photo credit: Michael Collopy

Pomfret will welcome Kobie Boykins, a real-world change maker and problem solver, to the Hilltop as part of the Schwartz Visiting Fellow Lecture Series. Boykins is a principal mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and has contributed to every Mars mission for the past thirty years.

Boykins will land on the Hilltop on Thursday, January 29. Over two days, he will deliver a schoolwide lecture, participate in a student panel discussion, and attend classes. He will also give a community lecture on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in Hard Auditorium, which will be followed by a reception. This special event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.

Growing up, Boykins aspired to become an engineer and be “that guy who figures out how to design and build things to function at their highest level.” After earning a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he joined NASA, working on the Pathfinder mission that took the first rover, Sojourner, to Mars. 

Following the success of Pathfinder, Boykins designed the solar arrays that powered the Spirit and Opportunity exploration rovers and led the mobility and remote sensing teams for Curiosity. He served as chief engineer on NASA's Europa Clipper mission to investigate the ocean and habitability of Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. Currently, Boykins is working on the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission.

Outside of the lab, Boykins is passionate about raising awareness of Mars exploration and promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). As a National Geographic speaker, he hopes to inspire the next generation of explorers. 

In recognition of his impactful contributions to NASA missions and his leadership in engineering, Boykins received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in 2013, one of the agency’s highest honors for employees and contractors.

Since 1989, world-renowned experts have visited Pomfret School through the Schwartz Visiting Fellow Program. Made possible by the vision and generosity of Michael Schwartz ’66 and Eric Schwartz ’69, the series has welcomed an impressive roster of past fellows, including animal science professor Temple Grandin, celebrity chef Ming Tsai, groundbreaking choreographer Bill T. Jones, author Bill Bryson, and historian David McCullough.
 

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