In recent years, I’ve been able to do a bit of public speaking for NASA.  Several of my talks or speaking events have been recorded and published online.  They are all different lengths.  They are all about different topics.  And they are all meant for different audience types and audience ages.

The list below should help organize the chaos and help you find the talk or presentation that’s right for you!

• Using robots to excavate resources on the Moon!
  • 6 minutes long, published on 4/21/2021
  • Kurt talks about NASA’s Lunar Pilot Excavator which will prove that we can drive and dig on the Moon using a small lightweight robot that’s also very tough and rugged.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsExcavatorInterview
  • Target Audience: general public
  • Requestor: NASA Edge public outreach group

• NASA STEM Stars, Meet a NASA software developer, an interview
  • 28 minutes long, published on 9/08/2021
  • Kurt talks about growing up in a small town, his first computer, the benefits of college internships, the importance of following your passion, NASA’s Swamp Works research & development lab robots that are designed to help us live off the land on the Moon or on Mars, and he also answers live viewer questions.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsStemStarsInterview
  • Target Audience: school students, event was created for Programmer’s Day
  • Requestor: NASA Education, a.k.a. NASA STEM Engagement

• Using robots to find resources!
  • 33 minutes long, published on 10/09/2018
  • Kurt talks about NASA’s history of robotic exploration of Mars and also explains why we will need to find and use local resources on Mars along with different robotic technologies that exist to perform those tasks.  Kurt then answers questions from the online audience.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsProspectingTalk
  • Target Audience: school students, event was created for FIRST Robotics teams
  • Requestor: NASA Education, a.k.a. NASA STEM Engagement

• NASA’s Swarmie Robots, an interview
  • 32 minutes long, published on 11/17/2016
  • Kurt talks about the NASA Swarmies which are a group of small and inexpensive robots modeled after ants that might be useful some day in the future for finding resources on Mars.  Kurt then answers questions from the online audience.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsSwarmieInterview
  • Target Audience: school students, event was created for American Education Week
  • Requestor: NASA Education, a.k.a. NASA STEM Engagement

• Meet Kurt Leucht, NASA software engineer, an interview
  • 21 minutes long, published on 7/23/2019
  • Kurt talks about FIRST Robotics, science fiction, how the students of today will be the NASA Engineers of tomorrow, NASA’s plans for going back to the moon and then for living off the land on Mars, and how to apply for a NASA internship.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsRoboticonInterview
  • Target Audience: school students, event was created for FIRST Robotics teams
  • Requestor: ROBOTICON Tampa Bay 2018, a FIRST Robotics off-season event

• I chose curiosity! a TED style talk
  • 15 minutes long, published on 11/12/2020
  • Kurt talks about how choosing to embrace his curiosity at a young age helped to mold his character and turn him into who he is today.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsNasaTalk
  • Target Audience: NASA leaders, NASA employees, general public, this talk leans more towards adults though
  • Requestor: NASA Launching Leaders

• Pioneering Mars! a conference keynote
  • 59 minutes long, published on 11/16/2017
  • Kurt gives a futuristic story based keynote that describes technologies that will be needed before we can send humans to live and work on Mars.  And NASA is working on many of these technologies right now! This is a new and improved version of the below We Are The Explorers keynote.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsIsruStory
  • Target Audience: general public, this talk leans more towards adults though
  • Requestor: Øredev 2017 software developer conference

• Writing Apps for Mars! a conference talk
  • 41 minutes long, published on 11/16/2017
  • Kurt talks about the software running onboard the Mars rovers and compares it to typical business software that the software developer audience is familiar with.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsMarsSoftwareTalk
  • Target Audience: general public, this talk leans towards adult software developers though
  • Requestor: Øredev 2017 software developer conference

• We Are The Explorers! a conference keynote
  • 45 minutes long, published on 10/03/2016
  • Kurt compares the early pioneers to modern space explorers while also describing technologies that will be needed before we can send humans to live and work on Mars.  And NASA is working on many of these technologies right now!
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsIsruKeynote
  • Target Audience: general public, this talk leans more towards adults though
  • Requestor: DevDay 2016 software developer conference

• NASA’s Ant-Inspired Swarmie Robots, a conference talk
  • 48 minutes long, published 10/03/2016
  • Kurt talks about the Swarmie robot project along with software technologies and techniques used on the project.  He also goes into various challenges and solutions that were encountered by the development team.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsSwarmieTalk
  • Target Audience: general public, this talk leans towards adult software developers though
  • Requestor: DevDay 2016 software developer conference

• Cognicast Podcast episode 137, an audio interview
  • 1 hour and 7 minutes long, published 2/08/2018
  • Russ Olsen interviews Kurt about regolith, swarm robots and sending people to Mars.
  • Link: https://tinyurl.com/KurtsPodcastInterview
  • Target Audience: general public, this interview leans just a bit towards adult software developers though
  • Requestor: Russ Olsen, Cognitect Inc.

If you’re interested in having me come speak to your club or organization or event, there are a couple ways that we can start a dialog.  You can either message me on my LinkedIn account, or you can email me directly from this website.

Thanks for your interest!  Please comment below if you found this information helpful!

Here is a simple and shareable address for this page:  https://tinyurl.com/KurtsTalks

Kurt