Bios

Victor Alvarez, product manager, AGI: Victor joined AGI as a product manager in 2005, and is currently responsible for overseeing the strategic evolution of STK analysis products; defining and managing major releases of STK; product positioning; and business case assessments for new product concepts. Victor has more than 12 years experience in the aerospace industry, coming to AGI after holding several positions at Northrop Grumman including business development; engineering management; and systems and mission engineering. Victor holds an M.B.A in finance and strategy from the University of California at Los Angeles and a B.S. in aerospace engineering and an M.S. in system architecture and engineering, both from the University of Southern California.

Dr. Peter Aves, director-Partners and Alliances, AGI: Peter is responsible for AGI's broad partner community, and executes AGI's strategy for penetrating new market areas. Peter is responsible for AGI's Product Partners, Service Partners, Solution Partners and Integration Partners. As part of AGI's New Markets strategy, AGI technology is being applied to in-flight entertainment, the performance race car industry, and the energy industry. Prior to joining AGI, Peter worked in business development at AmSafe Inc. in Phoenix, AZ, and at QinetiQ Inc. in Washington, D.C., and the UK. He also worked in R&D at Kvaerner Technology in the UK. He holds a B.S. in engineering from the University of Wales and a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of London. He is a Chartered Physicist by London's Institute of Physics, and a Charter Engineer.

Dr. Matthew Berry, senior astrodynamics engineer, AGI: Matt is the lead software developer for AGI’s orbit maneuver and space mission planning tool, STK/Astrogator. Matt also helps maintain the astrodynamics code used throughout AGI products. Prior to joining AGI in 2004, Matt worked at the Naval Research Laboratory as a graduate co-op student. He holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in aerospace engineering, all from Virginia Tech.

Whitney Bobbitt, program manager, ProLogic, Inc: Whitney works within the Integrated Geospatial Solutions group at ProLogic, where he has been employed for ten years. Whitney has more than 18 years experience in the areas of geospatial visualization and analysis for diverse users and applications, as well as software and database development and the development of customized solutions. Whitney has led several research and development projects in the areas of geospatial visualization, GIS, and modeling and simulation of complex environments. His past projects have supported diverse commercial, federal, state, and local government and nonprofit organizations including US Air Force, US Navy, US Army, NASA, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He manages STK-based application development at ProLogic and worked on-site at AGI headquarters in Exton, PA, to manage the T3DCOP program for GCCS-M. Whitney received a bachelor’s degree in chemical oceanography at Florida Institute of Technology.

Timothy Carrico, business development engineering, AGI: Tim provides subject expertise in the areas of software engineering, fuzzy logic, naval surface warfare, UAVs, missile defense, and data integration and enterprise architectures. He also conceives, designs, and develops advanced prototypes of AGI technology. Prior to joining AGI, Tim worked with numerous defense organizations including NATO, Naval War College, Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, Naval Space and Warfare Command, Defense Information Systems Agency, and the Naval Warfare Development Command. Tim graduated from the University of Michigan in 1985 and served on active duty as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer from 1985-1992, including a forward deployed tour on the Joint Staff and on the Navy Staff.

Scott Collins, senior vice president of Product Development, Anark:Scott is an Anark co-founder and has 18 years of software design, development, and management experience, particularly in advanced numerical methods, distributed real-time computing, and 3D CAD and PLM related technologies. Scott directs the company's product development efforts, is one of the principal architects of both the Anark Media Platform and Anark Core Platform, and he is responsible for successfully securing multiple technology patents for Anark. He works closely with Anark’s major manufacturing customers to support enterprise solution engagements and to inform the company’s product roadmap to ensure effective and practical solutions to their 3D product data management and visualization needs.

Prior to founding Anark, Scott served as an engineer for VIZ Manufacturing, historically one of the world's leading manufacturers of radiosondes. He served as a project lead and technical facilitator for multi-year, multi-million dollar manufacturing contracts with the National Weather Service and worked at length with the U.S. government as well as projects for the governments of United Kingdom, Brazil, and Turkey. Scott earned his B.S. in computer science from University of North Carolina Charlotte with significant research in discrete mathematics and language theory, where he simultaneously served as a software engineer and lecturer on such topics as microcomputers and operating systems.

