2003 — New Berlin, Wisconsin
It remains a vivid memory for me: the phone rang on a chilly fall evening in Wisconsin. It was a landline, and my father answered while I watched TV in the basement.
“ALEXANDER — it is for you!” my dad hollered down to me. I picked up the corded phone from the wall as the reverse operation echoed from the kitchen upstairs.
“Hey man, it’s Spencer” my childhood friend and high school classmate said.
“Oh hey, dude! What’s up?” I replied.
“Not much. Hey, I want to sign up for the Team America Rocketry Challenge, and I was wondering if you wanted to join me? We have to design and build a two-stage rocket to carry two eggs to 1,250 feet and land them without breaking.”
Over twenty years later, I sit at my computer in Spring, Texas, as the Co-Founder and Chief Engineer at Wootz — knowing exactly how I got here. That phone call kicked off a series of deeply meaningful experiences working and traveling with my father and friends. We designed, built, and launched rockets — and we were damn good. Even on our worst launch of the year, we placed 17th place out of hundreds of teams and were invited to submit a proposal for NASA’s Student Launch Initiative program. There, the rockets grew in size and complexity. The eggs hatched into sophisticated science payloads.
We built websites, courted sponsors, and wrote hundreds of pages of proposals and design reviews over the two years in the program. We appeared in newspapers and magazines, presented and defended our designs to NASA engineers, and even had the privilege of launching our rockets at NASA each year. But perhaps the most rewarding moment of all was taking my childhood friend, Spencer, and both of our children to the Science Museum in Johnson City, Texas, where two of our rockets stand today — tall, proud, and damn good.
None of this was accidental. My father, a retired engineer with old-school ways, jumped in the deep end with us. He taught us about workmanship, engineering materials and their limitations, how to design test protocols at both the system and subsystem levels, and even how manufacturing variability in rocket motors impacts altitude at apogee. Looking back, I don’t think we fully realized just how much we were learning.
The audacity to innovate.
So much of the future depends on innovation. We need bold, boundary-pushing engineers and scientists to drive the cycle of creative destruction. It goes far beyond taking classes and earning degrees (though those are undeniably important). The British Special Air Service have a motto that I love: “Who dares, wins.” Daring doesn’t come from classwork — it comes from confidence and a passion for your craft. These are unteachable intangibles, inspired and developed through hands-on experiences in science and engineering.
Studies show that students are more likely to pursue STEM majors in college if introduced to those topics in grade school. Furthermore, exposing students to STEM early on can capture their imagination and help retain them in STEM jobs careers (LittleBits, 2018).
So when I had an opportunity to form a Rocket Club at my kids’ school, Wootz sponsored it. Every Friday morning, I get another chance to blast off with the young rocketeers — trying to recapture a bit of that magic I first discovered with my old friends and (even older) father.
Wootz is an advanced material solutions company that aims to answer the demand of the future with next-gen carbon antennas and sensors. From RFID tags to radar systems for aerospace, Wootz is jumpstarting the future with a material that connects, conducts, and electrifies like nothing before. Our next-gen carbon material, Vantium, redefines performance by augmenting and replacing metals with a green alternative. Vantium boasts an unparalleled combination of high-performance properties that sets it apart from any other known material.
We welcome any inquiries on our products or potential partnerships. We are actively seeking new partners to develop novel antennas, RF components, EMI shielding, and sensors. Please visit our website (wootznano.com) for more information on our products and technology.
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