Sophora Services

Sophora Services is owned and operated by Mr. John Kelly.

John Kelly retired from NASA in November 2024 after a 36 year career. He was Deputy Chief of the Space Projects and Partnerships branch at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, where he had worked since 1988, except for a short stint in commercial aerospace in 1996 and a detail assignment to Mojave Air and Space Port in 2013. Mr. Kelly has served in many discipline areas during his career, including, flight controls and flight systems engineering, software engineering, information technology management, and various roles in program and project management.

Mr. Kelly earned a B.S. Aeronautical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott AZ (1992), and an MBA with IT emphasis from University of La Verne (2008). Mr. Kelly is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and is a registered Project Management Professional (PMP®, 2007).

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy, simply stated, is: Socratic and “Come alongside."

I believe that most students can perform beyond what our culture expects of them. I believe in providing a sufficiently rigorous curriculum, with as much “real world” content and application as possible, putting into practice …