Bobak Ferdowsi was born on November 7, 1979, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.His dad is an Iranian who married long ago when he moved to America during revolution. With his loving parents, he quickly moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he would stay until the age of 11. In 1991, he moved to Tokyo, Japan, attending the American School In Japan until graduating in 1997, with the exception of a one-year term in Oakland, California at the College Preparatory School. Bobak returned to the United States in the fall of 1997 to enroll in the University of Washington in Seattle.
During his college experience, Bobak toyed with a number of majors before settling on aerospace engineering, a childhood dream of his. At the same time, he worked in the Department of Physics, performing research under Nobel Laureate Dr. Hans Dehmelt and Dr. Warren Nagourney. His professors in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, especially Professor Kuen Lin, would influence his next decision.
Bobak enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall of 2001, and joined the Lean Aerospace Initiative. It was here that he learned about a great deal more than the traditional aspects of engineering. The result is a thesis on the Air Force’s acquisition strategies, and more importantly, a young man with a vastly greater knowledge of the world of aerospace engineering and an interest in shaping the future of this industry.
Though no one knows for certain what the future holds for Bobak, his aspirations are to pursue a challenging career in aerospace engineering, and eventually, following in the footsteps of his father and of the many who have helped him over the years—become a teacher.
