engineering

Kobie Boykins

Kobie Boykins is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kobie Boykins rather than just read about it. In short: Kobie Boykins is a senior mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. In 2013, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.

Key takeaways

Kobie Boykins belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kobie Boykins to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kobie Boykins from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kobie Boykins is a senior mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. In 2013, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal. He designed the solar array systems for the Mars exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and designed the actuators on the Mars rover Curiosity. He is currently the supervisor of the mobility and remote sensing teams for Curiosity. In 2003, he was part of NASA's M-Team, which lectured nationally to students regarding careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. He lectures internationally for National Geographic regarding exploration on Mars.

Personal life Boykins attended Omaha Northwest High School and lived in Nebraska until college. Boykins then moved to New York to attend college, at B.S Mechanical Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After Graduation Boykins chose to take a position at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and started working on projects with his selected team. Boykins was offered this opportunity while still studying at R.P.I. After arriving at JPL, Boykins meet Hannah Kim. Boykins and Kim got married and have two children. Boykins loves playing hockey and tries to play the game at least once a week.

Career After leaving R.P.I Boykins became a mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He worked with his team to design the solar array systems for the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and designed the actuators for the Curiosity rover. This system generates power so the rover can operate while on Mars. Two rechargeable batteries are held inside the Mars Exploration Rover; these batteries are power sources for the rover when the sun is not shining. The rover can generate about 140 watts of power when fully illuminated and need about 100 watts for motion. The solar array system is attached to the rover and looks almost like wings, although they cannot be used for flight they are crucial for the system to function properly. The Mars rover landed on January 25, 2004 which was only supposed to last approximately 90 days but the rover system is still online and adventuring mars to this day. Boykins then had the opportunity to design the actuators on the Mars rover Curiosity. The system is attached to the updated Mars Rover and is used for many research activities. He also is currently the supervisor of the mobility and remote sensing teams for Curiosity. has also been involved in other projects like, projects like Mars Pathfinder mission and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission. In 2024, Boykins worked on NASA's Europa Clipper mission which studied the surface ice of Jupiter's Europa moon.

Awards Boykins' achievements all start in 2002. This is when Boykins joined "Marsapalooza", which is a public education tour hoping to raise awareness of the Mars Exploration Project. The project visited 5 different cities across the country and presented himself as a role model to inspire the next generation of explorers. In 2003, he was part of NASA's M-Team, which lectured nationally to students regarding careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. He lectures internationally for National Geographic regarding exploration on Mars. Boykins then joined another teaching program called the JASONProject Expedition; "Mysteries of Earth and Mars". Boykins joined the team in 2006, lecturing to students and teachers worldwide showing his knowledge in his field. In 2013, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.

References

External links NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kobie Boykins

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kobie Boykins claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kobie Boykins before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kobie Boykins ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kobie Boykins

In research: Kobie Boykins appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kobie Boykins in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kobie Boykins is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century African-American academics, 21st-century African-American scientists, 21st-century American academics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kobie Boykins outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kobie Boykins in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kobie Boykins means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kobie Boykins out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kobie Boykins in simple terms?

Kobie Boykins is a senior mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. In 2013, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.

Why does Kobie Boykins matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kobie Boykins?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kobie Boykins.