four questions

Ryan Lefkofsky chats with Platinum.

The sky's the limit for RYAN LEFKOFSKY. The 27-year-old Farmington

Hills native and University of Michigan graduate is working at his

dream job — he's an aerospace engineer helping NASA improve

airplanes and fighter jets and design the next generation of spacecraft

to carry explorers to the moon, Mars and beyond.

"I lead the aero mechanical design group at NASA's Dryden Flight

Research Center (in Edwards, Calif.). I get to work on all kinds of

planes. I've worked on projects that allow airplanes to refuel in midair

and also communicate better with satellites," explains Lefkofsky. "I'm

also working on a project for the Orion crew exploration vehicle that

will be the replacement for the space shuttles."

Lefkofsky — who attended Walled Lake Western High School

in Commerce Township and Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield

— and his crew do flight test research: He's in the process of design-

ing components for a vehicle that will be used in a launch abort test

WHAT BOOK OR CD
ARE YOU LONGING
TO SHARE?
I'd share the book Freakonomics by
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.
They take everyday issues and look
at them in a creative, yet scientific
manner. Being an engineer, I appre-
ciate looking at data and facts, but
they do this with a very entertaining
spin. The authors take a tradition-
ally boring topic, economics, and
write about it in a way that makes
you think about the subject like you
never have before.

him by his employer and
by the public shows strong
character to me.

WHAT'S YOUR
FAVORITE
JEWISH FOOD?
Blintzes. I can remember
my mother making them
in the frying pan all the
time. I could probably eat
a whole package by myself?
They were also part of our
annual Chanukah din-
ners, so I probably associate them with presents, which
makes me like them even more.

later this year, and the data that's collected will help determine the

direction of future space missions for years to come.

"I absolutely love my job," Lefkofsky said. "Growing up, I used to

build model launch rockets in the neighborhood all the time. We even

had a space shuttle simulator in a bedroom closet." No surprise: When

not working, his favorite pastime involves a flying saucer of sorts

— he plays Frisbee Golf and Ultimate Frisbee with friends. Here, we

ask Ryan Lefkofsky our version of the Four Questions.

— Robin Schwartz

IF YOU COULD HAVE BRUNCH WITH
ONE BIBLICAL OR HISTORICAL
JEWISH FIGURE, WHO WOULD IT BE?
Sandy Koufax. He was an extraordinary pitcher for
the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1960s. Koufax is well
known in the Jewish community for his refusal to pitch
in Game One of the 1965 World Series because it
occurred on Yom Kippur. His decision to put his faith,
which he truly believed in, above what was expected of

WHAT WOULD PEOPLE BE
SURPRISED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?
People would be surprised to know that my
favorite show to watch is Cops (a documentary-style
TV series that follows police officers on patrol as they
bust the bad guys). It even surprises me that I like the
show so much! _

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1363710

B 3 0 • APRIL 2008

• FI\Iplatu nun