Engineering alum guides NASA rocket launches from countdown to liftoff

For Scott Bissett ’07, it started with Legos.

“I always enjoyed taking things apart, the hands-on work,” he said. “My grandfather was an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force and was also in the Marines. He taught me to work on my own car and change my own oil. The mechanics of things, problem solving, is what got me interested in the engineering field.” 

The industrial and systems engineering (ISE) graduate now serves as deputy chief of the Sounding Rocket Program Office at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. He problem solves every day by coordinating numerous rocket launches each year from locations like Norway and Alaska. These missions carry experimental instruments that test new technologies, advance space science, and serve as cost-effective test beds for research that may eventually fly on satellites.

In January, Bissett assisted with Virginia Tech’s own sounding rocket launch, PolarNOx, led by Scott Bailey, professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. 

Bissett chatted about his role as deputy chief, the biggest impact on his leadership skills, and his best advice for Hokie engineers.

You originally were going to major in mechanical engineering. What prompted the switch to ISE?

I really liked the mechanical side; I loved CAD (computer-aided design) and the design piece of it, but once the math got deeper, I realized that wasn’t necessarily what I enjoyed most. What interested me more was the systems view, stepping back and looking at how everything fits together. Industrial and systems engineering felt like a better fit for how I think. Switching midstream meant taking a fifth year. At the time, that was a difficult choice — another year, more expense — but it was the right decision.

What do you do as a deputy chief?

We typically have between 35 and 45 missions scheduled at any given time, stretching about two years out. As deputy chief, I manage the operational side of the program. That includes overseeing mission managers and operations managers and coordinating what we call the manifest, essentially the schedule of missions over that two-year period.

We have to deconflict missions, personnel, and budgets and make sure everything lines up. Last year, we launched 19 missions from five different launch sites around the world. There’s a lot of coordination involved.

What has been your favorite mission or campaign?

Norway is probably my favorite place to travel. [Where we launch rockets] is a small town with great people, and I’ve been going there for over a decade. But the most challenging and most rewarding was Australia in 2022. That was the first project I was assigned when I became an operations manager in 2017. It had been more than 20 years since we launched from Australia, so when we arrived, it was forest. We cleared land, brought in the launcher, transported telemetry systems, and essentially built a launch site from scratch, all during COVID. We quarantined for two weeks before we could even start working. I worked on that campaign for about five years. Successfully launching all three missions made it incredibly rewarding.

What has had the biggest impact on developing your leadership skills?

One of the biggest lessons I learned early on is that you don’t know everything. As a young engineer working alongside technicians who had been doing this for decades, you learn quickly to listen. Leadership, for me, was trial by fire. My first major project involved managing a team of eight in Norway, none of whom technically worked for me. I didn’t have authority over them, but we had a mission to accomplish. I learned quickly that leadership isn’t about a title. It’s about alignment. There wasn’t a roadmap; I had to figure out what worked for me. Being placed in situations where you have to make difficult decisions without someone to fall back on helps you grow into it.

What is your best advice for incoming Hokies or graduating seniors?

For incoming freshmen, take advantage of everything Virginia Tech has to offer. I still remember hearing at orientation to try intramural water polo, and I did. There’s so much beyond the classroom. Make sure you’re doing what makes you happy.

For graduating seniors, your degree doesn’t limit you. You can go into a field that isn’t perfectly aligned with your major and still thrive. I never imagined this is where I would end up. And don’t forget to network. You never know who you’re going to meet in school or later in your career who might cross your path again. One piece of advice that was given to me that I haven’t always followed is not to chase leadership just for title or salary. If that’s not what genuinely motivates you, it’s hard to thrive.