Cleared for Takeoff
Logan Bowell’s (MSR ‘25) summer internship work helped ensure Air Force pilots have an accurate view out of the cockpits of their high-performance fighter jets.
When the canopy closes on an Air Force fighter jet as it idles on the runway, the success of the upcoming mission—and the life of the pilot—often comes down to precision.
Logan Boswell (MSR '25) spent last summer applying knowledge gleaned from Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Robotics (MSR) program to ensure that what Air Force pilots see through those canopies is the exact reality they would see if that inch of polycarbonate or acrylic was not there.
This unique opportunity occurred when Logan interned as a robotics engineer at GrayMatter Robotics (GMR). There, he worked on a project from an Air Force contract to use AI and robotics to automate the finishing and distortion detection for jet canopies.
“I was excited for the opportunity to get hands-on robotics experience in an industry setting,” Logan said. “It takes a ton of work to get a robust automated system working to meet client needs.”
It was work Logan felt prepared to do, thanks to his time in the MSR program.
“What surprised me the most during my internship was how much overlap my role had with MSR,” he said. “With any new job, there is always a lot to learn, but I felt like all of the hands-on projects I worked on in MSR provided me with the tools necessary to make meaningful contributions in the internship.”
Logan said he was initially drawn to MSR the program because of its industry-focused curriculum, hands-on projects, and fast-paced cohort structure.
During his internship, he “was constantly working with and near a robot,” he said. “Some days were more focused on running test parts, tuning parameters, and documenting results, while other days were more focused on software.”
This internship experience plus his MSR degree ultimately helped Logan land a robotics engineering job with San Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).
SwRI is a nonprofit R&D organization focused on research and development services for a variety of industries, including robotics. It runs more than 4,000 projects every year in fields ranging from space science to engines.
“My internship helped me gain meaningful experience writing software for industrial robots, which I had never done before,” Logan said. “MSR has been very beneficial because it helped me bridge the gap in my software skills that are required for the roles I'm most interested in.”
