Alum Discusses Distinguished Engineering Career as Part of Popular Podcast

When Michael Ambrose ’84, ’19 Hon., was growing up in Bridgeport, Conn., his grandfather used to take him to Seaside Park to see the helicopters. Though he didn’t imagine a career as an engineer at the time, Ambrose went on to play an integral role in making those very helicopters.

Ambrose, who earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of New Haven, has worked for Sikorsky for 38 years. He recently discussed his distinguished career, as well as the innovative helicopters the company makes, during an episode of Made in America, a podcast hosted by Ari Santiago.

It was running – not engineering – that Ambrose originally had his sights set on. While discussing college scholarships with his guidance counselor as a high school student, he was asked what else he was good at. When Ambrose mentioned math and drawing, his guidance counselor encouraged him to consider becoming an engineer. He began taking advanced math classes such as precalculus and “learned what it meant to be an engineering student.”

“When I went to the University of New Haven, they gave me the tools I needed and allowed me to be a runner and a student,” said Ambrose, who went on to become a record-setting member of the Chargers track and field team, holding several records that still stand today. “When I began to see how things work, it spurred a creative aspect that you can combine math with design and drawing to build products that are pretty special. I was able to make the connection between the math, the physics, and the actual product itself.”

‘Let’s invent it together’

Ambrose began his time at Sikorsky as an intern, and he says he found a company and a mission that resonated with him. He has now held several different positions at the company, including general manager of one of its product centers and vice president of its international government programs. He now serves as vice president of enterprise business transformation.

Ambrose says the foundation of what he does is digital transformation, and that while people typically think of that as the interface between the helicopter’s design and manufacturing, it’s more than that.

“When I talk about supercomputers and supercomputing, it starts with understanding how the helicopter is going to fly, even before you build it,” said Ambrose, who has earned two patents while working at Sikorsky. “There’s all kinds of aerodynamics, acoustics, and vibrational characteristics that we have to model at a conceptual level so we know what to design.”

Ambrose, who also earned a master’s degree in engineering management from MIT, discussed the new helicopters that Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, is now building. He also explained what it was like to work with suppliers throughout the journey of building a helicopter. Santiago, the podcast host, noted Ambrose’s passion as he described the culture of continuous improvement and how well he and his colleagues have worked as a team.

“A lot of times, our workforce comes to our engineers and they say, ‘This is what I need, and not only can you go invent something for us, let’s invent it together,’” he said. “It’s part of why we’ve been able to go so fast – the collaboration with our workforce on how we’re able to figure these things out together. We have some really smart mechanics who are there every day putting things together, and they provide that feedback to our manufacturing engineers on how we can do it even better.”

‘You have no idea how good you can be’

A published poet and a member of the University’s Board of Governors, Ambrose noted the importance of working with current students, including at technical schools across Connecticut. He also stressed the importance of having balance in life, something he has increasingly come to appreciate. He has learned about the importance of taking on challenges throughout his career – advice he now offers to tomorrow’s engineers.

“I was a working engineer until I was in my mid-30s,” Ambrose told Santiago. “I had a boss who came to me and said, ‘Ambrose, you have no idea how good you can be, and I’m going to kick you out of engineering and make sure you’re in a different group.’ It put my career on a whole different trajectory. If I was willing to take chances earlier, who knows what would’ve happened. I still had a cool career, but it could have possibly been even cooler.”