Alumnus Profile: Dave Kaufman (MS '90, PhD '95)

Dave Kaufman (MS '90, PhD '95, mechanical engineering) is a testament to the power of saying "yes" to unexpected opportunities. Kaufman began his career as a thermal engineer, but his willingness to go "off script" has led him to his current role as President of the Space & Mission Systems sector at BAE Systems, Inc. Along with his three-decade industry career, Kaufman has been awarded two patents for his research and development work and is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

ENGenuity spoke with Dave to learn about his career and his time at Caltech. Through our conversation, we gained insight into the profound influence of Caltech's academic environment on Dave's approach to problem-solving and leadership, highlighting the enduring camaraderie that defines the Caltech experience.

ENGenuity: How would you describe what you are currently doing and your professional contributions?

Dave Kaufman: I'm the president of the Space & Mission Systems sector (formerly Ball Aerospace) of BAE Systems, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, an international defense, aerospace and security company. Our sector, comprised of about 5,200 people, creates spacecraft, instruments, antennas, and high technology in the aerospace and defense industry. I've been president for three years and I do everything that goes with leading a 5,000+ person business. I'm responsible for setting the vision for the sector, leading the strategy; winning and executing business; setting the direction for developing technology; building and maintaining partnerships with our customers, industry partners, suppliers, and government stakeholders; fostering employee career development; and guiding communications, policies, HR, and community engagement. Because I work with a large team, I don't have to do all of this on my own. I'm fortunate to be a part of a team that I've been growing up with for the last 23 years. I've spent most of my career here.

Right after Caltech, I started as a thermal engineer at Hughes Space and Communications in southern California. I then moved into being a thermal lead and a system engineer. When I moved to Ball Aerospace (now BAE Systems), I started running programs. Since then, I've been managing programs and portfolios of programs. That's the way our industry works. You bring together a disparate group of people with various expertise all pulling together to get a project done, and that way of working really fit with me. At BAE Systems, we work on hard problems, and it takes diverse expertise and smart people. At the end, we usually get rewarded with a great result like the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb)—BAE Systems is responsible for the optical system. That project is something we can all be proud of now, even if we didn't work on the entire Webb program. It is part of our company that made those discoveries happen.

While I have had some technical contributions early in my career, my main contributions have been in working with people, building good teams, being part of good teams, and pulling together to get big, important things done.

ENGenuity: Is there a specific project or aspect of your career that you are most proud of?

Kaufman: I think back on the first satellite program I led as a program manager. It was a program for DARPA [United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] called Orbital Express and the goal was to perform on-orbit servicing and refueling of U.S. satellites. It was a fine mission that had some firsts. But the thing I am most proud of is that it was a group where everybody was in a stretch role. Everybody was in a new position, me included. It felt like we leaned on each other to get things done. We had challenges along the way, but it was a tight team. I have lifelong friendships built out of that project. When I look back on my career, it is something really special.

ENGenuity: How has your Caltech education influenced you?

Kaufman: I think of my Caltech career in two phases. One is arrival and the other is "grinding it out." I was a grad student, and when I arrived, I remember looking around and being a part of classes and realizing it was a hard place. It was the most challenging place I had ever been and it was a dose of humility. I was with people who were as good or better than I was everywhere—which was terrific because I saw that these people I had so much respect for were struggling too. We pulled together to get through. So that arrival, that shock, that humility and imposter syndrome feeling, I got through it because we pulled together. The camaraderie at Caltech was huge. I think part of it is the size; it's not enormous. I knew people from other departments, where at a bigger school I might not have known them. Caltech's small size breeds good camaraderie and I never felt like I was in competition with my classmates.

Then, there was the "grinding it out" part. Doing a PhD can be a lonely thing; it was for me. But I had to lean on others to keep my head up through four years. Those are great lessons for any career. There is always going to be this shock or nervousness about taking on something new, and there is going to be a "grind it out" part where you've just got to keep going. Then, at the end, you accomplish something. That realization has followed me throughout my career.

ENGenuity: Is there a particular class or professor at Caltech that made a significant impact on you?

Kaufman: One professor I remember is Melany Hunt [Dotty and Dick Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering], who taught thermal engineering. Thermal was not my specialty; fluids were closer to my specialty. But the way she taught the class, and the reason I remember it, is that she made us think. It was not just math. There are some classes that you can ride on being able to understand the equations, but you don't have to really think about the physics behind it. But the way she taught the class, she made us think about it. I even remember a couple of questions from a test. One was about the cooling of a beer bottle. I still think about it when I put beer in the fridge and how I position it. It's funny that I remember that.

