T.J. Mathieson

  
  


Date of Birth:  April 30, 1981
Height: 6'1"/1.85m
Weight: 200lbs/91kg./14.4st.
Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland
Hometown: Clarksville, Maryland
Residence: Redondo Beach, California
Teams: Alice Springs Cycling Club (2007-09), Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic (2009-present)
Education: MS, Astronautical Engineering, University of Southern California, 2008
BS, Aerospace Engineering, Summa Cum Laude, University of Notre Dame, 2004
Loyola Blakefield High School, Towson, Maryland, 1999
Web site: tjmathieson.com
Twitter: @TJMathieson

National Championship Experience

2nd place — 2011 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships, Carson, California, Team Sprint
4th place — 2011 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships, Carson, California, Time Trial
2nd place — 2010 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships, Carson, California, Team Sprint
4th place — 2009 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships, Carson, California, Sprint
4th place — 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships, Carson, California, Team Sprint

Career Highlights

11th place — 2011 UCI Track World Cup, Cali, Colombia, Time Trial
9th place — 2011 U.S. Track Cycling Grand Prix, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Keirin
5th place — 2011 U.S. Track Cycling Grand Prix, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Team Sprint
4th place — 2011 Pan American Championships, Medellin, Colombia, Kilometer Time Trial
9th place — 2010 Pan American Championships, Aguascalientes, Mexico, Match Sprint
10th place — 2010 Pan American Championships, Aguascalientes, Mexico, Kilometer Time Trial, Keirin

Points of Interest

  • Mathieson raced his bike while on a two-year work relocation to Australia where he was named Northern Territory Track Cyclist of the Year in 2008 and 2009.
  • Mathieson was an honorable mention for the 2004 Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Academic Team.
  • Mathieson became known to his friends at Notre Dame as "Space Nerd" or "Nerd," for short, due to his aspiration of being an astronaut.
  • Mathieson was invited to the the Washington Capitals rookie camp in 2002.

Personal

T.J. Mathieson can't sit still. He doesn't just participate in anything, he fully engages and usually excels in it.

Mathieson began playing hockey at the age of seven. Naturally, Mathieson was selected as a local and regional all star and participated in the Washington Capitals' rookie camp in 2002. After graduating from Loyola Blakefield High School, Mathieson moved to Chicago to play for the Chicago Freeze of the North American Hockey League, a Junior-A level team before skating for University of Notre Dame. He was a three-time Knute Rockne Scholar Athlete selection and received an honorable mention for the 2004 Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Academic team.

When he retired from hockey in his mid-twenties, Mathieson filled his free time with mountain biking and triathlons. He had started mountain biking in high school, but chose to focus on hockey instead. He and his wife relocated to Australia for a two-year work assignment where he picked up track cycling and began competing with the Alice Springs Cycling Club in 2007.

After returning to the United States, Mathieson reached the podium, placing fourth in the Team Sprint at the 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships. He added a pair of second-place finishes in the same event at the 2010 and 2011 national championships. He also added a pair of tenth-place results - in the Kilo and Keirin - at the 2010 Pan American Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

When he is not riding, Mathieson is working toward fulfilling one his life's goals, to be an astronaut. Mathieson is the manager of an operations engineering team at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, which he explains as being the "EMTs for some very complex equipment." He enjoys the unpredictability and problem solving that greet him on a daily basis. In 2008, Mathieson applied to the NASA Astronaut Candidate Program and advanced to the "highly qualified candidate" round. He is working on applying again in 2013. His fascination with being an astronaut earned him the nickname "Space Nerd" among his Fighting Irish teammates.

Mathieson also volunteers his time teaching youth ice hockey clinics and reads to students. He also mentored several, local high school students for an engineering innovation challenge sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Corporation.


This Article Updated March 16, 2012 @ 08:45 AM For more information contact: