Damon Marco Colpo

With a year still to go before graduation, Damon Marco Colpo is looking forward to the prospect of a career in engineering.

Colpo joined the team because of his interest in space objects, but building the two telescopes was more rewarding than he could have imagined. His contribution was optical design and quality testing, and he was gratified that his classes had prepared him to do the required calculations and conduct the necessary tests. The most memorable part, however, was assembling the telescopes and seeing how much bigger they were in real life than they seemed on paper.

Interested in the next frontier of renewable energies, Colpo selected his field of study with the hope of working with high- energy lasers and nuclear fusion reactors. No matter where he lands after graduation, he hopes to work with a mentor and team of engineers as terrific as the telescope team.