I remember another question about heat transfer in a coffee cup. The point was to show when a simplifying assumption breaks down. I remember that lesson. As the thermal conductivity of the coffee cup changed, the validity of a 1-D or 2-D assumption changed. I remember that and it's been 30 years.

The reason I remember those questions is because of the thinking. I had to fully understand the principles to answer the question. Another reason those lessons were important to me is that by coincidence, that was the path into my career. I ended up doing thermal engineering when I came out of Caltech, even though I did not view it as my specialty. It was my path into a career in the aerospace industry, and it set the course for the rest of my life. I did not expect it, but it had a big influence on me.

ENGenuity: What originally drew you to science and engineering?

Kaufman: I was pretty good at it. When I was in high school and even before, it was the class where there was not a lot of subjectivity. Once you understood the rules, they did not change. You could tell the difference between a right answer and a wrong answer. I liked the puzzle of it, working through the mathematics and understanding the puzzle pieces, and taking the steps to get to the answer. Those are all things that resonated with me and got me interested. That carried me into Caltech and into the beginning of my career. Then things changed and I went from engineering, which has some bit of certainty, to working with people, which has much less certainty. That became my life's work.

ENGenuity: What advice would you give to current Caltech students or recent alumni?

Kaufman: It is fine to have a plan but be willing to go off script. I see so many people who come in early in their career and they say they want to do this or that and end up where I am. That's a fine plan, but don't hold yourself to it. If you are open to opportunities that you don't expect then you are going to end up places you never dreamed of. And that is certainly what happened to me. I had a plan like everybody else, but I managed my career by saying, "what the heck." I did something, I did the best job I could, and then somebody would tap me on the shoulder and say, "hey, Dave, we need you over here." With very few exceptions, I would shrug my shoulders and say, "what the heck, let's go do that." And my career ended up in places I never would have dreamed of. Being open to unexpected opportunities was everything. It meant career opportunities, meeting new people, new places to live, and experiences. If I had said I only want to do the things that are on my plan, I would have missed out.

ENGenuity: What is your favorite story?

Kaufman: I read and watch movies and TV for escape. As you can imagine, my job can be intense. Right now, I am rewatching The Sopranos. It's really fun. I love The Sopranos. This crime boss is dealing with family and health issues, people management, and house maintenance, just silly things that are common to everybody. Then it is laid on top of this story of violence and crime. I find it interesting.

ENGenuity: What is your favorite destination?

Kaufman: It's probably the next one. I've been lucky that I have gotten to travel to a lot of places, and I really enjoy experiencing new things. I like to have a plan and look forward to something, so that is part of the fun for me. I like to decide where the next destination is, what we are going to do, what's available, and once we are there, leaving enough time for things to happen that I didn't expect.

ENGenuity: Do any previous trips stand out as a highlight?

Kaufman: Our family has had several high school exchange students, and it has really influenced our lives. Having these students with us has made the world bigger. It even influenced where my daughter went to college; she ended up going overseas to Spain for college. One of my favorite trips in recent memory was to her graduation last May. We invited all our past exchange students to be part of her graduation in Madrid. We rented a big place in the middle of Madrid, we all stayed together, and we got to see all our extended exchange family together for the first time because they had never met each other. My wife and I looked at each other and said, "wow, we made this." This weird, extended, international family. We made it. It was so much fun. We experienced the city together and celebrated the graduation together. It was the highlight of the last several years.

ENGenuity: What gives you the most satisfaction in your work?

Kaufman: Making a difference. Having that goal gets you through the "grind it out." If you've got something that you are passionate about that this work is going to achieve, then it will get you through the times when it is challenging. I have been very fortunate, especially in my current position, where I get to see the users of the products we deliver. When they tell me about how they use our technology and how it made a difference for them—either they made a great discovery, or they got to come home because of it—that gives me chills. Those kinds of things lift you up through everything.

ENGenuity: What keeps you up at night?

Kaufman: It's hard to look at the news and not be worried about something. There are massive challenges out there for us as a human race—climate change, the environment, geopolitical issues. It's a challenging world. I support and applaud people who are working on those big challenges.

ENGenuity: What gets you up in the morning?

Kaufman: On a normal morning, accountability to my trainer. I work out in the mornings since it's the only time I have. Over the pandemic, I hired a trainer, and she trains me in the mornings. Knowing that she is going to be on the Zoom call at 5:45 gets me up in the morning. It starts out silent, but by the middle of the workout we are making jokes and laughing. That's a great start to the day.

Besides working out, I enjoy the morning time. I am not a person who checks my phone first thing in the morning. I reserve the morning as a time when the world isn't going to intrude on me and my family. That one hour of quiet time in the morning is valuable.