Edison/FSW Alumnus ‘Reaches for the Stars’ at NASA

Edison Community College graduate Fred Kroeger (80’) proved that anything is possible if you set a goal for yourself and work hard.

Kroeger, 64, openly admits that mathematics was his “worst subject” and after high school he dropped out of an automotive technology degree program in Farmingdale, N.Y., to join the U.S. Navy. He was 28-years-old when he completed his service and decided to enroll at Edison for an associates degree with the intention of transferring to a four-year electrical engineering program.

“After I was out for a few years I decided I needed to do something better,” he said. “I started thinking: where am I going to be when I’m 65? I wasn’t seeing myself going anywhere.”

As a student at Edison he took classes in Calculus, Physics and Chemistry, finding that if he paid attention in class and worked hard he could manage high scores in each class. He even worked as a tutor in the College’s physics and mathematics labs.

During his last semester his physics professors helped him to schedule some interviews with universities and he was offered a scholarship by the Physics Department at the University of West Florida in Pensacola.

“I ended up with a Physics degree when I wanted one in electrical engineering,” he said. “Man, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Kroeger never considered earning a B.S. in Physics and his life took an even more unexpected turn when he was offered a job with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Some of his major accomplishments throughout his career with NASA included developing the control computer for space shuttle telescope missions, a furnace for studying how to process metals and grow crystals in outer space, a Gamma Ray Burst Monitor on orbiting satellites, and today he’s working on a high-definition camera system for an SLS rocket system for deep space missions.

Considering all of the projects in which he has been involved at NASA, his contribution to the Gamma Ray Burst Monitor is his proudest. The device was built to measure deep space gamma rays in supernovas, yet researchers were detecting a burst of this type of radiation on Earth’s surface. They later determined that thunderstorms emitted gamma rays – something that was never known before – and Kroeger worked with the researchers on turning the monitor backwards to study storms on Earth.

“We have received so much new information, textbooks have been rewritten and hundreds of people are now earning a Ph.D. based on these findings,” he said. “It was real hands on for me because they normally don’t like people working on the satellite. I earned a NASA Agency Award for all of the work I did.”

For current mathematics and technology students at Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW), Kroeger said they could also reach for the stars.

“You have to project and look at where you want to go,” he said. “You have to set some kind of goal and work your way towards it.”