Luke Wybourn has long been fascinated with learning how to build and design objects. He’s also had a lifelong interest in rockets and airplanes.
When it came time for him to choose an educational path, Wybourn saw a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering as a natural fit to combine his life’s biggest passions. After growing up in Gilbert, Arizona, he selected the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University to pursue his education, and he is graduating this month.
“ASU is close to home and has a great engineering program associated with spaceflight,” Wybourn says. “I also wanted to help make myself and my fellow students competitive when it comes to careers in the modern space industry.”
During his time as a student, he worked in the Fulton Schools’ 3D Print and Laser Cutter Lab, eventually progressing to a leadership position. Wybourn also held four internships at Nammo Defense Systems, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Firefly Aerospace and Blue Origin.
However, of all his extracurricular activities, his experience in Sun Devil Rocketry had the greatest impact on his college experience. Wybourn held numerous leadership roles, including test operations lead, vice president and industry relations officer.
Since he first joined Sun Devil Rocketry in 2021, he has witnessed the club grow from 50 members to 140. Wybourn also oversaw Sun Devil Rocketry’s first successful liquid-powered rocket engine hotfire, which is the process of testing a rocket’s combustion, marking the first event of its kind at ASU.
His experience in the club confirmed he was on the right career path. As a member, Wybourn learned about test engineering, a field that compares how designed products work in the real world in relation to their intended performance.
“Test engineering as a career path sounded right up my alley, as you get to understand the full system and compare its real-life capabilities with mathematical models,” he says. “Being able to do this firsthand through the rocketry club, then at my internships at Firefly and Blue Origin, was a dream come true and has only made a career in the field much more appealing.”
After graduation, Wybourn aspires to engineer launch vehicles in the space industry.
“I want to be a professional working with engines for the rockets that send people to the moon, Mars and beyond,” he says. “To do this, advanced technologies will have to be made, and I look forward to making that happen.”