JULIANNA FLORES / CONTRIBUTOR

Matthew Dominick ’05 is a NASA astronaut, commander of SpaceX-Crew 8, Navy lieutenant, electrical engineer, photographer, father, husband and one of USD’s very own alumnus. Dominick has explored the vast depths of space and recently returned to his alma mater to speak to students. 

Students rushed to speak with Dominick after the event for a one-on-one conversation with him. Lauren Ceballos/The USD Vista

Last week, Dominick spoke at a lunch and learn event at the ideation space in the Belanich Engineering Center. Dominick received his degree in electrical engineering with a double minor in mathematics and physics at USD. Dominick discussed his time as a commander of the SpaceX-Crew 8 from March to October 2024. Dominick shared a video of his time on the aircraft doing anything from building satellites, taking professional photographs of space and flipping upside down 40 times.

Dominick discussed what it was like to return to USD. 

“It’s great to be back here with the students,” Dominick shared in an interview with The USD Vista. “I would trade places with them in a heartbeat. I’ve had an incredible life experience, but I would love to start over and try again. To go sit in these halls and be a student again at USD would be amazing, for any university, for that matter.”

In his talk to students, Dominick made jokes about his jobs before NASA. 

“I was a door-to-door meat packaging salesman convincing people to buy meat out of the back of my van,” Dominick joked. 

The whole room filled with laughter. Dominick kept his presentation lighthearted and funny, beyond surface-level engineering facts. 

Dr. Kathleen Kramer, an engineering professor at USD who taught Dominick, introduced him at the event. Kramer reflected on his years at school. 

“Matt has always had a deep curiosity, natural leadership and a genuine love for understanding how things work,” Kramer stated in an interview with The USD Vista. 

Kramer advised engineering students to take difficult courses in order to succeed. She spoke on the importance of challenges. 

“You learn to embrace the challenge and learn to apply your knowledge for useful things,” Kramer emphasized. “If there’s a course where you think this is not fascinating enough, it’s like, this is just the doorway.” 

Kramer stated that doorways are an important part of finding your true passions. 

Dominick emphasized that USD offers so many diverse courses that students may not find interesting to begin with, but will end up teaching students to change their perspective of the world around them. 

“If you’re an engineer here and you’re like ‘Why am I in world religions right now,’ it teaches you perspective,” Dominick shared. 

Dominick spoke on the idea of perspectives with the importance of understanding how to connect with people. 

“You can be the best engineer but if you can’t explain why or how you’re doing something, you will never get it done,” Dominick shared. 

Dominick lit up the room when he was talking about his passions. Dominick shared his prized possessions, the thousands of photographs he took while aboard. 

“It felt like a responsibility to the people at home,” Dominick explained. “Since so few people can experience the incredible beauty of space, I wanted to show people what it is like up there.” 

The photo was an aurora borealis photographed in space through the window of the spacecraft. 

“I wanted to show what a human would see through this window,” Dominick stated. 

Isabelle King, a USD sophomore mechanical engineering major shared her connection to NASA. 

“I’m from Texas,” King explained. “So in Houston, the NASA station there is huge.” 

King was moved to tears after Dominick showed the photos of earth that he shot. King shared her feelings about meeting a person that went to USD and has achieved all that Dominick has. 

“It was so amazing to see that somebody from this University was experiencing something so cool with the degree that I know it took so much work,” King explained. “And the fact that he came back and wanted to share that with all of us.”

King explained how she felt inspired by this event and how it reminded her of her younger days.

“I feel like growing up, I thought I would love to be an astronaut,” King shared. “That’s such a dream to have, but to see him do it, it makes it seem like something that’s possible.”

Dominick’s lecture inspired students to put love at the forefront of their passions. 

“They are passionate about what they do, and thus they are good at it,” Dominick declared. 

Dominick wanted students to look at the bigger picture of career ambitions rather than just the fine details of the trip. 

He reiterated that the most important aspect to life, career and space, is human connection. 

Dominick also shared his thoughts on AI during the discussion. 

“I use [AI] for coding or simple equations, but if you can’t integrate with humans, what does it matter?” Dominick questioned.

Throughout his discussion, Dominick raved about his experiences. 

“When I said I am lucky, I cannot quantify that, there is no unit for that,” Dominick stated. 

Dominick shared his excitement at going up into space. 

“When we were preparing for take off, I was giggling the whole way up,” Dominick described. 

Seeing Dominick speak at his alma mater showed students that they are capable of anything they set their minds to as long as they are doing something they truly love. 

“You will be good at it because you love it,” Dominick stated. 

Dominick returned to USD to share his unique experiences as a NASA astronaut with current students. Even though his time in space was the main topic of discussion, Dominick made sure to emphasize the importance of human relationships to Toreros. 

Matthew Dominick shakes hands with students in attendance after the event. Lauren Ceballos/The USD Vista