Samantha Mroz is from Newton, NC. She is a senior from Maiden High School, and is in the High School Scholars Academy here at LR. This is her second year on the social media and outreach team, and she enjoys taking photos for the team’s accounts. She is also a member of the LR Wind Symphony, where she plays the flute. After high school, she plans to study music technology and composition at a 4-year university.
Connor Flynn is a freshman Engineering Physics Major here at LR from Charlotte, NC. This is his first year on the team. He is a part of the build team and recovery team. Outside of the rocket team he is a member of the LR Honors Academy.
Caleb Knight is a freshman engineering physics major at LR from Statesville, NC. This is his first year on the rocket team. His main focus this year for the team is rocket build and design. His post graduate plans are to be able to build rockets, or rocket motors for space companies or NASA. He has competed in the Team American Rocketry Challenge or TARC. For two years where his team placed 12th place out of 500 teams from across America. He can also solve a Rubik’s cube and he likes metal detecting for old antiques.
Jonathan Paulus is a freshman Engineering Physics major at LR from Akron, Ohio. This is his first year on the team. He is part of the build team. Outside of the rocket team he is part of the Men’s Lacrosse Team.
Katelynn Grimes is a freshman Computer Science major here at LR from Spring Lake, NC. This is her first year on the team. She is the secretary and treasurer of LR Ballooning, Engineering, and Rocketry (BEARs) Club as well as part of the social media and outreach team and safety team. Following graduation, her plans are to move to Washington, D.C. to pursue a career in Cryptography.
Emerald Little is a freshman Engineering Physics major here from Greenville, SC. There is her first year on the team. She plans to minor in biology. She is a member of the rocket build team. She plans to explore more opportunities for campus involvement. She plans to get a bachelor’s and/or master’s degree while building a portfolio of good life experiences along the way.
Micah Grigg is a freshman Engineering Physics major here at LR from Juneau, Alaska. This is his first year on the rocket team and he is a part of the build team. He is also a member of the swim team. Currently, he has no plans after graduation.
Josh Morron is a freshman Engineering Physics major here at LR from Statesville, NC. This is his first year on the rocket team and he is a part of the build team.
William Blair is a sophomore majoring in Engineering Physics at LR from Hamlet, NC. This is his second year on the team. He is a part of the build team and will primarily focus on the physical construction of the rocket. He is also in the LR Marching Band. He plans to go to grad school for engineering after graduation.
Harrison Boston is a second-year Engineering Physics major at LR from Hickory, NC. This is his second year on the team. His roles on the team include the payload design team and the build team. He plans to work as a mechanical engineer after graduating.
Carles Montoliu Lobo is from Valencia, Spain. He is a junior double majoring in Engineering Physics and Computer Science at LR. This is his third year on the team and his roles include lead build team, payload team, and CAD team. He is also captain of the men’s soccer team and member of the Bear Leadership Academy. He plans to work for the engineering industry after graduation. His dream job would be as an aerospace engineer or Motorsport.
This is Angel Martin. She is a junior Engineering Biophysics major at LR from Linwood, NC. This is her third year on the team. Her roles include lead safety officer, recovery team, lead of the social media and outreach team, and operations coordinator. Previously on the team she served as operations coordinator, a member of the electronics team, CAD team, social media and outreach lead, and build team. She is also a member of the LR SEEDs organization, Chi Beta Phi, Engaged Scholars, and Honors Academy. She is also a physics tutor, honors mentor, and astronomy lab assistant. She is currently working on her undergraduate honors thesis comparing heavy metals uptake between phytoremediation, electrocoagulation and a coupled system of the two techniques. After LR, she plans to go to grad school working as a research assistant and then go into the sustainability field.
Sean Incardona is a junior Information Technology major at LR from Salisbury, NC. This is his first year on the team. He is part of the payload team. He is part of the Bears Leadership Academy, LR Cross Country and Track teams and also SAAC Representative for those teams. He hopes to go to grad school after graduation.
