Stephen Schmidt

Deputy Associate Director, Planetary Science Projects Division, NASA GSFC: Deputy Associate Director, Planetary Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Former Deputy Associate Director, Instrument and Special Projects Division; Branch Head, Instrument & Payloads Systems Engineering Branch; Associate Division Chief, Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis Division; Associate Division Chief, Mechanical Systems Division.

Michael Gross

Project Manager, GRACE-C Project, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Michael Gross started his career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in August of 1996. Mike has served as the GRACE Project Mission Assurance Manager, the Deputy Mission Assurance Manager of the MER Project, the Phoenix Mars Lander Project Payload Manager, Assistant Division Manager for Flight Projects of JPL's Autonomous Systems Division, Manager of the Power and Sensor Systems Section, Deputy Project and Flight System Manager of the GRACE-FO Project, and Manager of the Autonomous System Division. In 2021 Mike, along with three colleagues, was awarded the AIAA International Cooperation Award for “outstanding leadership of the international consortium in the planning and implementation of the successful Earth gravity missions.”. Mike is currently the Manager of the GRACE-C Project. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a Corresponding Member of the IAA

Clara O'Farrell

Guidance and Control Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Clara O’Farrell is an engineer in the Entry, Descent, and Landing Guidance and Control Systems Group at JPL. She received a PhD in Control and Dynamical Systems from Caltech in 2013, and a BSE in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 2008. Since joining JPL in 2013, she has worked on the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerators and Mars 2020 projects. She is the recipient of JPL's Charles Elachi Award and the NASA Early Career Exceptional Public Achievement Medal.

Joseph Bowkett

Robotics Technologist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Joseph Bowkett, Ph.D., is a Group Lead and Robotics Technologist researcher in the Mobility & Robotics Systems section of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His past work on autonomous robotic manipulation includes convoy path clearing for the Army Research Laboratory's "Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance," drilling and sample collection for the proposed Europa Lander mission, mobility in complex terrains in the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) research task, and others. Joseph's current work involves developing novel 'in-contact manipulation' behaviors for the MSR Sample Return Lander's "Sample Transfer System" that will place each sample tube into the Mars Ascent Vehicle.

James Kinnison

Mission System Engineer, JHU-APL: Jim Kinnison develops mission concepts for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He has served as the Mission System Engineer for Parker Solar Probe since the mission concept study began in 2007, and has led the development of more than a dozen concepts, such as Interstellar Probe. He received a B.S. in Physics from Northeast Louisiana University, Monroe, Louisiana in 1984, an M.S. in Physics from Michigan State University, and a PhD in Physics from Clemson University in 2005. He has been with JHU/APL for more than 37 years, where he developed radiation models and worked systems mitigations for radiation effects in microelectronics for more than 10 spacecraft and several long-duration balloon flights. After serving as System Assurance Manager for the New Horizons mission to Pluto, he now focuses on system engineering for scientific space missions and advanced mission concept development.

Terry Hurford

Scientist, : Planetary scientist

Ryan Woolley

Mission Design Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Ryan Woolley is a mission design engineer in the Inner Planet Mission Analysis group at JPL. His focus has primarily been on early mission formulation for the Mars Exploration Program. This includes mission concept studies, systems engineering, propulsion systems, low-thrust trajectories and optimization, mission design tools, and launch vehicle performance. He has worked on nearly all aspects of the Mars Sample Return campaign and has recently begun focusing on small missions to Mars. He received a B.S. in Physics-Astronomy from Brigham Young University, an M.S. in Astronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado. He has been at JPL since 2005.

Yasin Abul-Huda

Space Environmental Effects Modeling and Analysis, Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory: Dr. Yasin Abul-Huda is a senior member of the technical professional staff at the JHU APL where he develops and implements physics-based models to predict space environmental effects. Currently his work supports the Dragonfly mission through modeling contamination mass transport processes and hypervelocity impacts. Prior to joining APL, he was a part of the JWST science and engineering team, supporting observatory and NIRSpec commissioning activities and assessing in-orbit performance. He completed his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2017 and his technical expertise and interests are in the areas of thermal/fluid sciences, combustion, imaging/sensing, and spectroscopy.

Yasin Abul-Huda

Space Environmental Effects Modeling and Analysis, Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory: Dr. Yasin Abul-Huda is a senior member of the technical professional staff at the JHU APL where he develops and implements physics-based models to predict space environmental effects. Currently his work supports the Dragonfly mission through modeling contamination mass transport processes and hypervelocity impacts. Prior to joining APL, he was a part of the JWST science and engineering team, supporting observatory and NIRSpec commissioning activities and assessing in-orbit performance. He completed his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2017 and his technical expertise and interests are in the areas of thermal/fluid sciences, combustion, imaging/sensing, and spectroscopy.

Michael Werth

Senior Scientist, The Boeing Company: Michael Werth received a BS in Physics from the University of Arizona in 2007 and a Ph.D. in Physics from UC Irvine in 2012. Most of his undergraduate and graduate career was spent at CERN working with the Large Hadron Collider’s ATLAS Detector searching for fourth generation quarks and working with data acquisition systems. Michael joined The Boeing Company where he has developed expertise in SAR and EO image processing and additional research interests in deep learning, high-performance computing, and multi-sensor fusion.

Kenneth Cheung

research scientist, NASA - Ames Research Center: Dr. Kenny C. Cheung serves as a technical lead on advanced materials and manufacturing. As a researcher in the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) Intelligent Systems Division, he directs the Coded Structures Laboratory (CSL), which conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of design, algorithms, material science, mechanical engineering, and aeronautical engineering. Example work focuses on applying building-block based (digital) materials and algorithms to aeronautical and space applications. This includes shape morphing aircraft and large scale long duration space system infrastructure. Before joining NASA, Kenny received his Ph.D. from the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he showed that digital material strategies can be used to make new kinds of materials (strong and light weight), and new kinds of robots (like transformers). He has numerous papers and patents on topics ranging from high performance composite material manufacturing systems to synthetic protein folding algorithms, surgical devices, and indoor mobile device location systems. He’s particularly fond of applying rapid prototyping to test ideas that can change the status quo in design, based on physical first-principles analyses.

Glenn Hopkins

Principal Research Engineer, Georgia Tech Research Institute: GTRI Fellow and Chief Engineer of the Antenna Systems Division of the GTRI Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory, specializing in array antenna technologies. Interests include phased arrays, wide bandwidth antennas, digital beam forming and RF subsystems.

David Mooradd

Technical Staff, MIT Lincoln Laboratory: David Mooradd is a Technical Staff member in the Advanced Concepts & Technology Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he develops antenna and RF systems for radar, and electronic warfare. Prior to joining Lincoln Laboratory in 1995 David worked at Lockheed Martin Syracuse NY developing RF modules for phased array radars, and supporting testing of the Block II GPS antenna farm. He started his career at Millitech Corporation, S. Deerfield MA, as a mm-wave engineer designing antennas, filters, and Gunn diode oscillators. Mr. Mooradd is an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) serving on the planning committee for IEEE Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology, IEEE Radar Conference, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium, and Chair of the Boston Chapter of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society. David received his BSEE from the University of Lowell, Massachusetts and MSECE from University of Massachusetts Amherst

Orin Council

Research Engineer, Georgia Tech Research Institute: Mr. Orin H Council received his B.S.E.E from the University of Mississippi in 2007 and a commission in the US Navy as Ensign at the same time. He completed the Navy Nuclear Power Training Program (Qualified Nuclear Engineer Officer) and reported to his first ship USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN 705), a Los-Angeles Class fast attack submarine based in Apra Harbor, Guam in May 2009. After a three years of sea duty and two years of instructor duty at the Naval Submarine School in Groton, CT he completed his military service (LT, USN) and earned an M.S.E.E (2017) from the University of Houston. Mr. Council has designed and built various novel radiator elements in planar phased array antennas for sponsors. He has also works on reflector feed designs for wideband reflector antennas and supports various system analysis programs. Current Fields of Interest Antenna design techniques, electrically small antennas, wideband reflector antenna design

Melissa Soriano

Payload Systems Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Melissa Soriano is a telecom systems engineer in the Flight Communications Section at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She developed real-time and high-performance software for over a decade for the Deep Space Network, including open loop receivers used for radio science and radio astronomy. Melissa specializes in telecom, especially challenging scenarios with low signal strength and high dynamics. She is currently the lead Telecom systems engineer on the Europa Clipper Flight Systems Engineering Team and the X-band Telecom systems engineering lead on the Mars Sample Retrieval Lander Mission. She has a BS from Caltech (double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Business Economics and Management) and an MS from George Mason University.

