My name is Chris Juszak, though some people know me as CJ. I was born in Southern California and grew up in San Diego County (mostly Escondido and Poway) until I was 14. At that point, I moved with my mom and two younger brothers to Northern California, where I spent my teen years in the small towns of Oak Run and Shingletown in Shasta County.
After attending Shasta College in Redding, I transferred to California State University, Chico, where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. While in Chico, I met Laurie, who later became my wife. She’s originally from Santa Cruz County. After college, we moved to Ventura County, where I began my career as a computer scientist with the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), and Laurie worked at a bank.
After three years working for NAVAIR, we relocated to Portsmouth, Virginia, where I transitioned to the defense contracting world. During that time, Laurie worked at a doctor’s office. Four years later, we moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, where we’ve been ever since. While living in Fort Collins, I earned my Master of Engineering degree in Systems Engineering from Colorado State University, and Laurie and I had our son, Lee.
Lee is now in high school and enjoys a mix of tech and outdoor hobbies, including coding, geocaching, birdwatching, mountain biking, and off-roading with me (even if he’s not quite old enough to drive). Laurie works part-time at a local elementary school and volunteers with nonprofit organizations.
Professionally, I’ve worked in the defense industry since 2002, starting with NAVAIR and then moving on to roles at Cubic, BAE Systems, and currently KBR. I’ve supported the DoD’s Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) since 2007, with my focus on integrating live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) systems, distributed communications, and software interface development. Over the years, I’ve led engineering teams, developed software tools for DoD use, and trained hundreds of defense engineers across numerous organizations.
These days, my role blends software and systems engineering with strategic support. I still write code occasionally to stay sharp, but much of my time is spent helping teams navigate technology decisions – especially around AI, which has become a growing area of focus. I support JMETC’s efforts to explore how AI can improve DoD test and evaluation processes and stay involved in technical coordination and evaluation of potential solutions from commercial, academic, and government sources.
Outside of work, I’ve gone through a bit of a lifestyle shift recently. We sold our cabin, boat, and camper trailer and have been doing more off-road road trips, mountain biking, and hiking – especially with Lee as he gets older and more adventurous. We plan to stay in Fort Collins at least until Lee finishes high school, but we’re considering a snowbird lifestyle after that, possibly spending part of the year in a warmer location. We’re exploring options across multiple states, weighing whether a quiet place on some land or a more urban condo setup would suit us better.
I use this website as a way to collect notes and share information about some of the activities I’m involved with. Some of my blogs are technical in nature, related to my background and interests in engineering. A lot of these notes are just for me to refer back to later, but I hope others might find them useful. Other blogs will simply contain family pictures or videos of whatever we have been up to recently.
For some information about my work life, please see my résumé page.