Julien Petersen, a senior software engineer at the UCSC University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) at NASA Ames, passed away on Wednesday, May 28th.
An engineering graduate of UC Davis, Julien worked for the U.S. Army, TRW, MSC Software, and Siemens before joining the UARC in June 2011. He quickly distinguished himself as a proficient programmer and analyst and was recognized with both individual and team awards from NASA Ames for his work on Air Traffic Management tools. During his tenure with the UARC, he co-authored four papers. He was highly proficient in software development and his work on sector congestion and environmental impact for Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) along with the modeling of Miles-In-Trail (MIT) pass back restrictions was of the highest caliber. His attention to detail was excellent and, as a result, his colleagues had many fewer anxious moments than would have been the case without his participation.
Julien was a very kind fellow, a gentleman, and a friend who will be missed greatly. He was also an avid bike rider. If anyone who knew and cared for Julien would make the effort to hop on a bike, we understand from his family that he would absolutely love it.
The family held a private memorial service. If you would like to make a donation in Julien’s memory, his family provided the following information: "Climate change and global warming were the things that Julien was most concerned about and if people cared to donate to Al Gore's Climate Reality Project at http://climaterealityproject.org/ we would all be touched. Also–any sort of pancreatic cancer research or support institute would be wonderful, particularly if they are looking into BRCA gene impacts on cancer."