Behzad Koosha

Adjunct Professor, The George Washington University : Adjunct Professor, George Washington University. Experience working at Terran Orbital (Lockheed Martin Company), SpaceLink, Hughes Network Systems and Intelsat Corporation as a member of the technical business development and engineering team. BSEE, Isfahan University of Technology, Iran. MSEE, CAU Kiel, Germany. Ph.D The George Washington University, USA.

Behzad Koosha

Adjunct Professor, The George Washington University : Adjunct Professor, George Washington University. Experience working at Terran Orbital (Lockheed Martin Company), SpaceLink, Hughes Network Systems and Intelsat Corporation as a member of the technical business development and engineering team. BSEE, Isfahan University of Technology, Iran. MSEE, CAU Kiel, Germany. Ph.D The George Washington University, USA.

Tommaso Rossi

Eng., University of Rome Tor Vergata: Tommaso Rossi is an Assistant Professor of Digital Signal Processing, Signals Processing for Biomedical Applications and Image and Video Compression at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata." His research activity is focused on EHF (Extremely High Frequency) and UWB (Ultra-Wideband) Satellite and Terrestrial Communication Systems, Digital Beamforming applied to RF Imaging and Telecommunication Systems, DSP for Biomedical Application and Image Processing. He is currently responsible for the Italian Space Agency Q/V-band satellite communication experimets performed through the Alphasat "Aldo Paraboni" P/L.

David Copeland

Principal Professional Staff, Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory: David Copeland is a member of the Principal Professional Staff of the Space Exploration Sector at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He is currently the telecommunications flight systems engineer for NASA's Dragonfly mission to Titan. Mr. Copeland has over 35 years' experience in microwave and optical communications. Mr. Copeland received his B.S. from Virginia Tech in 1985 and M.S. from the University of Maryland in 1997, both in Electrical Engineering.

Jaime Esper

Project Manager, NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center: Dr. Esper has many years of combined leadership experience in areas covering project management, mission systems engineering, advanced space missions and system concepts, spacecraft systems and technologies, instrumentation, spacecraft design, space mission processing and operations, launch vehicle Range operations, and planetary mission and entry probe design, analysis, and technology development. Dr. Esper has worked on numerous Space and Earth Science and Technology flight projects in capacities ranging from Spacecraft Controller to Project Manager. Dr. Esper is currently the Project Manager of the Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems, enabling an extensible communications and navigation infrastructure in the lunar domain.

Alan Hylton

Network Studies Manager, NASA: Alan Hylton should probably be designing tube audio circuits, but instead directs Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) research and development at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he is humbled to work with his powerful and multidisciplinary team. His formal education is in mathematics from Cleveland State University and Lehigh University, and he considers it his mission to advocate for students. Where possible, he creates venues for mathematicians to work on applied problems, who add an essential diversity to the group.

Alessandra Babuscia

Telecommunication Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Alessandra Babuscia received a B.S. and a S.M. in Communication Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy in 2005 and 2007 respectively. She received her Ph.D. (2012) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she worked as research assistant and teaching assistant in Space System Laboratory. She has developed communication system for different university missions (CASTOR, ExoPlanet, TerSat, Rexis, TALARIS). She has worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as summer researcher in Communication Architecture Research Group. Her research interests are in the fields of: communication technologies for small and micro satellite platforms, communication architecture design, statistical risk estimation, expert elicitation, mission scheduling and planning. She was awarded Amelia Earhart Fellows (years 2010 and 2011), Gordon Engineering Leadership Fellows (2010 and 2011), Teaching Assistant Award for MIT AeroAstro Department (2010), Top graduate in B.S program (2005) and in S.M. program (2007) at Politecnico di Milano. She is currently Postdoctoral Research Associate at MIT.

Marc Sanchez Net

Telecommunications Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Marc Sanchez Net is a telecommunications engineer in the Communication Architectures and Research Section at JPL. His research interests include design of space communication systems in challenged environments such as the surface of the Moon or Mars, optical communications, and delay tolerant networking. Marc received his PhD in 2017 from MIT, and holds degrees in both telecommunications and industrial engineering by the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona. He also received the NASA Early Career Award in 2020 and the JPL Explorer Award in 2022.

Len Yip

Senior Communication Architecture Analyst, Aerospace Corporation: Len Yip received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA in 2004. He has been with the Communication Architecture Department at the Aerospace Corporation since 2018. Before that, he was a communication systems engineer at Northrop Grumman Aerospace System for over 14 years. His research interests are communication systems modeling and simulation, communication systems architecture design, and digital signal processing algorithm development.

Claudio Sacchi

Associate professor, University of Trento: Dr. Claudio Sacchi is associate professor at the University of Trento (Italy). His main research interests are in satellite communications and wireless broadband communications. He is authors of more than 120 papers published in international journals and conferences. He is Senior Member of IEEE, member of IEEE Comsoc and IEEE AES society. He ie the chair of the AESS "Glue Technologies for Space Systems" technical panel.

Genshe Chen

CTO, Intelligent Fusion Technology, Inc.: Currently, Dr. Chen serves as the Chief Technology Officer at Intelligent Fusion Technologies, Inc., located in Germantown, MD. In this role, he oversees the company’s research and development activities, focusing on government services and commercial solutions.

Sriramya Bhamidipati

Robotics Technologist, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Dr. Sriramya Bhamidipati is a robotics technologist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Before joining JPL, she worked as a postdoctoral scholar in the Navigation and Autonomous Vehicles (NAV) lab at Stanford University. She received her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2021, where she also received her M.S in 2017. She obtained her B.Tech. with Honors in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2015. Her research interests include GPS, unmanned aerial vehicles, artificial intelligence, computer vision, power systems, lunar navigation and space robotics.

John Enright

Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University: John Enright is a Professor in Department of Aerospace Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). His primary research interests concern the development of attitude sensors for spacecraft, optical navigation, and mobile robotics.

Dylan Hasson

General Engineer, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center: Dylan Hasson is a General Engineer in the Air Traffic Management Systems Division at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) in Cambridge, MA. The ATMS division blends air traffic operations research, information technology, computer science, and engineering expertise focused on developing and deploying systems that help the air transportation enterprise to operate safely and efficiently. Mr. Hasson is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he received a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering. He is also a private pilot.

Krishna Sampigethaya

Department Chair and Professor, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: Krishna Sampigethaya is currently Chair and Professor in the Cyber Intelligence and Security Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ. The department is a DHS/NSA NCAE-C, ABET-Cyber, and a CYBERCOM AEN member. He was the first Associate Director for cyber security at the United Technologies Research Center (2017-2018) and the first Associate Technical Fellow for aviation cyber-physical security at The Boeing Company (2007-2014). He was an Assistant Director for telecommunications program at the University of Maryland ('14-'15). He has introduced cyber security tracks at AIAA, IEEE, and SAE aerospace conferences (2009-present). He has won Best Paper awards at the AIAA/IEEE DASC and I-CNS conferences, ASEI Engineer of the Year Award, ASEI Corporate Engineering Excellence Award, Best Instructor Award at UMD, and ERAU's Faculty Marshal and Distinguished Faculty Awards. He has delivered over 24 keynotes and holds over 24 patents.

Lee Jasper

System Engineer , Space Dynamics Laboratory : Lee Jasper received his B.S./M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from CU Boulder. He currently works for the Space Dynamics Laboratory as a Systems Engineer supporting the Air Force Research Laboratory. Lee has worked on many small satellite (including CubeSat) missions as well as the large Earth science mission NISAR managed by JPL-CalTech. His research/work has included orbital debris, controls, astrodynamics, small satellites, aggregating new and existing capabilities into relevant missions, mission assurance, spacecraft autonomy, and workforce development.

Nathan Barba

Systems Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Nathan Barba is a systems engineer with the Advanced Design Engineering Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is part of Mars Exploration Program’s (MEP) advanced studies team and is study lead for MEP’s small spacecraft study. His expertise and areas of interest are low-cost mission architectures for Mars exploration. He is a member of the International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG). Nathan received his M.S. in Systems Engineering and his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University.

John Samson

Research Affiliate / Aerospace Consultantant, Morehead State University : Dr. Samson has 50+ years experience in onboard processing for space and airborne applications. More than 50 publications in the area of onboard processing systems and architectures. Senior Member IEEE, Associate Fellow AIAA. Graduate of Illinois Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of South Florida.

Jin S. Kang

Associate Professor, U.S. Naval Academy: Dr. Jin S. Kang is an Associate Professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the United States Naval Academy, and serves as the Director of the Naval Academy Small Satellite Program. His main research area is in small satellite technology development and was involved in development of four micro-satellites and numerous CubeSat satellites. He received his B.S. from the University of Michigan, M.S. from Stanford University, and Ph.D. from Korea Aerospace University (KAU) in Aerospace Engineering. After working for General Electric for two years, Kang taught at Korea Air Force Academy, KAU, and Drexel University before joining the Naval Academy faculty.