Dr. Vince Coppola, senior astrodynamics specialist, AGI: Vince is responsible for the quality assurance of all astrodynamics and technical code in the STK product line. He was development lead for the STK/Conjunction Analysis Tools, the High Precision Orbit Propagator, and the custom plug-in script capability. Prior to AGI, Vince served as an assistant professor in the University of Michigan's Department of Aerospace Engineering. He received his B.S. in engineering science and mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mathematics from Cornell University. He is an ASEE postdoctoral fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory.

Giuseppe Corrao, Telespazio: Giuseppe started his career at RAI, an Italian public television company. In 2000, he earned a degree in aerospace engineering from “La Sapienza” University in Rome, and joined Telespazio in 2001. At Telespazio, he has been involved with LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) of a geostationary satellite; requirement definition and implementation of airborne conflict detection and resolution algorithms in the framework of “Mediterranean Free Flight” programme; and analysis of EGNOS (the European wide area augmentation system) performance through real demonstrations in Europe. He is currently the head of LSS (Telespazio’s simulation lab) and is in charge of coordinating the different activities that characterize the lab. In March 2008, Giuseppe became STK certified. Since February 2008, he has been involved in a wide range of activities to link all Finmeccanica simulation labs through real-time simulations.

Richard DeYoung, AGI technical trainer: Richard is a technical trainer based in AGI’s Colorado Springs, CO, office. In this role, he teaches AGI’s one-day STK Fundamentals and weeklong STK Comprehensive training classes to novice and advanced AGI software users. Prior to joining AGI, Richard worked at Harris Corporation as a network configuration manager and as a Compass Call aircrew instructor at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for Boeing Aerospace Operations and C2 Technologies, Inc. He spent 22 years in the United States Air Force as a paramedic and as an airborne cryptologic Russian linguist. He has more than 2,000 hours on Rivet Joint, 1000 hours on AWACS, and more than 500 hours on Compass Call. He holds degrees in Russian (Defense Language Institute), communications applications technology (Community College of the Air Force), and information technology (University of Phoenix).

Ted Driver, senior navigation engineer, AGI: Ted has led the engineering of Navigation Tool Kit and the engineering and development of the Navigation Accuracy Library. Prior to working for AGI, he was the lead analyst in the GPS operations center and worked on developing the navigation models for the GPS high-fidelity simulator currently used in operations. His research has focused on ways to improve GPS accuracy and disseminate accuracy information in novel ways. Ted holds a B.S. in physics from the University of California and a M.S. in physics from the University of Colorado.

Sylvain Dupont, lead software architect, AGI: Sylvain is the lead software architect at AGI. In this role, he provides guidance to the Development team regarding architecture issues; investigates and monitors new technologies; helps with the migration to new technologies; and tutors junior developers and interns. He joined the company in 1998. Sylvain holds an M.S. in computer science from Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Toulouse in France. He is the recipient of a 2005 AIAA Greater Philadelphia Section Space Systems Award.

Anthony Faulds, president, Trinnovations: Anthony is responsible for overseeing government R&D contracts relating to computer, math, and aerospace applications. He has nine years experience conducting research in math and aerospace, as well as using computers for research and development. Faulds has (co)written and/or presented more than eight papers in this area and has developed at least four major computer applications that are sold or used by major corporations, in addition to tools and applications developed for sale or use by Trinnovations. Alone, Faulds is experienced in more than 45 computer applications, 24 computer languages, and eight computer databases. He has presented his research and tools/applications at numerous national conferences and external organization meetings.

Matt Feldmeier, engineer/analyst, Dynetics, Inc.: Matt is an engineer/analyst at Dynetics, Inc., where he as worked for the past four years. He currently supports Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company as a ballistic missile systems analyst, and in that role has been using STK for approximately one year. Matt received his B.S. in aerospace engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla) and is a currently attending the University of Alabama-Huntsville pursing a master’s degree in engineering management.

Dr. David Finkleman, senior scientist, CSSI: Dave, a leading authority on military space systems and strategic defense resources, serves as the senior scientist at the Center for Space Standards & Innovation (CSSI). In this capacity, he evaluates and designs orbit estimation and space system simulation techniques while expanding the use of standards in space research. Before coming to CSSI, Finkleman was a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) and served as director of analysis and chief technical officer for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, CO. He led U.S. and Canadian personnel responsible for all analytical and technical matters regarding U.S. military satellite systems; space surveillance; ballistic missile warning and defense; and all North American aerospace sovereignty and control capabilities. Finkleman is also currently affiliated with the Institute for Defense Analyses and SkySentry, LLC.

