Erik Payton ’21: Tackling Questions Light Years Away

Erik Payton recently earned a degree in mechanical engineering, and might have worked in aviation, energy or manufacturing. But his concerns go well beyond Earth. 

Landing a spacecraft on Mars is on his mind, and how to capture the clearest images of the planets and stars. Also: comet- and asteroid-preparedness.

“If we know that in 10 years an asteroid will hit, if we can move its orbit a little bit, that becomes a big change in 10 years,” explained Payton, 23. “If we discover an asteroid will hit tomorrow there’s nothing we can do. The further in advance we know these things the better.” 

A serious, gifted Albany Academy student who headed top-shelf robotics teams, Payton followed his interest in science and technology to Cornell.  By the time he graduated in 2025 his focus had shifted from renewable energy to rockets. Last fall, he joined just a handful of Clark Doctoral Fellowship recipients, awarded to high-performing engineering Ph.D. candidates at the University of Maryland. Payton is pursuing a doctorate in aerospace engineering. 

In addition to classes, and teaching responsibilities he works in the university’s Strategic Space Sensing Lab, which develops methods to locate and track space objects. 

Well aware that people largely focus on matters close to home, Payton is used to explaining why space is so important. 

“The potential is incredible,” he noted. “There is a company looking into manufacturing medicines in space, to see if there are advantages to doing so in zero gravity. The International Space Station is scheduled to be decommissioned. Startups are looking into building the next generation of space stations. Technology is being developed to determine how to handle asteroids.” 

At Albany Academy, he did not spend a lot of time thinking about asteroids. But, Payton said, the school got him his start in the field nonetheless. 

As a Cornell freshman he heard about Associate Professor Mason Peck, once chief technologist at NASA, and inquired about opportunities to work with him. 

“When I interviewed, I told him I was on the FIRST robotics team at Academy,” Payton recalls, referring to the strenuous nationwide competitions that are something like an NCAA for budding engineers. “He said ‘that’s all I need to know.’” 

Growing up in rural Saratoga County, Payton was interested in locomotives, boats and anything else mechanical. His parents assumed he would become an engineer and sent him to Academy to give him strong preparation. Payton started in fifth grade, along with third grade sister, Katrina ’23, now a Cornell junior. 

While up to speed in math and science, Payton was behind in English and writing. During his first year he met early in the morning with several teachers – after the 40-minute bus ride down the Northway. 

“We left the house at 6 a.m.,” he recalls. “It was a lot easier once I got my license.” 

But he caught up quickly, and savored small classes. Payton especially appreciated the freedom from public school state requirements.  

“I really liked the way our teachers taught,” he recalls. 

He made good friends, took part in the Cadet Corps, chamber singers and performed in musicals all four years of high school.  Perhaps most important to his future direction, was FIRST robotics team BOTMAN - his version, he said, of high school sports.

“At Academy, robotics coaches are engineers,” he said. “They gave us advice if we asked, but mostly let us do it ourselves and struggle. We’d fall on our face early in the year and by the time of the regional championships we had a robot we were really proud of.” 

He was so busy and demanded so much of himself academically at Albany Academy that his Ivy League college didn’t require a huge adjustment. 

Payton sang in the legendary Cornell University Glee Club and served as general manager during his senior year. As president of the Cornell Astronomical Society, he was trained to operate and maintain the iconic 103-year-old Fuertes Observatory telescope. ‘I’ve gone back twice to fix it,” he noted. He worked all along with Professor Peck on spacecraft trajectory optimization. 

Someday he might work for NASA, or a space start up. Either way, thanks to his mentor, Payton, is poised for a future that looks skyward.  

“He said ‘if you have a bachelor’s in engineering, you will get a job doing important work. If you get a Master’s you will know how to answer the hard engineering questions,” Payton recalls. ‘’If you get a doctorate you will know the right questions to ask.”