Laila Kazemi

ADCS R&D Engineer , arcsec : Laila Kazemi holds a Doctorate, a Master of Applied Science, and a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering from Toronto Metropolitan University. She has over 10 years of experience working on small satellite components. As part of her graduate studies, she worked on the ST-16RT star tracker and is credited as a co-inventor. She has contributed to small satellite component research through multiple publications. She currently holds the position of ADCS R&D Engineer at arcsec, where she contributes to star tracker algorithm development, fully integrated ADCS subsystem design, and the space situational awareness and defense domain. Her current project, DeDUST, focuses on the opportunistic detection of space debris through star trackers. The increasing computational capabilities of star tracker microcontrollers, coupled with their integration into the majority of spacecraft buses, present an opportunity to incorporate additional functionality. DeDUST will enable platforms to contribute to clean space guidelines at no extra operational cost or hardware. She is also a key personnel member for the development of a modular, fully integrated ADCS subsystem for nanosats, designed to meet the increasing performance demands and strict timelines of the current smallsat market. The Arcus ADCS will be developed under a GST program and ESA supervision.

Michael Mclelland

Vice President, Space Systems Division, Southwest Research Institute: Michael McLelland leads Southwest Research Institute’s Space Systems Division, which develops next-generation space missions, systems and enabling technologies to support fundamental space science, national security and commercial applications. Mr. McLelland has over 32 years engineering and management expertise in spacecraft constellations, small satellites, spacecraft avionics, power systems, science payloads and autonomous high-altitude airships. He has played key roles in the development of over 28 spaceflight systems.

Nicole Fondse

Systems Director, Aerospace Corporation: Nicole Fondse earned her B. S. in Electrical Engineering and B. S. in Biomedical Engineering from CSU Long Beach in 2005. Upon graduation she joined Northrop Grumman Space Technology. She then earned her M. S. in Systems Engineering and MBA from Loyola Marymount University in 2011. In 2020, Mrs. Fondse transitioned to The Aerospace Corporation where she leads a team supporting the DoD Space Test Program whose responsibility is to provide access to space for military relevant science and technology experiments.

Rashmi Shah

Associate Directorate Technologist for Earth Science and Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology: Interests include technology development, Small Satellites implementation, early concept developments, and science system engineering. Research expertise are in the area of microwave remote sensing, electromagnetic scattering, remote sensing using signals of opportunity reflectometry and microwave remote sensing instrument development.

Maria De Soria Santacruz Pich

Systems Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Maria de Soria-Santacruz Pich received a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 2014. During 2014 she was a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA working on the development of an energetic particle detector for the ELFIN satellite and on the analysis of Van Allen Probes data. She joined JPL in 2015, where she defined space radiation environments and supported radiation analyses and testing for multiple missions. In 2017, she joined the Psyche project, where she stayed through launch in October 2023 as the Payload Lead Systems Engineer. Maria is currently the Flight Systems Engineer and Contract Technical Manager for the SBG-VSWIR mission. Her interests include systems engineering, instrument development, space physics, and climate sciences.

Keith Rosette

Deputy Project Manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Mr. Rosette is currently the Deputy Project Manager for the Mars Sample Return Capture, Containment, and Return System at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Prior to this role, he was the Deputy Section Manager for the Flight Systems Engineering, Integration and Test Section and was also the Product Delivery Manager for the Sampling and Caching Subsystem of the Mars2020 Perseverance Rover. He started in aerospace in 1991 and has experience in both industry and JPL including hardware development for human spaceflight and spacecraft development for LEO, GEO and interplanetary missions. He earned a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering in 1991 and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1994.

Mohamed Abid

SRL Payload Chief Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory / NASA: Dr. Abid is the Mars Sample Return Payload Chief Engineer. He was the Mars 2020 deputy Mechanical Chief Engineer, M2020 Cruise, Entry, Descent & Landing (CEDL) MSE, and M2020 Anomaly Response Team lead. Prior to that, Dr. Abid was the JPL Mechatronics technical group manager, the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission Chief Engineer, the Flight System SE for the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, and Project SE on Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM). Dr. Abid received his Ph.D. from the Dept of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering of the University of Southern California (USC). He is a lecturer at USC and the author of the text book “Spacecraft Sensors”, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2005

Robert Magnusson

Professor, University of Texas at Arlington: Robert Magnusson received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is Texas Instruments Distinguished University Chair in Nanoelectronics and Professor of Electrical Engineering at UT Arlington. Current theoretical and experimental research addresses periodic micro- and nanostructures, nanolithography, IR optical components, photonics, nanoelectronics, lasers, and optical bio- and chemical sensors. He has published 500 journal and conference papers and holds 40 patents. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (Optica) and SPIE, a Life Fellow of IEEE, and a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Resonant Sensors Incorporated, a company that provides next-generation optical sensor systems for pharmaceutical and biotech customers for biomedical diagnostics including Covid-19. He is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tiwaz Technologies with aim to develop new IR optical component technology.

Dan Harris

Causal AI Architect, Northrop Grumman Corporation: Dan Harris is a Northrop Grumman Staff System Engineer who currently works on independent research and development. He is a 2008 Naval Academy graduate and earned his Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona in 2019. Mr. Harris has worked on many practical application techniques and algorithm development projects involving machine learning and artificial intelligence disciplines, and he has produced several original works contributing to the success of many programs and projects. The role he mainly plays in these projects is a causal AI architect, where he leverages invariant, and therefore causal, correlations between inputs and desired outputs to build causal AI systems that consistently perform well after deployment and are robust against many forms and degrees of noise.

Laura Bateman

System Engineer, Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory: Laura Ritter Bateman received her B.A. degree in Mathematics from McDaniel College in 1997 and an M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst in 2000. From 2000 to 2006, she worked for Raytheon as a software engineer developing tracking code for the Patriot radar and later as a system engineer developing tracking algorithms for the Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Command and Control Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system. Mrs. Bateman currently works as a Chief Engineer for Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Her efforts are focused in the areas of non-kinetics, cognitive communication, tracking, battle management, and sensor resource management.

John Grimes

Scientist, BAE Systems, Inc: John Grimes currently works at BAE Systems Fast Labs in Burlington, MA. He is the direct of space systems research within FAST labs. He previously was the Director of the distributed fusion and resource management and works on multi-domain command and control, data fusion, and autonomy programs. He previously worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory from 2007-2017 on a wide variety of problems related to space systems and ISR. John recieved a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University (2007) in extragalactic astrophysics. His research was focused on space satellite operations, data analytics, and computational modeling. His particular research areas of expertise are in automated battle management, adversary behavior modeling, predictive tracking, data fusion, and systems analysis. Previously he has also worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the University of Chicago.

Paul Schrader

Research Mathematician, DR-II, Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate: Dr. Paul T. Schrader is a Research Mathematician for the Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate. He received his BA and MS in mathematics from Cleveland State University in 2011 and 2013 where he began his studies in topological data analysis (TDA). He obtained his PhD in mathematics from Bowling Green State University in 2018 specializing in the deformations of tensor categories. From 2018-2022 he was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Southern Arkansas University. With multiple publications and several patents pending on mathematics and AL/ML based subjects, his current research includes the interfacing of TDA with existing AI/ML architectures for effective/efficient data fusion driven modality agnostic collaborative autonomy in: persistent target custody/recognition, non-destructive evaluation and health monitoring of materials/infrastructures/high-rate systems, 3D image processing for battle damage assessment, and data assurance/network resiliency.

Robert Merl

Electrical Engineer, Los Alamos National Laboratory: Robert Merl received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1992 and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago in 1996. He has been with Los Alamos National Laboratory for 19 years and was previously with Argonne National Laboratory. Rob is the project engineer for the Processing and Communication team in the Intelligence and Space Research Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He is also the principal design engineer for several space flight modules currently under development at the laboratory. Rob has 26 years of experience in circuit design. Rob is an instrument rated pilot and a commercial drone pilot.

Michael Epperly

Senior Program Manager, Southwest Research Institute: Senior Program Manager, Space Systems Department, Southwest Research Institute. Manager, Memory Subsystems product line and Program Manager for the Space Force APS-R Spacecraft. BSEE, University of Texas; MSEE, MSCS, and MS in Systems Engineering/Program Management, Johns-Hopkins University.

