Inspired by a college internship, Russell Schwartz (B.S. ’22, mathematics, B.S. ’22, computer science) is taking his passion for mathematics all the way to the moon.

From the time he was a kid growing up in Ellicott City, Maryland, Russell Schwartz (B.S. ’22, mathematics, B.S. ’22, computer science) was obsessed with all things space, from NASA missions to science fiction.

“I remember when I was really young, I was super into space and space exploration, that was my big thing,” Schwartz said. “I grew up learning about the Gemini and Apollo missions and the shuttle program and watching shows like Star Trek, and my room was constantly decorated with all kinds of space stuff. It was all just incredibly inspiring.”

Schwartz never outgrew that fascination. Now, as a senior perception software engineer at Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, he’s taking space exploration into the future, developing robotics and navigation systems for a 2026 mission to the moon. 

“In my job, I do computer vision, sensor processing and software development for the Griffin lunar lander. It's a fully unmanned, autonomous vehicle, and the primary payload will be a version of the lunar rover that astronauts could operate as part of Artemis,” Schwartz explained. “Our flagship mission to the surface of the moon is scheduled for launch sometime in 2026, and the navigation systems that I work on will mainly be operational during Griffin’s descent to the lunar surface. If we're going to land on the moon, we’ve got to do it safely, so that's what we're trying to do.”

From mathematics to space

Schwartz’s journey into the business of space exploration started with his love of mathematics. A self-described ‘math nerd,’ he challenged himself throughout middle and high school with college-level courses in applied math, relativity, number theory and more, and by the time he was ready for college, he was also dabbling in computing.  Hoping to continue a family tradition, he set his academic sights on the University of Maryland, and was thrilled to be selected for the Gemstone Honors Program and the Banneker/Key, UMD’s most prestigious scholarship.

“Getting the Banneker/Key Scholarship was awesome,” Schwartz said. “I always knew I wanted to go to Maryland, since a lot of my family went to UMD, and, for the kind of work I wanted to do—math and computer science—UMD was an easy choice. Then, when I got the Banneker/Key full-ride scholarship, that just made it even better.”

At Maryland, Schwartz pushed himself to explore every facet of mathematics and problem-solving.

“I loved the breadth of different classes that were available, and I also loved how much intersection there was between computation and computer science,” Schwartz noted. “I remember taking Analysis I with Stefan Doboszcak, which was fantastic. He did such a great job of building up the intuition behind really nuanced analysis topics. Nathan Manning’s algebra class unlocked a whole other level of abstract reasoning for me. And David Mount's computational geometry class, a very math-heavy, graduate-level course, was probably the best class I've ever taken. Now, I use the foundational stuff that he taught in that class almost every day at my job.”

In 2021, a game-changing internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) helped Schwartz take the giant leap from mathematics to space.

“At that point, I knew I wanted to do robotics and applied math and software stuff, but I didn’t know exactly what that would mean. The JPL internship opportunity really reawakened my passion for space,” he recalled. “I worked with a team that was doing research related to the Mars rovers, working with autonomous localization systems and the camera data for Perseverance. The work was similar to what I do now at Astrobotic, and I loved it.”

Inspired by his experiences at Maryland and JPL, Schwartz went on to earn his master’s degree in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University; then he joined Astrobotic, first as an intern, then full-time in 2024 as a perception software engineer, a job that still feels almost too good to be true.

“It’s so cool. Other aerospace companies do orbital satellites, but what we’re doing—to actually go to another planetary body and then land there—is a whole other degree of complexity,” Schwartz explained. “I envisioned space exploration and helping to engineer these systems as something I wanted to do in my career, but I never imagined I would be able to get into it so soon.”

On to the moon

At Astrobotic, Schwartz works on guidance and sensing systems that will enable the Griffin lander to touch down safely and precisely on the rugged and hazardous terrain of the moon. 

“In addition to being one of the core architects of the navigation system for the Griffin lander, I’m working on the hazard detection system. We have a lidar on the spacecraft, which scans the lunar surface and builds a 3D map of it right before landing,” he said. “The goal is to hit Griffin’s landing target within 100 meters and do it safely.”

In Schwartz’s work, mathematics and computer science are at the heart of every challenge.

“This is one of those fields where math and computer science are heavily used and intertwined,” Schwartz said. “From the beginning, you need math literacy to define the problem, put it into symbols and write down the optimization problem that you're specifically trying to solve. Then you have to translate that problem into software in some form so a computer can solve it.”

The math skill set he developed as an undergrad at Maryland could not be more valuable.

“The amount of math I use at my job every day is incredible, and I couldn't be happier about that because I love math. I took the Putnam exam every year at Maryland because I love those Putnam problems, and now I get to do work that feels like that every day,” Schwartz explained. “The math department gave me the breadth I needed to be literate in a wide variety of important topics that come up regularly in my real-world work. Maryland gave me the experience I needed to be successful.”

Now, as Schwartz sees his career taking off in ways he never could have imagined, the sky’s the limit.

“On days when I work from home, and I'm writing software that will one day run on the moon, I walk outside and look up at the moon, and I'm like, ‘Oh my God, that's where we're going. It’s an incredible feeling,” he said. “Space exploration is one of those places where the problems are really hard and unique—and wherever the hardest problems are, that's where I want to be.”

By Leslie Miller