YSM 85-3

Like many children, five-year-old Edward Cheung wanted to know
how everything on Earth worked. He recalls passing a day in his
grandfather’s shop when a transistor radio fell to the ground and broke
open so that its inner components were exposed. “I felt I was looking
at magic,” he recounts. Since then, Cheung has transformed his boyhood
curiosity into an extensive career that goes beyond planet Earth.
Although Cheung grew up in Aruba, a small island in the Caribbean,
he attended college at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical
Engineering, he continued his academic career in a microelectronics
program at the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science, where
his career-defining interest in
robotics took off. Under the
guidance of Vladamir Lumelsky,
Cheung worked on the
development of robotic arms.
“Before, a robot’s purpose was
to be the object that puts [its
components] all together,”
he explains, “but Lumelsky
had a new take.” Instead of
programming specific directions
and defined skills into
a robot, this team focused on
designing robots that could
deal with unknown stimuli in
novel environments. Cheung
developed an array of sensors
that essentially served
as skin, covering the arm
in a thin and flexible circuit
board that allowed it to move
around. “Initially, I did not
see it much of a research area,” Cheung explains, but he would soon
change his mind.
Because the intensity of graduate school was much greater than
he expected, Cheung made considerable efforts to engage himself
outside of his research, particularly by bonding with undergraduates.
“You have an active social life [to find fun]. I had to connect with the
younger students to find mine at Yale,” he recalls. During his years at
Yale, he greatly enjoyed his work as a teaching assistant, as well as his
involvement with the residential college system. One of his favorite
memories was his Taekwondo classes in the tower of Payne Whitney
Gymnasium. “In fact, in 1987, I was Connecticut state champion of
my weight and belt division,” he chuckles.
After receiving his doctorate in Electrical Engineering in 1990,
Cheung’s career took an exciting leap when he was recruited by the
Kennedy Space Center in Florida and eventually offered a permanent
position by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) at the Goddard Space Flight Center, where he has remained
for the duration of his career. Although he has worked at the Center for
over 20 years, his research focus has nonetheless changed throughout
his time there. When he first began working, the robotic arms on the
International Space Station were manufactured by Canada. Concerned
ALUMNI PROFILE
FEATURE
An Engineer’s Journey, Building Gadgets from Aruba to NASA
Dr. Edward Cheung, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Ph.D. ’90
Cheung worked to construct the cyrogenic cooler, the current main
instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3.
Courtesy of Dr. Cheung
BY ZOE KITCHEL
about competition, Congress mandated NASA to develop the Flight
Telerobotic Servicer, a space telerobot that would serve as a safe
replacement of human crew in space. Due to Cheung’s experience
with robotic arms, he was assigned to the project for five years until
“passing political winds” terminated it. Afterward, Cheung served as
principle engineer of the Hubble Space Telescope Service Project,
developing “several new components for the telescope, including the
cryogenic cooler, the current main instrument (Wide Field Camera
3), and portions of the power control system.”
Following the culmination of the Space Shuttle Program last
summer, Cheung shifted to his current focus on the maintenance
of geo-synchronous communication
satellites. “These
satellites sit in a very special
orbit … because it takes these
satellites 24 hours to travel to
their original spots. It turns
out that the Earth also rotates
in this way,” he explains, “and
as a result, they are stationary in
the sky in respect to the Earth.”
For each satellite to stay in its
unique orbit, a small amount
of rocket fuel is required that
keeps the satellite in place for
five to seven years, at which
point it is released out of orbit
and destroyed. To Cheung and
his team, though, this practice
seemed impractical: “Why can’t
we fill up the fuel tank with an
external satellite in order to
prolong the life, saving NASA
$500 million per satellite?” he asked. NASA agreed. Now Cheung
serves as the electrical lead of his team, designing, constructing, and
testing robots to repair and refuel these satellites.
Although content with his current position, Cheung worries about
the future of space exploration in the U.S. The end of the Space Shuttle
Program leaves the United States dependent on other countries for
space travel for at least another decade until the commencement of
NASA’s Space Launch System. Nonetheless, he feels fortunate that
he has found an area of this field that not only piques his interest in
electrical engineering but also sparks his creativity. “There are many
ways to solve any problem,” he explains, “but the way in which you
choose to solve it is a reflection of you.” Cheung’s achievements have
been recognized not only in the United States, but also in his home
island of Aruba, the Netherlands, and throughout the world of robotics
and space exploration. In 2010, he was knighted by the Queen
of the Netherlands and also received NASA’s Medal for Exceptional
Engineering Achievement. Even though he has come a long way from
his roots, he has never lost his childhood delight for understanding
how things work. Today, he collects and refurbishes pinball machines
for the joy of taking things apart and putting them back together, “just
like in my grandfather’s shop.”
www.yalescientific.org
April 2012 | Yale Scientific Magazine 37