Eric Rossland

Electronics Engineer, Naval Research Laboratory: Eric Rossland is an employee at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with over 20 years experience in spacecraft systems engineering. Eric works in the spacecraft systems electrical integration and test section on efforts from robotics, to space sensors, to entire spacecraft, and mission operations. Eric’s most recent technical focus area is space robotics, specifically robotic arm system design, integration, and test. On multiple flight programs, Eric managed teams through the entirety of the project from requirements development, design, hardware and software implementation, integration and test, verification/validation, and spacecraft launch and on-orbit operations. As a subject matter expert in the field of spacecraft electrical and robotic systems integration and test, Eric has been consulted to support internal and external program design reviews.

Thomas Cook

Senior Electrical Engineer, Voyager Space: Thomas Cook received a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2017 and PhD in 2023. Dr. Cook is currently a senior electrical engineer at Voyager Technologies.

Mohammad Mojarradi

Manger, Componnent Engineering and Assurance, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Manager, Component Engineering and Assurance, JPL. IC design specialist, expert in mixed-signal/mixed-voltage circuits, sensors, micro-machined electromechanical interface systems for extreme environment of space. Twenty years experience. Twenty-seven patents, forty publications.

Didier Keymeulen

Principal, Member Technical Staff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Principal, Member technical staff, JPL. Interests in design and implementation of adaptive and intelligent embedded flight systems

John Enright

Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University: John Enright is a Professor in Department of Aerospace Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). His primary research interests concern the development of attitude sensors for spacecraft, optical navigation, and mobile robotics.

Michael Mclelland

Vice President, Space Systems Division, Southwest Research Institute: Michael McLelland leads Southwest Research Institute’s Space Systems Division, which develops next-generation space missions, systems and enabling technologies to support fundamental space science, national security and commercial applications. Mr. McLelland has over 32 years engineering and management expertise in spacecraft constellations, small satellites, spacecraft avionics, power systems, science payloads and autonomous high-altitude airships. He has played key roles in the development of over 28 spaceflight systems.

Matthew Spear

Electronics Engineer, Air Force Research Laboratory:

Pablo Narvaez

Principal Engineer/Section Manager, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Pablo Narvaez has worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1985 and is currently a Section Manager and a Principal Engineer and is the subject matter expert for JPL in flight spacecraft Electromagnetic Compatibility and Magnetic environments (EMC/Mag). He led the EMC/Mag efforts for: Galileo (from 1985, up to launch in 1989; post-Challenger re-design for VEEGA mission), Ulysses, instruments flown on the Shuttle (SRTM, SIR-C, Lambda Point Experiment, Drop Physics Module), Cassini, Mars Exploration Rovers, CloudSat, Deep Impact, DAWN, OCO-2, Aquarius/SAC-D, Juno and on the just recently launched Grace Follow-On. He is currently overseeing the EMC/Mag efforts for: Europa Clipper, Mars 2020, SWOT, and non-NASA projects. He is the EMC group supervisor and Section Chief Engineer for Reliability Engineering and Mission Environmental Assurance.

Dimitry Ignatov

Lead Engineer, Booz Allen Hamilton: After employment within the Defense sector as a Systems Engineer, joined Booz Allen Hamilton in 2022 and has since supported the Gateway Digital Architecture and Mission Analysis & Integrated Assessment teams within NASA (JSC) as a lead engineer. Across this period, he has been involved with requirements planning/management, mission scheduling and data analysis, and trajectory development. Received a B.S. in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida.

Erica Rodgers

Senior Analyst, NASA - Headquarters: Dr. Erica Rodgers is a senior analyst within NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy. Rodgers leads studies of Agency and National importance to provide data- and evidence-driven technology, policy, and strategy advice to NASA leadership. Rodgers leads the Science and Technology Partnership Forum and establishes government-wide collaboration frameworks to influence portfolios across U.S. government space agencies. Rodgers previously served as an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where she performed systems analysis of Mars exploration architectures. Prior to joining NASA, Rodgers performed research of solar X-rays and their impact on Earth’s upper atmosphere and of dust grain environments surrounding forming stars and developed and launched science instrumentation. While performing research, Rodgers taught astronomy and astrophysics at several colleges and universities and worked in the aerospace industry in systems engineering and satellite operations. Rodgers received her PhD in space physics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and her BS and MS in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Randy Williams

Systems Director, The Aerospace Corporation: Randy Williams earned an M.S. and a B.S in Aero-Sciences and Mechanical Engineering, respectively, from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). He's held several positions at The Aerospace Corporation after initial hire in 1987 in the Aerophysics Laboratory. He worked in the Propulsion Department on satellite propulsion systems for Milstar, DMSP, and STP programs. He transferred to the Medium Launch Vehicle Program Office. He led several multi-disciplinary teams tasked with resolving significant technical issues the Atlas II/III/V and Delta II launch vehicles. He began work on the Space Shuttle Return-to-Flight mission, characterizing the External Tank foam debris risk to the Space Shuttle Program. In 2007, he provided system engineering leadership and lead development of induced flight environments for NASA’s successful Ares I-X test flight project, in addition to supporting other Constellation projects, for which he received several NASA and corporate awards. He currently serves as a Systems Director in Civil and Commercial Launch Projects Subdivision of the Launch Systems Division, where he serves as the primary focal point for all civil launch-related activities within Launch Program Operations.

Steve Matousek

Mars advanced studies manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Steve Matousek is currently the Mars Exploration Program advanced studies manager. Recent leadership roles include JPL Advanced Concept Methods and Tools Manager (Architecture Team, aka A-Team), the creation of new advanced concept concurrent teams including the JPL A-Team and Team Xc (CubeSat/SmallSat). He led numerous advanced study teams across the areas of Earth Science, Astrophysics, Planetary Science, and technology infusion. Before his current assignments, Steve was the Juno (current mission orbiting Jupiter) proposal manager and then mission manager responsible for the development of the mission and operations. He has led over 20 major mission proposals over 2 decades. He was a trajectory engineer on the Voyager 2 Uranus and Neptune encounters. He started his aerospace career as an undergraduate command controller of the Solar Mesospheric Explorer at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado. He is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA, and teaches a graduate class at USC in space systems for remote sensing. His research interests include novel smallsat and nanosat applications for solar system exploration, and advanced methods of sustained innovation and creativity.

Kevin Duda

Senior Program Manager, Space Systems, Draper Laboratory: Kevin Duda is a Senior Program Manager and Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in the Space Systems Program Office at The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. He holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT.

Torin Clark

Associate Professor, University of Colorado-Boulder: Torin Clark, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder in the Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences department and Biomedical Engineering program. He is a principal investigator in the Bioastronautics Laboratory and a faculty affiliate of BioServe Space Technologies. Prior to joining CU-Boulder in 2015, he was a National Space Biomedical Research Institute post-doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He completed his Masters and PhD in the Man-Vehicle Laboratory (now the Human Systems Laboratory) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his BS in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado. His research is focused on the challenges that human operators face in complex aerospace environments. Specifically, he focuses on astronaut biomedical issues, space human factors, human sensorimotor/vestibular function and adaptation, interaction of human-autonomous and human-robotic systems, trust in autonomous systems, mathematical models of spatial orientation perception, and human-in-the-loop experiments.

Brian McCarthy

Director, The Aerospace Corporation: As Director of the Structural Mechanics Integration Office in the Engineering and Technology Group of The Aerospace Corporation, Dr. McCarthy is responsible for delivering interdisciplinary solutions to structural mechanics related issues across the breadth of the aerospace industry. In this role, Dr. McCarthy also co-chairs the Aerospace Testing Seminar, and acts as editor for the technical reports that form the basis for SSC-S-016, the environmental test standard for launch, upper-stage, and space vehicles. Prior to becoming a Director, Dr. McCarthy ushered a critical payload technology development effort through several key milestones as a Senior Project Leader. He also fulfilled roles of increasing responsibility as an electronics packaging structural analyst. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University and a MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Richard Hofer

Supervisor, Electric Propulsion, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Richard R. Hofer is a Principal Engineer and the Supervisor of the Electric Propulsion Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received the B.S.E. degree in mechanical engineering and the B.S.E., M.S.E, and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan in 1998, 1998, 2000, and 2004, respectively. Since joining JPL in 2005, his work has focused on the development and qualification of Hall thrusters for deep space missions. In recognition of these efforts, he received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, the JPL Lew Allen Award for Excellence, and the AIAA Electric Propulsion Outstanding Technical Achievement Award. Dr. Hofer is a Fellow of the AIAA, the former Chair of the AIAA Electric Propulsion Technical Committee, and on the Board of Directors of the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society. He has been awarded 9 patents and authored over 180 technical publications in electric propulsion.

