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Teaching at Brown University

As a visiting researcher, I assist Professor Rick Fleeter in delivering the foundational aerospace engineering courses in Brown University’s School of Engineering. My primary focus is on ENG1760: The Design of Space Systems; teams form at the beginning of the semester around a prototypable concept of space engineering and then they spend the rest of the semester building and testing that prototype.

While I sometimes lecture in ENGN1760, I derive and provide the most value by bridging the divide between theory and practice. Anonymous reviews from past students include:

  1. “Marco is incredibly accurate at poking groups to explore the hard questions and keeping things on track. His teaching style is tough but needed in a class with such an intense project spec, and he played a large role in keeping our group on track.”
  2. “Very direct as a communicator, available to give advice, and experienced as a designer and prototyper.”
  3. “Marco always made himself available to help students. He has a passion and enthusiasm for the course material, which in turn made me passionate and enthusiastic.”
  4. “Marco really goes to the effort to understand student questions, he’s upfront when he doesn’t know the answer, and he will work with you to figure out the answer together or direct you to someone who can. It was also clear that Marco put a lot of thought and care into his guest lectures—that work is appreciated! And finally: I really hope Marco continues to mentor young engineers, because he’s very good at it.”

Student work samples shown:

  1. Slow motion video of a pulse laser ablation test on a ceramic coupon at 75,000 frames per second and laser recoil calculations. Courtesy of Team Space Junk Destroyer, Spring 2024
  2. System architecture diagram for a 10,000 year data preservation device. Courtesy of Team Human Index, Spring 2024
  3. Build project photos of a half-scale mirrored folding reflector sail for a laser-propelled interstellar probe. Courtesy of Team Laser Propelled Probe, Spring 2024
  4. Video of heated extrusion of blended simulation Martian regolith and binder. Courtesy of Team Mars Housing, Fall 2022