Having nursed a flight bug since high school, Jeff Forrest changed careers mid-stream and now heads the Aviation and Aerospace Science Department. Photo by Chris Lawson

Jeffrey Forrest, chair of the Aviation and Aerospace Science Department, has plumbed the depths of the earth and has ridden the wind high in the sky. One activity he did to “chase money” and the other he did to fulfill a passion.

Ultimately, the passion won, but both have given him wild rides.

“I worked in oil and gas from 1977 to about 1991,” says Forrest, who earned a B.A. in geography from the University of North Carolina. “I started as a processing geophysicist but spent the bulk of that time putting together geologic research studies. My wife and I were partners on several oil wells, as she was an exploration geologist at that same time. We struck oil in Kansas but had to eventually shut down when the market dropped in the mid- to late-80s. I made my last oil and gas sale in ‘91. What a ride that time was; boom and bust!”

Shortly after the market collapsed, Forrest decided that he wanted to pursue a more fulfilling career.

“I learned that chasing money is not always the healthiest activity for peace of mind and quality of life,” he says.

Forrest started a company that produced Internet-based educational products and services. Simultaneously, he decided to pursue a second degree at Metropolitan State College of Denver in aviation and aerospace science.

His choice in academic studies may have seemed odd to his oil-and-gas buddies, but Forrest had been nursing a flight bug since high school.

“One day in high school, I was telling one my friends about a class on aircraft design that I was taking,” Forrest recalls. “My English teacher overheard my conversation and asked if he could help with our discussion on aircraft systems. In my youthful arrogance, I thought, ‘What would an English teacher possibly know about aircraft?’ Much to my surprise I learned that he was a flight instructor and airline pilot.”

Several weeks later, the English teacher took Forrest on his first flight and he was hooked. Forrest started flight lessons the next week and has been flying ever since.

Forrest says he experienced a similar thrill upon entering the classroom again at Metro State.

“I started classes [in the Aviation and Aerospace Science program] and almost immediately realized that professorship was what I wanted to do the rest of my life,” he says. “I decided to seek graduate degrees and ultimately a doctorate. I hoped at the time to combine those efforts with aviation and aerospace. That plan worked out!”

Many years of education later, Forrest now runs the department in which he studied and he is leading it into a new era of the industry, introducing a new certificate in space commercialization this fall. He also continuously works on grants to keep his department up-to-date technologically. In fact, the department just received a $150,000 United States Department of Education grant for capital expenditures for the advanced aviation simulation lab in the World Indoor Airport. Forrest says that the grant will be used to purchase state-of-the-art training systems called part-task trainers that emphasize high-level technologies for jet and commuter airline pilots. Seniors will use the trainers in their capstone program.

“My passion is creating programs in scholarship that enhance the educational foundations and skill development of those seeking careers in aviation or aerospace,” Forrest says. “So, yes, my passion and interests became my career.”