Concha Reid

Program Manager, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Concha Reid is the Deputy Chief of the Space Science Project Office at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). In this role she manages the space science project portfolio at GRC and ensures the achievement of space science project objectives. Ms. Reid is the former Deputy Program Manager for the Radioisotope Power Systems Program, which provides radioisotope power and heating for NASA missions and advances the technology for achievement of greater science objectives, particularly to dark, cold lunar and planetary locations and into deep space. Previously, Ms. Reid negotiated and managed bilateral exchange agreements between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) for Orion’s European Service Module (ESM). She led joint NASA-ESA reviews for the completion of ESM integration activities in Europe for NASA, coordinated the delivery of the ESMs for Artemis I and II from Europe to Kennedy Space Center, and led the review to approve the mating of the Orion Crew and Service Module with the ESM. Ms. Reid also formerly served as a battery and energy storage specialist in the GRC Power Division. Ms. Reid holds a BS in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University and an MS in electrical engineering with emphasis on power from Virginia Tech.

Ashley Karp

Mars Launch Manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Dr. Karp is the SRL Mars Launch Manager as part of a potential Mars Sample Return. She has been the PI for JPL’s Hybrid Propulsion Test Facility. She is the former Chair of the AIAA Hybrid Rocket Propulsion Technical Committee. She earned a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 2012. and a B.A. in Astrophysics, Physics and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005. She has worked on the Mars 2020 propulsion system and has been involved with many mission concept studies

Robert Sievers

Consultant, RKS Consulting: Bob retired in 2021 after over 40 years in advanced power systems for both aerospace and marine applications. He remains active, organizing conferences, sitting on NASA review boards and consulting for NASA and industry. Prior to retirement, Bob was Director of the Advanced Energy & Power (AEP) Group at Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc.. He managed a diverse product line, providing unique and highly reliable energy storage and power systems for space, marine, and other harsh environments. An example of such power system solutions is the radioisotope power systems on the Mars Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. His portfolio included fuel cells, thermoelectrics, Stirling heat engines, and specialty batteries. Bob led business, product and technology development, as well as guiding program and risk management. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado and a Master’s from the University of Pittsburgh. He was also awarded the Westinghouse Lamme Fellowship and used it for radioisotope power system research at JPL. Bob has 12 patents on various energy conversion technologies and has authored over 80 publications.

Christofer Whiting

Technology Development and Commercialization Manager, NASA - Glenn Research Center: Chris Whiting is the Technology Development and Commercialization Manager for the RPS Program Office at NASA Glenn. He received his BS and PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, and has has been active in the design, development, production, and maintenance of radioisotope power systems. Chris has led several successful research projects on radioisotope fuels, including plutonium-238, strontium-90, and americium-241, resulting in several publications, including a chapter in The Plutonium Handbook. His technology was also used to produce the first new U.S. radioisotope heat source design in over 40 years; a strontium-90 titanate demonstration unit for Zeno Power. Chris supported the production and deployment of the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator on Perseverance, earning The Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award. He is also a leading expert on the behavior of radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which earned him the Wohleben-Hochwalt Professional Research Award during his time at the University of Dayton Research Institute. For the past several years, Chris has led a team of engineers and technicians to successfully complete multiple projects in support of RPS production and development for NASA, JPL, the Department of Energy, and commercial companies.

Robert Sievers

Consultant, RKS Consulting: Bob retired in 2021 after over 40 years in advanced power systems for both aerospace and marine applications. He remains active, organizing conferences, sitting on NASA review boards and consulting for NASA and industry. Prior to retirement, Bob was Director of the Advanced Energy & Power (AEP) Group at Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc.. He managed a diverse product line, providing unique and highly reliable energy storage and power systems for space, marine, and other harsh environments. An example of such power system solutions is the radioisotope power systems on the Mars Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. His portfolio included fuel cells, thermoelectrics, Stirling heat engines, and specialty batteries. Bob led business, product and technology development, as well as guiding program and risk management. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado and a Master’s from the University of Pittsburgh. He was also awarded the Westinghouse Lamme Fellowship and used it for radioisotope power system research at JPL. Bob has 12 patents on various energy conversion technologies and has authored over 80 publications.

Richard Hoobler

Graduate Research Assistant, University of Texas at Austin: Richard Hoobler has a Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University and a Master's degree from UT Austin. He is currently working on his PhD at UT Austin under Dr. Maruthi Akella. His research interests are in Aircraft GNC, Adaptive Control, and System Identification.

Kerianne Hobbs

Aerospace Engineer, Air Force Research Laboratory: Dr. Kerianne Hobbs is the Safe Autonomy and Space Lead on the Autonomy Capability Team (ACT3) at the Air Force Research Laboratory. There she investigates rigorous specification, analysis, bounding, and intervention techniques to enable safe, trusted, ethical, and certifiable autonomous and learning controllers for aircraft and spacecraft applications. Her previous experience includes work in automatic collision avoidance and autonomy verification and validation research. Dr. Hobbs was selected for the 2020 AFCEA 40 Under 40 award and was a member of the team that won the 2018 Collier Trophy (Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System Team), as well as numerous AFRL Awards. She serves on the AIAA Intelligent Systems Technical Committee, the NASA Formal Methods Program Committee, the IEEE Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology - IEEE Space Computing Conference Program Committee, and the IEEE Aerospace Conference Committee. Dr. Hobbs has a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, an MS in Astronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Thomas Fraser

Engineer, Lockheed Martin Corp: Tom began his engineering career with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts: Lowell. He continued education with an MS in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University. Tom currently works in the avionics hardware and software group for Lockheed Martin.

Nikolaus Ammann

Research Scientist, DLR (German Aerospace Center): Nikolaus Ammann received his B.Sc. degree in computer science from the University of Lübeck in 2009. Afterwards he continued his study at the Auckland University of Technology and the University of Lübeck and received the M.Sc degree in 2012. Since then, he works as a research scientist at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). His research activities include sensor fusion, visual navigation for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and spacecraft. Most recently, he was appointed head of a DLR-wide project on counter UAS technologies

Christopher Elliott

Principal Research Engineer, CMElliott Applied Science LLC: Christopher M Elliott is a Principal Research Engineer at CMElliott Applied Science LLC, a company that provides innovative solutions for challenges in engineering research and production. With over 25 years of experience in the aerospace industry including roles as a Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Technical Fellow in Flight Control and Vehicle Management Systems, Dr. Elliott has worked on a number of diverse research programs for the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, such as the International Space Station, Block 60 F16, F35 Joint Strike Fighter, and Hybrid Airship. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Texas Christian University and the University of Texas at Arlington, where he teaches and mentors students in mechanical and aerospace engineering. He holds a PhD and an MS in Aerospace Engineering from UT Arlington, and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from UT Austin. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow and the Air Vehicle Chair for the annual IEEE Aerospace Conference and a passionate advocate for advancing the field of aerospace and mechanical engineering; guidance, navigation, and control; modeling, simulation, estimation, and optimization of dynamic systems; and quantum information science.

Christopher Elliott

Principal Research Engineer, CMElliott Applied Science LLC: Christopher M Elliott is a Principal Research Engineer at CMElliott Applied Science LLC, a company that provides innovative solutions for challenges in engineering research and production. With over 25 years of experience in the aerospace industry including roles as a Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Technical Fellow in Flight Control and Vehicle Management Systems, Dr. Elliott has worked on a number of diverse research programs for the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, such as the International Space Station, Block 60 F16, F35 Joint Strike Fighter, and Hybrid Airship. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Texas Christian University and the University of Texas at Arlington, where he teaches and mentors students in mechanical and aerospace engineering. He holds a PhD and an MS in Aerospace Engineering from UT Arlington, and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from UT Austin. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow and the Air Vehicle Chair for the annual IEEE Aerospace Conference and a passionate advocate for advancing the field of aerospace and mechanical engineering; guidance, navigation, and control; modeling, simulation, estimation, and optimization of dynamic systems; and quantum information science.

Seungwon Lee

Data Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Seungwon Lee is a data scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has over 25 years of experience of research and technology development in computational physics, dynamic systems, statistical data analysis, optimization algorithms, information systems, and high performance computing systems for science and engineering applications. Currently, she is the PI of a NASA ROSES AIST project for developing an ecological projection analytic framework. She is also the PI of a NASA ROSES RDAP project for analyzing Rosetta observation data. In the past, she led several research projects as a PI for the JPL internal Research and Technology Development program and performed innovative research on Earth science data summarization with advanced clustering algorithms, evolutionary optimization methods for spectral retrieval problems and trajectory design, parallel computing for Satellite Orbit Analysis Program. She also contributed to other NASA research projects including the development of a co-location tool for A-Train data and ECMWF outputs, the characterization of cloud properties using NASA’s observational data, development of cloud-related parameterizations for climate models, and the development of a statistical method to quantify the relationships between passive radiometer and active radar measurements for hurricane studies. She is the first author or co-author of over 40 refereed publications.

