Hi there, I’m Pat Brown.
I’m an aerospace engineer at the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) in Boulder. LASP is a leading space and atmospheric research institute that conceives, designs, builds, and flies scientific instrumentation that helps to answer some of the most important questions surrounding climate change as well as other scientific areas. The work we do is always challenging and fascinating, and I’m incredibly proud to have worked with my colleagues and friends at LASP for over a decade since moving to Boulder.
The traits that drew me to be an aerospace engineer–a desire to learn, be challenged, and explore–are the same traits that guide my day-to-day life . In my time outside the lab, I explore, I challenge myself, and I continue to learn. I am a firm believer in lifelong learning and have deliberately included this in my life as evidenced by annual New Year’s resolutions. Each year, I challenge myself to pursue new goals, some of which matter and many of which serve to simply help me grow as a person. Many of these goals are related to technology and its use in our personal lives. Examples include: GPS, the internet, photography, and automobiles, all of which you will find articles about on this site. These technological goals are often superfluousness in a practical sense, but I find my pursuit of them rewarding nonetheless. Somehow, the very idea of exploring, learning about, and challenging myself with new technologies is worthy unto itself.
Finally, I am an explorer and adventurer in the most classic sense of the words. I absolutely love spending time outside in nature’s bounty simply seeing what it has to offer. I travel, I hike, I kayak, I mountain bike–you get the idea–I spend lots and lots of time outside exploring. It is the reason why I moved to Colorado over a decade ago and why I am still curious every single day when I step outside. I feel most at home when I’m outside, not when I’m at my condo, and I want to share my passion of the outdoors with others who aren’t as fortunate to be able to do all the things I’ve been afforded.
As you spend time on this site, I think you’ll get a good sense of who I am that may be better than I can summarize in a few paragraphs. I am passionate about life and the unique place and time that I’ve been given on this Earth. I hope you enjoy my stories.