to more advanced topics in hardware while working on the Hubble Space Telescope Project. Brian spent 24 years at NASA working across multiple missions now successfully in operation. He recently transitioned from NASA to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.

Brian is becoming more and more involved with the Amateur Radio community and is now Vice President of the APL Amateur Radio Club, W3APL.

Brian has also written for the GeekDad blog, was the technical editor for Hacking the Raspberry Pi, and author of the Beaglebone Black Primer. Brian lives in Maryland with his beautiful wife and two awesome kids.

Publications

• GeekDad Articles
• The BeagleBone Black Primer
• Applying a Space-based Security Recovery Scheme for Critical Homeland Security Cyberinfrastructure utilizing the NASA Tracking and Data Relay (TDRS) based Space Network

Work Project Experience

• Hubble Space Telescope
• James Webb Space Telescope
• Landsat-8
• Joint Polar Satellite System
• Space Network - Now NSN Space Relay
• Near Earth Network - Now NSN Direct To Earth
• X-Ray Imaging and Spectometry Mission