David Heroux is a software and systems engineering consultant with 25 years of experience working on very high-profile projects in the marine, aerospace and defense industry. He spent most of his youth along the Gulf coast and the Chesapeake and learned to appreciate the water, marine life and ships at a very early age.  A Texan at heart, Dave even likes working on projects that are Big.   He spent 12 years working on NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) project, first as a key member of the ground system design and implementation team, then later as a science office engineer working directly with several of the satellite mission instrument teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Langley Research Center, and both the Marshall and Goddard Space Flight Centers.   More recently, Dave applied his system integration talents to work for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, where he first led a significant (cause that's all I can say) system engineering effort on the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) program. Subsequently, he led internal R&D efforts in support of automation for the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, and is no stranger to shipyards.  Dave received his B.A. degree in computer science, with minors in physics and French from Towson State University, along with a M.S. degree in computer science from the Johns Hopkins University.   Dave now lives life on the water in Annapolis and has recently started his own consulting company where he plans to work on his next Big idea.