Ron Fish, communications systems engineer, Accenture: Ron currently focuses on modeling & simulation of SATCOM systems for the U.S. Navy. He is working on SPAWAR's Systems Engineering team for the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), specializing on the MUOS Performance Model (MPM). Past work has included software and algorithm development, software integration, and system performance analysis. He holds an MS in wireless communications.

Dr. William A. Fisher, president and founder Optwise Corporation: Bill is the chief architect and developer of the scheduling algorithms in STK/Scheduler. He has a Doctor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and more than twenty years of experience in the aerospace industry. He has worked at the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory as a researcher in neural network and hybrid analog/digital computational circuits. He co-founded Anava Corporation where he conducted government-sponsored research on advanced scheduling methods. Bill then founded Optwise Corporation to develop the scheduling algorithms into a commercial product.

Dr. Kevin Flood, vice president product management and support, AGI: Kevin is AGI's director of Product Management. In this role, he is responsible for internally communicating the capabilities of AGI software technologies. Kevin is responsible for helping to identify new and emerging requirements and facilitating the solution development. Kevin joined AGI in 2002 as a product manager on the Business Development team. Prior to joining AGI, he was vice president of engineering and program management at ORBIT/FR. In that capacity, he oversaw the development and production of test-and-measurement systems for RF and microwave antennas. Throughout his career, Kevin has also been involved with R&D for advanced satcom terminals and systems engineering for military satellite communication systems. Kevin earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He also has M.S. and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Villanova University and Lafayette College, respectively.

Ryan Frederic, president, Applied Defense Solutions: Ryan is the president and co-founder of Applied Defense Solutions, Inc. He is accomplished in the integration and implementation of COTS software solutions and services for the aerospace, defense, and intelligence communities. Before co-founding ADS in 2004, Ryan worked for several years at AGI in product management, business development, and sales, and provided engineering support to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Since founding ADS, he has been involved with providing custom integrated solutions for government agencies and contractors in each of ADS’ practice areas: Network Modeling & Simulation, Command & Control, and Space Systems. Ryan earned his B.S. in aerospace engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He received the Innovation/Entrepreneurship Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in May 2007.

Bob Hall, STK product manager, AGI: Bob is a product manager for the STK software suite at AGI. Bob joined AGI in 1997 as the director of technical services. In 1998, he became the director of video production services, providing technical support and direction to AGI’s video team. In 1999, when AGI formed a satellite anomaly response team, he took on those leadership duties. Bob then headed up AGI's engineering services efforts as director of engineering and flight services. In 2001, as director of flight services, Bob led AGI's efforts on the Mir deorbit, working from the TsUP in Korolev. He was promoted to product manager of STK in 2002. In February, during the aftermath of the STS-107 accident, Bob traveled to Atlanta, GA, where he used STK to aid CNN in its news coverage, and served twice as an on-air analyst. Prior to joining AGI, Bob spent 11 years as a system engineer working for Lockheed Martin and General Electric on the DSCS III satellite program. Bob holds a B.S. in physics from New York University.

Kurt Heckman, president/co-founder, Sycamore.US: Kurt's technical background includes systems engineering and algorithm development for remote sensing satellites. He is an expert in developing technical concepts of operations and requirements specifications. Kurt founded Sycamore in 1996 with longtime friend Jim Lockwood. Kurt and Jim have taken the company from its original seven engineers to one with more than 130 employees and three offices in the Mid-Atlantic. Sycamore became one of the nation's first HUB Zone companies in 2001 and received several of the first HUB Zone contract awards in the U.S. intelligence community. Sycamore currently performs high level engineering services in this community, and develops real-time command and control systems for satellites that serve NASA, NOAA, DARPA, and commercial entities. Sycamore also develops mission-critical business-to-business applications for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.

Richard S. Hujsak, AGI space surveillance senior engineer: Dick is charged with providing innovative algorithms for AGI in space surveillance. Prior to joining AGI in 2003, Dick s erved in the U.S. Air Force and worked for General Electric M & DS (now Lockheed Martin); Applied Technology Associates, Inc.; Logicon; and Northrop Grumman. He has 37 years of experience in orbit determination and missile tracking algorithms and associated processing. His experience covers design, development, and operational deployment of various algorithms. These algorithms include various multi-sensor multi-target track correlation and assignment algorithms, various tracking platforms including space, air and ground, and various sensor systems including passive and active devices. Dick holds a B.S. and an M.S. in mathematics from the University of New Hampshire.

