Nick Ruoff

Read about Nick's work with the Mars Rover program at NASA's JPL

Nick Ruoff was a computer science major at CSUSM taking physics classes, well … because they were required.

But when he started to build a robot in an advanced circuitry physics class, Ruoff became interested in the project, coming two hours before lab and staying late. His professor took notice and sent the student to research the Mars Rover for more ideas.

Funny how things work out. Now Ruoff is a mission operations engineer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) who works on the Mars Exploration Rover project.  And though he got his degree in computer science, he says he probably wouldn’t be where he is now without that physics course. On the other hand, he also looks at it as step in his journey to find his way to a career in science.

Ruoff remembers attending CSUSM’s Frontiers in Science lecture series that features CSUSM graduates and other professionals with interesting careers in science. Ruoff attended the lectures looking for a career path and wondering what he would do with his computer science degree. Ruoff knows students are unaware of any hard science application of computer science because it wasn't obvious to him what job possibilities were actually out there.

“At first, I really didn’t know what I could do with computer science other than web development and database programming,” said Ruoff, who recently spoke at Frontiers in Science.”And if you had told me in 2005 that I would end up working for JPL on the Mars Rover I would have told you that you were crazy.  Because I didn’t have the confidence or knowledge and wouldn’t have known how to apply it if I had. That’s what I really got out of CSUSM.”

Now confidence and knowledge isn’t an issue for Ruoff.  In his job at JPL, Ruoff develops the images taken by the left and right eyes of the rover into three-dimensional maps of the Mars’ terrain, so project planners can determine where the vehicle can travel safely. And when he’s working the right shift, Ruoff is the first person in the world to see images sent back to Earth from Mars.

“Why is that so cool?” Ruoff responds incredulously. “Because it’s part of the exploration of the solar system and being part of something that is really big and amazing. I have always been fascinated with understanding our place in the universe and why we’re here and this helps with that.”