Family has shaped nearly every step of Sarah Lamp’s professional journey, from military service to space research. Growing up, Lamp’s father admired the military, though he couldn’t enlist because of medical issues. Military service was also part of her family’s history: Her grandfather served as a World War II medic, and her brother later flew F-16s. Wanting to make her father proud while serving a purpose larger than herself, Lamp joined the Air Force in 2003. 

After enlisting, she earned advanced degrees in physics and became an officer physicist. Throughout her military career, she supported satellite operations, space acquisitions, space materials research, and long-range planning for future space missions. While Space Force was nascent when Lamp was in the military, much of her work would serve future projects.  

Following a deployment to Afghanistan, Lamp decided she wanted to prioritize family and, after leaving the Air Force in 2018, she remained focused on space-related work, spending years in private industry before finding her way to GTRI. 

Today, at GTRI’s Colorado Springs location, she applies her military space operations background to support U.S. Space Force programs. She helps develop and integrate next-generation space systems and technologies while leading teams working on complex technical challenges. 

“A lot of the work GTRI performs is heavily technical and customer-driven, but it's also imagination-driven and initiative-driven,” Lamp said. “You will be given a problem, but you’re not prescribed the solution. I enjoy those open-ended challenges where we have a problem set no one's been able to fix.” 

Her transition to GTRI was easy because of the many fellow veterans she works with. Shared experiences, discipline, and a mission-focused mindset helped her quickly feel at home, and she encourages other veterans to consider GTRI. 

“If you have a constantly curious mindset and have always been driven to serve the warfighter — and you want to be surrounded by friendly and brainy folks — then GTRI is for you,” she said. 

For Lamp, Veterans Day and Veterans Month are opportunities to recognize the sacrifices of those who served before her and with her. 

“What Veterans Day really means to me most is appreciation,” Lamp said. “Appreciation for veterans’ sacrifices, appreciation for them putting their health on the line for the country. Those are debts no one can ever repay, but we can at least recognize that and appreciate them.”