William “Locke” Throneburg is a third-year Engineering Physics major from Newton, NC. This is his second year on the team. He was the president last semester and is currently the vice-president of the LR Ballooning, Engineering, and Rocketry (BEARs) Club. He is part of the safety and recovery team. Post-graduation, he hopes to be working in some engineering field, he hasn’t decided which field specifically. His interests include history, political science, and strategy video games.
Jeremy R. Wagner is a third year engineering physics student at LR who specializes in additive manufacturing from Statesville, NC. This is his third year on the team. In addition to Student Lead Engineer he is heading the SRAD (Student research and developed) motor system and the breach launched fin system. He is an USMC veteran and after graduation he plans to pursue his own additive manufacturing company. His past projects include a custom built FDM 3d printer that can reliably utilize aerospace grade materials such as PEEK,PEI,PPSU.
Kaleb Davis is a third year engineering physics student at LR from Taylorsville, NC. This is his third year on the team. He is a part of build team. He is also a member of the LR Track and Field Team.
Spencer H. Welland is a fourth year engineering physics student at LR from Hickory, NC. He is serving as the President of the Balloons, Engineering, and Rockets (BEARs) Club, Secondary Lead to the LR Rocket Team, and as the Lead Engineer of Payload Systems for the LR Rocket Team. This is his second year on the team, previously serving as the Vice President of the BEARs Club and as the Computer Aided Design group lead. Outside of the rocket team, he serves as a math lab tutor, Chi Beta Phi member, and LR SEEDs member. Upon graduating from Lenoir-Rhyne, he hopes to pursue a PhD in medical physics and work at a teaching hospital serving the radiation oncology department and researching radiation therapy applications of machine learning and image processing. He enjoys fly fishing for trout in his free time.
Andrew Reeves is from Hudson, NC and is a senior majoring in Mathematics and minoring in Computer Science. This is Andrew’s second year on the rocket team and is involved with the electronics and payload team. After graduating, he would like to attend graduate school for Data Analytics. He enjoys programming and learning new skills. He is also a member of the Ursa Mathematica Club, as well as a Math and Computer Science tutor here at LR.
Brett Vogelsang is a Senior Computer Science major at LR who is originally from Beaumont, California. This is his second year on the rocket team. He is a payload systems engineer that focuses heavily on integrating electronics with the payload. Outside of rocket team he is on the Cross Country and Track team as well as the Student Government Association, Bears Leadership Association, Mortar Board, and the Diversity & Inclusion committee. He plans on pursuing a Masters degree in Analytics or Data Science..
Dr. Douglas Knight is the advisor/mentor of the LR Rocket Team. Dr. Douglas Knight received a Bachelor’s in Physics from Lenoir-Rhyne College, Master’s in Applied Physics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with a Precision Engineering Concentration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His current position is that of Assistant Professor of Physics at Lenoir-Rhyne University. He has previously taught mechanical engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, physics and engineering at Mitchell Community College, math and physics at multiple high schools, and is presently teaching engineering physics related courses at Lenoir-Rhyne University. He has mentored two previous high school USLI teams, three university USLI teams at Mitchell Community College, and was the rocket mentor for five University of North Carolina at Charlotte USLI teams. Dr. Knight mentored three RockSat-C teams at Mitchell Community College, the Eclipse Ballooning team at Lenoir-Rhyne and numerous Team America Rocketry Challenge teams, with one of his teams winning the competition in 2006. He is also managing the North Carolina High Altitude Balloon Competition for North Carolina Space Grant. Dr. Knight has also managed and participated in multiple “pumpkin chunkin” competitions. He is a born again rocketeer who started flying rockets since 2002. He is both NAR and TRA Level 2 certified. Dr. Knight’s cell phone number is (336) 909-1711 and his e-mail address is Douglas.Knight@lr.edu
Lenoir-Rhyne Rocketry Team 