Computer Scientist

Computer scientists are a critically important group at Tinker.  Most of them work in a very large group called Software Maintenance Group which actually has a wide variety of hardware & software work.  One of their sub-organizations does Operational Flight Planning, which includes upgrades to the functionality of an aircraft, as well as planning software that would allow an end user to input variables and the software helps them come up with the flight plan.  Another of their groups includes a supercomputer that is being used for a variety of projects.  Yet another part of the Software group does programming that takes variables from engines (temperatures, pressures, altitudes, etc) and processes the data to create more meaningful displays (like graphs) that allow aero/mechanical engineers in the program office to determine if an engine should continue to fly or needs to be taken out of service.  Another group develops Test Program Sets, which are created in order to automatically test circuit cards in the avionics (black boxes) boxes at the component level.  Engineers develop and maintain test strategies (this includes adapters and software) that allow technicians to automatically test the box as a unit as well as the individual cards within.