Ronnie Killough

Program Director - R&D, Southwest Research Institute: Ronnie Killough is a Program Director in the Space Science Division at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). In his 30+ years at SwRI, Ronnie has developed software for cruise missile simulators, space shuttle control center systems, and unmanned spacecraft. Until 2014 he was Director of the Communications and Embedded Systems department in which he was responsible for oversight of research and development of network-centric systems, tactical communications systems, cyber security, and high-reliability software. Ronnie returned to his passion for space and served as software systems lead and flight director for the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission which launched in December 2016. He is currently Project Manager for a Heliophysics SMEX mission called Polarimeter to Unify the Corina and Heliosphere (PUNCH), a constellation of four microsatellites that will create 3D images of the solar wind, slated for launch in 2025.

Peter Lehner

Team Lead Mobile Manipulators, German Aerospace Center (DLR): Peter Lehner is the Mobile Manipulators team lead at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, German Aerospace Center (DLR). Before he joined DLR in 2014, he received his master's degree in Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin in 2014. His current research activities include developing methods for autonomous motion generation for mobile manipulation systems to empower mobile robots to autonomously interact with their environment.

Robert Klar

Institute Engineer, Southwest Research Institute: Robert Klar has over 28 years of experience in the areas of software engineering, real-time operating systems, embedded systems, signal processing, image processing, computer networking, and communications. He has contributed to flight software for many space missions including PUNCH, CYGNSS, MMS, WISE, Kepler, New Horizons, Orbital Express, Fermi, Swift, and IMAGE. Robert has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Saint Mary’s University. He is currently pursuing additional graduate work in Machine Learning at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Hongman Kim

Systems Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Hongman Kim is a systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Since he joined JPL in 2014, Hongman worked on a number of software development projects including concept design study environment and ontology-based engineering data integration. Currently, he works as software architect of Ingenium that provides a Web-based test procedure authoring and execution environment for system level testing and integration of JPL flight projects. Before joining JPL, he was a project manager at Phoenix Integration, Inc., where he led development of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) technology. He also worked on a number of government funded projects including points cloud visualization, distributed computing, and design optimization. He holds a PhD degree in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech, and MS and BS degrees in aerospace engineering from Seoul National University.

Georges Labrèche

Spacecraft Operations Engineer, Tanagra Space / European Space Agency: Georges Labrèche develops and operationalizes AI technology demonstrators on-board the European Space Agency's OPS-SAT Space Lab. His research focuses on leveraging edge computing for in-orbit machine learning and autonomous decision-making. He received his B.S. in Software Engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada, M.A. in International Affairs from the New School University in New York, NY, and M.S. in Spacecraft Design from Luleå University of Technology in Kiruna, Sweden. He founded Tanagra Space, an Estonian-based AI consultancy that supports the OPS-SAT mission control team at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany. Georges lives in Queens, NY.

Andreas Gerndt

Head of Department, German Aerospace Center (DLR): Prof. Dr. Andreas Gerndt is the head of the department "Visual Computing and Engineering" at German Aerospace Center (DLR). He received his degree in computer science from Technical University, Darmstadt, Germany in 1993. In the position of a research scientist, he also worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics (IGD) in Germany. Thereafter, he was a software engineer for several companies with focus on Software Engineering and Computer Graphics. In 1999 he continued his studies in Virtual Reality and Scientific Visualization at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, where he received his doctoral degree in computer science. After two years of interdisciplinary research activities as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, USA, he returned to Germany in 2008 to work for DLR in the domain of aerospace software research. Since 2019, he is also Professor in High-Performance Visualization at University of Bremen, Germany.

Timothy Chase

Ph.D. Candidate/Computer Engineer, University at Buffalo/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Timothy is a computer engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and a Ph.D. student in Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo in the Distributed RObotics and Networked Embedded Sensing (DRONES) Lab under Dr. Karthik Dantu and the Advanced Navigation and Control Systems Lab under Dr. John Crassidis. He received his B.S. in Computer Science and M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University at Buffalo. His research interests include spacecraft perception and autonomy, optical navigation systems, simultaneous localization and mapping, and embedded computer vision.

David He

Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago: David He received a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from The University of Iowa. Dr. He is a Professor and Director of the Industrial AI and PHM Integration Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at The University of Illinois-Chicago. Dr. He is also a Fellow of the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) Society. Dr. He’s research areas include PHM, Industrial AI, smart manufacturing systems modeling and analysis, quality and reliability engineering.

Wolfgang Fink

Associate Professor, University of Arizona: Professor Fink is the inaugural Edward & Maria Keonjian Endowed Chair, University of Arizona with joint appointments in the Departments of ECE, BME, SIE, AME, and Ophthalmology & Vision Science. Prof. Fink is named AIMBE Fellow, PHMS Fellow, SPIE Lifetime Fellow, ARVO Fellow, NAI Fellow, UA da Vinci Fellow, UA ACABI Fellow, and Senior Member IEEE. He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics, University of Tübingen, Germany. Among numerous awards Prof. Fink received: NASA Space Flight Awareness (SFA) Launch Honoree Award in 2002, co-recipient of the 2009 R&D Magazine’s R&D 100 and R&D 100 Editors’ Choice Award both for the DOE-funded Artificial Retina Project, co-recipient of the 2009 NASA Board Award for pioneering work on a disruptive autonomous space exploration paradigm, co-winner of the $200,000 DOE/NREL-sponsored E-ROBOT Prize in 2021, and recipient of the 2023 SPIE Meinel Technology Achievement Award.

Derek De Vries

LMDS Fellow Emeritus, Nothrop Grumman Propulsion Systems: Mr. Derek R. DeVries, P.E., LMDS Fellow Emeritus for Discipline of Avionics and Controls at Northrop Grumman Propulsion Systems. Senior Member of IEEE with over 35 years’ experience in the Aerospace Industry in Operation, Integration, and Development of Space Launch Systems. PHM Society Fellow, Board of Directors, and Honored as a Luminary Speaker for the PHM 2015 Conference. B.Sc Electrical Engineering from University of Utah, and M.Sc. Electrical Engineering from Utah State University. Industrial Advisory Board Member for the University of Utah Electrical Engineering, AIAA Standards Committee NATO Scientific Achievement Award 2016 "Application of Integrated Munitions health Management", Member for AIAA “S-122-2006 Direct Current Power Systems for Earth-Orbiting Satellites”, 15 U.S./Foreign Patents, and AIAA 2001 JPC Arthur D. Rhea Best Paper Award for "Ordnance Components and Systems". Research/Development interests include advanced Avionics and Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) of integrated systems.

David He

Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago: David He received a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from The University of Iowa. Dr. He is a Professor and Director of the Industrial AI and PHM Integration Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at The University of Illinois-Chicago. Dr. He is also a Fellow of the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) Society. Dr. He’s research areas include PHM, Industrial AI, smart manufacturing systems modeling and analysis, quality and reliability engineering.

David He

Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago: David He received a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from The University of Iowa. Dr. He is a Professor and Director of the Industrial AI and PHM Integration Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at The University of Illinois-Chicago. Dr. He is also a Fellow of the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) Society. Dr. He’s research areas include PHM, Industrial AI, smart manufacturing systems modeling and analysis, quality and reliability engineering.

Derek De Vries

LMDS Fellow Emeritus, Nothrop Grumman Propulsion Systems: Mr. Derek R. DeVries, P.E., LMDS Fellow Emeritus for Discipline of Avionics and Controls at Northrop Grumman Propulsion Systems. Senior Member of IEEE with over 35 years’ experience in the Aerospace Industry in Operation, Integration, and Development of Space Launch Systems. PHM Society Fellow, Board of Directors, and Honored as a Luminary Speaker for the PHM 2015 Conference. B.Sc Electrical Engineering from University of Utah, and M.Sc. Electrical Engineering from Utah State University. Industrial Advisory Board Member for the University of Utah Electrical Engineering, AIAA Standards Committee NATO Scientific Achievement Award 2016 "Application of Integrated Munitions health Management", Member for AIAA “S-122-2006 Direct Current Power Systems for Earth-Orbiting Satellites”, 15 U.S./Foreign Patents, and AIAA 2001 JPC Arthur D. Rhea Best Paper Award for "Ordnance Components and Systems". Research/Development interests include advanced Avionics and Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) of integrated systems.

