James Ponzo

James Ponzo has over twenty years of professional experience in engineering. James began their career in 1996 as a Design Engineer at Vactor Manufacturing, where they were responsible for the design, analysis, and testing of industrial truck mounted combination vacuum and water jet sewer cleaning equipment. In 1997, they joined Aerojet Rocketdyne as an Engineer, where they analyzed and sized liquid propellant engines and propulsion systems, and was the team lead responsible for new and innovative monopropellant catalyst bed design. In 2000, James became a Mechanical Engineer at MultiMedia LED, a sign company specializing in LED video signs and displays. In 2013, they took on the role of Package Design Lead at Intel Corporation, where they were responsible for silicon substrate package design and cost lead for the packaging design group. In 2014, James became a Principal Engineer at Marotta Controls, Inc., where they provided technical leadership responsible for design, analysis, schedule, and management of aerospace/defense components and subsystems. In 2017, they became a Principal Propulsion Engineer at BLUE ORIGIN, where they designed liquid oxygen and hydrogen cryogenic positive displacement pumps, and mentored engineers on design, analysis, and propulsion system optimization. In 2020, James joined Raytheon Technologies as a Sr. Principal Mechanical Propulsion Engineer, and in 2022 they will become a Principal Propulsion Engineer at Hermeus.

James Ponzo obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Mechanical Engineering from California State University-Sacramento. James also holds several certifications, including a Professional Engineering License from the State of Washington (obtained in June 2019), a DFSS Black Belt from Sigma Breakthrough Technologies and Aerojet (obtained in October 2006), a Professional Engineer License from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (obtained in September 2004), a Professional Engineering License from the State of California (obtained in February 1999), and an Application and Interpretation of Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing certification from Technical Documentation Consultants, Inc. (obtained in August 1997).