Adam Cupp grew up in Boone, Iowa and commuted every day to Iowa State in order to complete his degree in Engineering Applications.
“I have always loved airplanes and knew I wanted to study Aerospace Engineering when I was 12 years old.”
Cupp began volunteering in Boone with the NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium’s ISAT (Iowa Satellite) program in the Spacecraft Systems and Operations Lab (SSOL) when he was in seventh grade. He continued volunteering there until the successful flight of the Iowa Joint Experiments in Microgravity Solidification (IJEMS) project aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour, flight STS-69 in September 1995. The student crew drove an RV down to the integration center in Houston, Texas so they could finish the project on the way. When he attended Iowa State, he rejoined the SSOL and worked his way up to become a student manager of the High Altitude Balloon Experiments in Technology (HABET) project.
Cupp’s first job was with Lockheed Martin and he worked in operations. He was hired because of the significant experience he had with hands-on operations with the HABET program. Since graduating from Iowa State, he has worked in several different disciplines. He has performed Satellite Operations, Logistics Analysis, Life Cycle Cost Analysis, Systems Engineering, and currently works in Cybersecurity Engineering and Architecture.
“I retool and earn new certifications about every three years to stay current with new trends and foresee that to continue. I am working now to earn my CISSP-ISSEP certification.”
Adam Cupp at the Ft. Worth F-16 and F-35 Photo Day