Wolfgang Fink

Associate Professor, University of Arizona: Professor Fink is the inaugural Edward & Maria Keonjian Endowed Chair, University of Arizona with joint appointments in the Departments of ECE, BME, SIE, AME, and Ophthalmology & Vision Science. Prof. Fink is named AIMBE Fellow, PHMS Fellow, SPIE Lifetime Fellow, ARVO Fellow, NAI Fellow, UA da Vinci Fellow, UA ACABI Fellow, and Senior Member IEEE. He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics, University of Tübingen, Germany. Among numerous awards Prof. Fink received: NASA Space Flight Awareness (SFA) Launch Honoree Award in 2002, co-recipient of the 2009 R&D Magazine’s R&D 100 and R&D 100 Editors’ Choice Award both for the DOE-funded Artificial Retina Project, co-recipient of the 2009 NASA Board Award for pioneering work on a disruptive autonomous space exploration paradigm, co-winner of the $200,000 DOE/NREL-sponsored E-ROBOT Prize in 2021, and recipient of the 2023 SPIE Meinel Technology Achievement Award.

Mark Walker

Director AI, Autonomous Systems, End to End Enterprise Solutions: Mark Walker received his BSEE from Cal Poly University, Pomona (1990), and his MSCompEng from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (1994), where he specialized in machine intelligence. He has been working in applied artificial intelligence since 1989, and has co-authored four patents in the field. His work with HUMS and PHM began with BFGoodrich Aerospace, Vergennes, VT in 1996. He also worked 6 years as Senior Consulting Engineer for expert system manufacturer Gensym Corporation and 10 years as Lead Engineer, Intelligent Systems for General Atomics, where he led GA in the development of reusable PHM systems applied to various industries. He founded D2K Technologies in 2014, a solution provider of intelligent model-based reasoning systems for mission critical systems. D2K was acquired by End to End Enterprise Solutions (E3S) in 2023, for whom he currently serves as Director, AI and Autonomous Systems. He also serves as a PHM and AO SME for NASA, with active projects at SSC, JSC, and KSC. He resides with his family in Oceanside, California.

Derek De Vries

LMDS Fellow Emeritus, Nothrop Grumman Propulsion Systems: Mr. Derek R. DeVries, P.E., LMDS Fellow Emeritus for Discipline of Avionics and Controls at Northrop Grumman Propulsion Systems. Senior Member of IEEE with over 35 years’ experience in the Aerospace Industry in Operation, Integration, and Development of Space Launch Systems. PHM Society Fellow, Board of Directors, and Honored as a Luminary Speaker for the PHM 2015 Conference. B.Sc Electrical Engineering from University of Utah, and M.Sc. Electrical Engineering from Utah State University. Industrial Advisory Board Member for the University of Utah Electrical Engineering, AIAA Standards Committee NATO Scientific Achievement Award 2016 "Application of Integrated Munitions health Management", Member for AIAA “S-122-2006 Direct Current Power Systems for Earth-Orbiting Satellites”, 15 U.S./Foreign Patents, and AIAA 2001 JPC Arthur D. Rhea Best Paper Award for "Ordnance Components and Systems". Research/Development interests include advanced Avionics and Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) of integrated systems.

Heidi Hallowell

Staff Consultant GNC Engineer, Ball Aerospace: Heidi Hallowell received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Electrical Engineering. During her 21 years at Ball, Heidi has worked in a variety of GNC roles including spacecraft design and development, simulators, on-orbit commissioning, and spacecraft operation. These programs have included both LEO and interplanetary spacecraft. She has been the CloudSat ADCS lead since 2018 and is also the lead ADCS engineer for the S-NPP and JPSS-1/NOAA-20 programs.

Rob Lange

Mission System Systems Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Rob Lange is a Mission System Systems Engineer (MSSE) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with more than 20 years experience developing and operating flagship class missions. Rob is currently the MSSE for the Sample Retrieval Lander mission. He was the Mars 2020 Mission Planning Lead, and later the MSSE and surface operations commissioning Phase Lead. Previously, Rob worked on the Mars Science Laboratory in Mission System development and operations teams as commissioning phase planning lead, surface phase system engineering, surface operations strategic planning. Prior experience includes Mars Exploration Rovers science operations and Cassini spacecraft operations science planning engineer. Rob received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and M.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California.

William Koenig

Production Operations Lead, NASA - Kennedy Space Center: William J Koenig Received a B.S. Degree in Marine Transportation from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and a M.S. Degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida. He worked in the maritime industry for 8 years before entering the aerospace industry and supporting the Space Shuttle Program in numerous managerial positions for 20 years. In 2007 William joined NASA as the ORION Program Lead for Production Operations. He is presently responsible for supporting the fabrication, transportation, assembly, integration and checkout of the Artemis ORION spacecraft and associated components at Kennedy Space Center.

Seth Kricheff

Undergraduate Student/Engineering Intern, Purdue University: Undergraduate student working towards his B.S. degree in Computer Engineering at Purdue University with a projected graduation of December 2024. Kricheff is currently a Summer 2024 engineering intern at Axiom Space, working in Avionics, Power & Software to further the development of Axiom Station. During the Fall and Spring of 2023-2024, he interned remotely for the Air Force Research Laboratory – Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RV), where he developed computer vision models to advance drone detection capabilities. He had previously worked as a research fellow for AFRL/RV during the summer of 2023, where he made his first IEEE publication by designing an explainable machine learning model for satellite anomaly detection. At Purdue, he held several lead and technical positions, most notably as a guidance, navigation, and controls developer for Purdue’s Lunabotics team (2022-2023) and as a system designer for brain-machine interfaces at Dadarlat Lab under Purdue Biomedical Engineering (2021-2022).

Dennis Ogbe

Signal Analysis Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Dennis O. Ogbe (S’13, M’20) is a member of the Reprogrammable Signal Processing group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Prior to joining JPL, he was a postdoctoral associate in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech in Arlington, VA, followed by a stint as a software-defined radio engineer at Lynk in Falls Church, VA. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Tennessee Technological University and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Purdue University. His research interests are in the fields of communication theory, signal processing, computer engineering, and their application to aerospace engineering problems.

Alexandra Holloway

Flight Software Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Alexandra Holloway leads JPL's Mars Science Laboratory flight software team in developing new capabilities and fixing bugs with embedded software on Mars. Also a member of the data management team, she assesses file system data coming from the spacecraft and writes uplink products to keep the hard drives squeaky clean. Previously, Alexandra used ethnographic techniques to understand Deep Space Network operators' the workflows and design new tools for improved efficiency in a bursty environment.

Dean Bucher

Principal Director, The Aerospace Corporation: Mr. Dean Bucher is the Principal Director of Digital Engineering Integration at The Aerospace Corporation, where he leads the digital engineering (DE) transformation of Aerospace. In this role, Mr. Bucher is responsible for providing strategic direction to all corporately funded DE initiatives and ensuring that these efforts are highly integrated to contribute to the broader strategic vision for digital engineering. He also works across numerous, emerging customer DE efforts to better identify opportunities and integrate these for the benefit of the National Security Space (NSS) and Civil Space enterprises. Mr. Bucher joined The Aerospace Corporation in 2005 as a Member of the Technical Staff. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri and an MS in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he is currently pursuing a PhD in Systems Engineering from Colorado State University.

Joshua Calkins

Systems Engineering Manager, Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense (EBAD): Systems Architecture, Product Development, and Firmware Design of electronic and electroexplosive systems for launch vehicle and missile applications. BS Electrical Engineering, University of Connecticut; MS Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas.

Eric Mahr

Senior Project Leader, The Aerospace Corporation: Senior Project Leader, Strategic Assessments, Studies & Projects Division, The Aerospace Corporation. Worked on an array of tasks spanning the space mission life cycle, with a primary focus on programmatic assessments of NASA science missions. B.S., Aerospace Engineering, U. of Arizona and M.S., Aerospace Engineering Sciences, U. of Colorado.

Alfred Nash

Lead, A-Team, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Dr. Alfred E. Nash is the Leader of the A-Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received his B. S. in Physics from Stanford University and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Gregory Falco

Assistant Professor, Cornell University : Prof. Gregory Falco has been at the forefront of critical infrastructure and space system security in both industry and academia for the past decade. His research entitled Cybersecurity Principles for Space Systems was highly influential in the recent Space Policy Directive-5, which shared the same title. He has been listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 for his inventions and contributions to critical infrastructure cyber security. Falco has been published in Science for his work on cyber risk. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Cornell University. Prof. Falco serves on the Leadership Council for the Maine Spaceport Complex, and as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Space Systems Critical Infrastructure Working Group. He is also a Cyber Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, Research Affiliate at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University. Falco completed his PhD at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, master’s degree at Columbia University and bachelor’s degree at Cornell University.

