Space Dynamics Lab director retires
After driving the USU Space Dynamics Lab up to par, Mike Pavich will head to the golf course after announcing his planned retirement in October.
His new agenda will now include spending more time with family and friends, traveling and working on his golf game, he said.
To improve his skills on the green, Pavich may seek out some tips to become more successful at his game, just like he did years ago when he wanted to advance in his career.
“Once someone gave me advice that if you want to be successful you need to know your job, do it as best as possible and do a better than expected,” he said. “You also need to get along with other people.”
This philosophy accompanied Pavich through his academic career at the U.S. Air Force Academy and later as the director of the USU Space Dynamics Laboratory.
“Within his first year, Pavich faced the difficult task of leading the lab through its first major workforce reduction,” said Karen Wolfe, public communications director of the space dynamics laboratory
Instead of pouting over a missed birdie in the course of his career, Pavich sought to build diversified relations with private sponsors.
In a time of crisis, he was able to build relations with major organizations such as the Utah Department of Defense and NASA said Harry Ames, the deputy director of the lad.
Beyond the formation of relationships, Pavich increased revenues by eight percent while he worked there, Ames said.
Pavich also keep worked closely with customers to make relationships positive and strong, Wolfe said.
After coming through a hole-in-one in the course of his career, Pavich only desires success for the laboratory and the work it performs, he said.
Through combined efforts the space dynamics lab has created some of the most advanced sensor systems, including some satellites used by the U.S. Air Force and NASA according to USU Space Dynamics Laboratory Web page.
With these winning scores, “it will be hard to fill his shoes,” said Ames.
The man to fill those shoes is Douglas Lemon. As a Utah State alumnus, Lemon has worked as the director of lab strategies at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the past 30 years. He will begin his service on October 20, 2008.
–chelsieh@aggiemail.usu.edu