THE MAN
Ray began his professional career mud-logging on drilling rigs in the Permian Basin of SE New Mexico. There, he learned the importance of planning and organizing multiple tasks so that they would be done in a timely manner. From there, he moved to a position as a Geological Technician at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the nations first geologic repository for Low-level defense nuclear waste. There, he installed, monitored, and compiled data from underground geological telementing systems.
From that position, he moved to Project Start-Up, his first true engineering challenge. He found that his knack for reading prints and interpreting construction standards were valued, leading to receiving the George Westinghouse Signature Award of Excellence in 1986. He finished his time at WIPP where he again found an area of interest and natural aptitude, this time in Project Management.
THE MYTH
Nearing his 30th birthday, Ray realized that he really enjoyed teaching. He enjoyed it so much that he was constantly teaching others: job related skills, rock climbing, caving, etc. So it was only natural that he pursued a M.S. degree that included teaching credentials at the University of Northern Colorado.
In his teaching career, Ray has literally touched, one-on-one, thousands of lives. Students frequently comment via social media regarding the impact his guidance had on them. As a teacher of science and engineering, he took numerous students to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and to the VEX Robotics World Championships. He was named to the first fellows class of the Society for Science and the Public, the owners of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, and, in 2012, was named New Mexico Charter School Teacher of the year.
THE LEGEND
After a successful second career as an educator, Ray decided that the logical next step was to pursue a Ph.D. and to find a way to combine his teaching background with his background in and love of engineering. He pursued coursework in Project Management, became an instructor of not just scuba students, but also a trainer of scuba instructors, and built half of a house on the side. As of this writing, he is ABD, needing only to complete his dissertation for a Ph.D. His Career #3 goal is to take a lifetime of experience and to use it to make the workload of others easier by smoothing their pathways, making him a great training fit for Vipsit. Furthermore, he is Vips’ extended brain and statistical wizard when it comes to design of experiments and validation studies for the vaccine manufacturing processes.