Evan Smith

Systems Engineer, Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory: Evan Smith is a lead systems engineer with NASA project experience. Evan currently serves a Deputy Mission System Engineer on the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) project. He served in the same role on the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) and has experience working several other APL civil space programs including Parker Solar Probe, Van Allen Probes and MESSENGER. As an advanced concepts lead he has been involved in mission concepts with science targets that include the Sun, Near Earth asteroids, Mars, Main Belt asteroids, Jupiter Trojan asteroids, the Saturnian system and the Uranian system. He received a B.S in Aerospace Engineering and M.E. in Spacecraft Systems Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Charles Player

Principal Director, Innovation Laboratory, The Aerospace Corporation: I have worked multiple programs on either end of the aerospace technology development spectrum: concept to first flight, operational deployment, and commercial sales. I have seen first-hand what it takes to transform a technology to a viable commercial product. I have developed an appreciation for the needs of not only a program but also the organization and infrastructure necessary to bridge the chasm from idea to profitable and marketable product. My goal for the second half of my career is to utilize my experience to contribute to teams and organizations that are developing, delivering, and commercializing new aerospace technologies. I have a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a Masters in Aerospace Engineering, and a Masters of Business Administration from Old Dominion University and The College of William & Mary, respectively. My career has spanned government (NASA Langley Research Center), multiple commercial companies, and I am currently the Principal Director of the Innovation Laboratory at the Aerospace Corporation, an FFRDC.

John Ryskowski

President, JFR Consulting: John Ryskowski is a change catalyst that has helped organizations get un-stuck since 1989. He is particularly interested in the social entanglements that preclude progress as organizations work to create their vision, identify actions, and achieve goals. John holds a MA in Education from California Lutheran College, a BA in Mathematics from California State University Northridge, is a Problem Solving Leadership graduate, a Certified Scrum Master, and a CMMI High Maturity Lead Appraiser for acquisition, services, and development. John is also a yoga practitioner, electric muscle car evangelist, and the creator of Drum-Talks- https://www.drum-talks.com/

Lorraine Fesq

Chief Technologist, Mission Systems and Operations Division, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Dr. Lorraine Fesq is the Chief Technologist for JPL’s Mission Systems and Operations Division, and the Program Area Manager for Small Bodies and Planetary Defense within JPL’s Planetary Science Directorate. As the recent Program Manager of the ASTERIA CubeSat mission, she demonstrated in-space autonomy experiments. She has over 40 years of experience in industry, government and academia, working all mission phases from formulation to mission operations. Lorraine holds two patents in autonomy, and received a NASA Public Service Medal for her work on the Chandra X-ray Observatory and a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for advancing the Fault Management discipline. Lorraine taught at MIT and worked on multiple flight missions at JPL, TRW (now Northrop Grumman), Ball Aerospace and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She received her B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Larry Matthies

Technology Coordinator, Mars Exploration Program, Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Dr. Matthies has been at JPL since 1989 and is currently Technology Coordinator in the Mars Exploration Program office. He supervised the JPL Computer Vision Group for 21 years and initiated the development of several computer vision capabilities that have had high impact on Mars missions, including stereo vision and visual odometry for rovers, position and velocity estimation during decent for landers, and visual navigation for helicopters. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a co-recipient of the 2008 IEEE Technical Field Award in robotics, and a member of the editorial boards of the journals Autonomous Robots and Field Robotics.

Nicole Fondse

Systems Director, Aerospace Corporation: Nicole Fondse earned her B. S. in Electrical Engineering and B. S. in Biomedical Engineering from CSU Long Beach in 2005. Upon graduation she joined Northrop Grumman Space Technology. She then earned her M. S. in Systems Engineering and MBA from Loyola Marymount University in 2011. In 2020, Mrs. Fondse transitioned to The Aerospace Corporation where she leads a team supporting the DoD Space Test Program whose responsibility is to provide access to space for military relevant science and technology experiments.

Stephen Creech

Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator (Technical) Moon to Mars Program ESDMD, NASA - Headquarters: Mr. Creech is the Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator (Technical) for the Moon to Mars Program within ESDMD at NASA HQ

Lindsay Hays

Senior Scientist for Mars Exploration, NASA Headquarters: Dr. Lindsay Hays is the Senior Scientist for Mars Exploration in the Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, where she is responsible for providing scientific leadership for the Mars Exploration Program and the Mars Sample Return Program.

Ben Kim

Program Executive, NASA - Headquarters: Ben Kim is a Program Executive aiming to achieve the goal of protecting and improving life on Earth by supporting the Earth Science Portfolio with several missions including INCUS and OMPS. His portfolio also includes leading the Science Mission Directorate activities regarding spectrum management, supporting the NASA networks in collaboration with NASA's Space Communication and Navigation division, and as one of the science representatives assisting in defining the future of Low Earth Orbit science past the International Space Station with the Commercial LEO Destinations Program. He believes that together we can learn about our Earth and that knowledge will drive innovation and breakthroughs for all humanity.

Tiffany Morgan

Mars Exploration Program, Director, : Tiffany M. Morgan is the Deputy Director of the Mars Exploration Program (MEP) in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. In this role she provides program leadership in exploring and characterizing Mars to understand its current environment, climate, geological history, biological potential, and to prepare for human exploration. Before joining NASA HQ as the MEP Deputy Director, Tiffany was Project Manager for the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. She spent over a decade working for Air Force Space Command (now the Space Force) with a focus on rapid space acquisitions including spacecraft missions, satellite command & control systems and Department of Defense (DoD) payloads. Prior to civil service, Tiffany worked for the Army Space and Missile Defense Command at the Reagan Test Site in the Marshall Islands managing optics and radar systems, and held positions in industry with an emphasis on process and systems engineering.

Robyn Gatens

Director, ISS, NASA - Headquarters: Ms. Robyn Gatens is the director of the International Space Station (ISS) in the Space Operations mission directorate at NASA Headquarters. As ISS director, Gatens leads strategy, policy, integration, and stakeholder engagement for the space station program at the agency level, including use of the station for research and technology demonstrations including to support NASA’s Artemis missions, and activities to secure an ongoing U.S. presence in low-Earth orbit (LEO) by enabling a successful, long-term private sector commercial LEO space economy. She also serves as NASA’s liaison to the ISS National Laboratory. Ms. Gatens is the recipient of NASA’s Outstanding Leadership and Exceptional Achievement Medals, and holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Greg Chavers

NASA retired, NASA: Dr. Chavers recently retired from NASA where he spent over 33 years leading research, engineering, systems test, project management and program management for various NASA missions. Systems testing included Chandra Xray Observatory and initial mirror testing and calibration for the James Webb Space Telescope. He led several research experiments including a high-power electric propulsion experiment to demonstrate plasma detachment in a magnetic nozzle. Her led several projects including Lunar CATALYST and the robotic lunar lander technology development project for over six years. He was the formulation managers and deputy program manager for the Human Landing System and served at NASA HQ for 3 years performing technical integration for human space flight.

Erica Rodgers

Senior Analyst, NASA - Headquarters: Dr. Erica Rodgers is a senior analyst within NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy. Rodgers leads studies of Agency and National importance to provide data- and evidence-driven technology, policy, and strategy advice to NASA leadership. Rodgers leads the Science and Technology Partnership Forum and establishes government-wide collaboration frameworks to influence portfolios across U.S. government space agencies. Rodgers previously served as an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where she performed systems analysis of Mars exploration architectures. Prior to joining NASA, Rodgers performed research of solar X-rays and their impact on Earth’s upper atmosphere and of dust grain environments surrounding forming stars and developed and launched science instrumentation. While performing research, Rodgers taught astronomy and astrophysics at several colleges and universities and worked in the aerospace industry in systems engineering and satellite operations. Rodgers received her PhD in space physics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and her BS and MS in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Robert Sievers

Consultant, RKS Consulting: Bob retired in 2021 after over 40 years in advanced power systems for both aerospace and marine applications. He remains active, organizing conferences, sitting on NASA review boards and consulting for NASA and industry. Prior to retirement, Bob was Director of the Advanced Energy & Power (AEP) Group at Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc.. He managed a diverse product line, providing unique and highly reliable energy storage and power systems for space, marine, and other harsh environments. An example of such power system solutions is the radioisotope power systems on the Mars Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. His portfolio included fuel cells, thermoelectrics, Stirling heat engines, and specialty batteries. Bob led business, product and technology development, as well as guiding program and risk management. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado and a Master’s from the University of Pittsburgh. He was also awarded the Westinghouse Lamme Fellowship and used it for radioisotope power system research at JPL. Bob has 12 patents on various energy conversion technologies and has authored over 80 publications.

Richard Mattingly

Retired, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Retired: Now retired, Richard Mattingly was a member of the Mars Program Formulation Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he was in charge of numerous architectural studies on Mars Sample Return starting in the early 2000’s, recently Chief Engineer for it's Sample Receiving Facility. He has also managed systems engineering groups for JPL's projects implemented in partnership with industry, and instrument and payload development. He has been involved in the formulation and development of many of JPL’s planetary and Earth-orbiting spacecraft and payloads since the 1970’s.