Dr. Kenneth L. Preston has 35 years of aerospace and defense industry experience, with 25 years in Project Management. He is a Sr. Project Engineer, Technical Lead Engineer (TLE), and Boeing Designated Expert (BDE) on the Boeing C-17 Program. He leads the technical oversight of parts management obsolescence and project support, and he is a member of the site Innovative team charged with discovering and generating new, creative value in technical products.
Dr. Preston worked on the Space Shuttle program in technical and management positions, such as Project and SRQA. As a program project lead, his responsibilities included the Shuttle Return-to-Flight Safety Engineering team’s computational foam fracture mechanics assessment.
A champion of developing engineering talent, Dr. Preston has made significant contributions to the community. He mentors college engineering students and early career professionals as part of Boeing’s outreach initiatives. For Caltech’s Center for Technology and Management Education, he teaches systems engineering, predictive analytics, and aerospace project management. Additionally, he serves as Vice-Chair of the Cal State LA Industry Advisory Board (IAB) for Mechanical Engineering. Finally, he serves an Ambassador for the California State University (CSU) system/Faith-Based partnerships. Dr. Preston was a NASA/American Society for Engineering Education Faculty Fellowship Program recipient.
He authored the book “Growth Options for Martial Arts.” In addition, he has published and presented papers through the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), including “Big Data Analytics/Role of Analytics in Systems Engineering,” “Customer Analytics for Service Excellence in Systems Engineering,” and “Systems Thinking as a Competitive Advantage for Suppliers.”
Dr. Preston received his Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and MBA in Project Management from Columbia Southern University. He holds an MS and BA in Physics (Laser Spectroscopy) from Hampton University/Institute. In addition, he holds a California Community College Lifetime Teaching Credential in Physics. Dr. Preston has been married for over 35 years and resides in Southern California with his family.