Like father, like son

Rob Frank decided to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue a career in engineering. Today, this senior systems engineer is our 2006 Corporate Engineer of the Year for Shared Services.

By Kathy Hogan

Engineer of the Year finalists
	Peter Bellows
	Tim Fannin
	Shawn Kathol
	Roy Keen
	Martin Koschel
	Robert Newgard
	Larry Reeve
	Karl Shepherd
	Mike Sprague
	Tom Tilghman
	Tony Vander Velden

Rob Frank remembers well the day his father received the 1994 Rockwell Collins Engineer of the Year award. He was a freshman at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and, although he was extremely proud of his dad, he admits he had no desire to follow in his footsteps.

"My dad always tried to get me interested in engineering while growing up," said Frank. "He even signed me up for a computer programming class … but I wanted to go into the fine arts — painting or music."

But thanks to his father's persuasive ways, the younger Frank is now carrying on the family tradition as a second generation engineer at Rockwell Collins. And, as if that wasn't enough, he recently received the 2006 Corporate Engineer of the Year award for Shared Services for outstanding work in the area of advanced tactical airborne communications.

Rob Frank, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was honored as the 2006 Corporate Engineer of the Year for Shared Services for his outstanding technical leadership in the area of advanced tactical airborne communications.
Photo by Paul Marlow
The Creative Gene, LLC

"Just being nominated for this award was such an incredible honor," said Frank, who is part of the Engineering & Technology organization. "So to actually win it … I'm just speechless."

A graduate of Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, Frank began his career at Rockwell Collins about six years ago. Today, he works side by side with his father, Gunther, who has been with our company for more than 30 years.

"It is great to be able to work with my dad on a daily basis," said Frank, whose wife, Elise, also is a software engineer in Commercial Systems Display Applications. "I think few people get the opportunity to find out in detail what their parents do. But to see him in action, to collaborate and argue with him every day in the technical trenches … it's really cool."

As the lead systems engineer for the Quint Networking Technologies (QNT) program, Frank is extremely passionate about his work and the career choice he made.

"The really cool thing about engineering is that it's like structured art," he said. "You have a problem laid out in front of you and you create this beautiful solution (for our customer)."

Frank's work on the QNT includes focusing on airborne wireless communications and radio hardware technologies, which will be used primarily by the Air Force, Navy, and the Marines. In fact, he says QNT will make a significant impact on our soldiers' effectiveness in operations ranging from the war on terrorism to large conventional conflicts.

"The customers we're working with are right there in the middle of the war, so they know what the problems are," said Frank, who was recently promoted to principal engineering manager for Communication Systems and Applications. "That's a big help to our engineers when it comes to finding solutions — real-time solutions for those soldiers fighting in the field."

And while working with customers who are helping to solve those battlefield technological challenges is important, Frank also credits this year's success to his team members.

"The technical team I am on is outstanding," he said. "They push each other to the limit to see how far they can go and to see what incredible things can be done and, when they reach their goal, they push even further."