September 18, 2015
This fall, Alan Keisner, BS ASE ’78, MS ASE ’79, returned to the UT Austin campus to visit with ASE/EM students during the week of EXPO, an annual engineering career fair hosted by the Cockrell School of Engineering.
During his alumni talk titled “Forty Years From the Forty Acres - Perspectives on the Space Industry - Past, Present, and Future,” Keisner gave insight about his experience in the aerospace engineering field since leaving the halls of WRW. Keisner, a native Texan, currently works in sales-business development for Space Exploration Technologies, Inc. (SpaceX). Before joining SpaceX, he worked for NASA and then Boeing.
Keisner began his talk by encouraging students to pursue their goals but also reminded them that there can also be many challenges in the field of aerospace.
“There are things that can happen that are beyond your control—mergers and acquisitions, the economy can fall apart,” Keisner said. “I want to make sure that you are prepared for that. These hiccups happen sometimes.”
Despite the challenges, he said that throughout his career there were many rewarding moments. One moment that stands out well for him is when he worked at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) where he had the privilege to work on the launch team that sent UT ASE alumnus Bob Crippen into space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. Launched in April 12, 1981, STS-1 was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA’s Space Shuttle program.
“It was fantastic to see that bird take of the pad!” he said.
Keisner worked at NASA-JSC for 10 years in various roles, including space shuttle launch execution, in-orbit operations and reentry, crew training, and engineering analysis.
“One thing I really learned when I was working at NASA was communication,” he said. “You have to be able to understand everyone’s voice tones so that you can know whether there’s a sense of urgency, concern or desperation.”
In 1988, Keisner began working for Boeing-McDonnell-Douglas. During his 20 years working there as a manager of strategic planning, he served as lead for the space systems segment Boeing-McDonnell Douglas Merger, developed business unit strategic planning and market analysis, and was involved in many business development practices.
During his talk Keisner also gave students advice on how to prepare for their future careers. One suggestion he made is that they learn about the field of aerospace not only from professors, but also from working with the people around them.
“Working well with your peers is an important trait,” Keisner told students, “because SpaceX looks at people who are able to work together, and teamwork is about 50 percent of the business.”
Since 2008, Keisner has been working at SpaceX where he currently handles marketing forecasting for business opportunity identification and capture planning.