Mark Johnson, systems engineer, Lockheed Martin Space Systems: Mark has more than 10 years of experience in orbital mechanics; atmospheric flight dynamics; simulation and modeling; GN&C algorithm development; and spacecraft operations. He has been centrally involved in the flight dynamics analysis for entry, decent, and landing (EDL), aerocapture, and aerobraking missions, including Mars Polar Lander, Mars 2001/Phoenix Lander, Mars Odyssey, Genesis, Stardust, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Spacecraft operations experience includes Mars Odyssey aerobraking (GN&C), Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (Aerobraking Mission Phase Lead), and Phoenix Lander (EDL support). Mark has used STK for visualizing external trajectory data, visualizing reconstructed telemetry, mission planning, and developing test scenarios for spacecraft maneuver development. Mark has a B.S. in engineering mechanics and astronautics from the University of Wisconsin, and a M.S. in mechanical engineering from The George Washington University/Joint.Institute for the Advancement of Flight Sciences.

Dr. T.S. Kelso, senior research astrodynamicist, CSSI: T.S. is a noted authority on satellite orbits. He is currently a senior research astrodynamicist for the Center for Space Standards & Innovation (CSSI), AGI's research organization that promotes public awareness of space information. He is also the webmaster of CelesTrak, a web site dedicated to tracking space objects (including debris) and monitoring them for in-orbit collisions.

A retired Air Force colonel with 31 years of active duty, T.S. served as the first director of the Air Force Space Command Space Analysis Center (ASAC) at Peterson AFB in Colorado; led all Department of Defense analysis centers supporting the Columbia accident investigation; served as part of NASA's Near-Earth Object Science Definition Team; and consulted with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to provide orbital models for the Hubble Space Telescope. During his career, he has held numerous teaching positions in the field of astrodynamics and has earned vast experience in research, analysis, acquisition, development, operations, and consulting. He is also an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Vineet Kochhar, senior aerospace engineer, AGI: Vineet works on AGI’s Product Support team. Aside from fielding customer questions about AGI technology, Vineet is the primary contact for questions about the STK modules STK/Comm and STK/Radar. He has also worked on development of STK training materials. Vineet has been in the field of communications & networking development for the last 15 years. Before joining AGI, Vineet worked as a communications engineer for Lockheed Martin in the Global Telecommunications division, and at Martin Marietta & General Electric in the Strategic Systems division. He has worked with Communications Network Analysis and Bit Level Simulations, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools, and has developed a communications network simulator. Vineet holds a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from Drexel University and an M.S. in electrical engineering- communications systems from University of Southern California (USC).

Adam Krause, senior systems engineer, ITT Space Systems Division: Adam is the chief engineer for ITT's Airborne MASINT Mission Planner family of capabilities. A former Naval Flight Officer, Adam graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1997 to fly the Navy's S-3 Viking. Following an operational tour, he served the Joint Chiefs of Staff, working for the Defense Intelligence Agency in airborne reconnaissance programs. Adam left the Navy to work for ITT in 2005 after completing his M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Balaji Shankar Kumar, visiting research scientist, Canadian Space Agency: Balaji has been working for the Canadian Space Agency as a visiting research scientist since May 2006. He is the mission design lead for the JC2sat (Japan Canada Joint Collaboration Satellite) spacecraft, which is currently under development. He holds a PhD in astrodynamics from the Astronautics Research Group, University of Southampton, and a Master's Degree in astronautics from Moscow State Aviation Institute. He is the author of several research publications on spacecraft formation flight. Balaji has previously worked for the Russian Space Agency as a student trainee and for the Indian Space Research Organization as a spacecraft systems engineer.

Travis Langster, business development director – intelligence community, AGI: In this role, Travis helps users within the Department of Defense and intelligence community implement applications of AGI's software technology and provides strategic solutions for critical intelligence systems and operations. He previously served as technical director of intelligence programs and senior systems engineer at AGI. Travis has experience as a contractor supporting various elements of the DoD and intelligence communities including the Air Force Operations Group (AFOG), the National Military Command Center (NMCC), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Army Intelligence Security Command (INSCOM). Travis is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Security Affairs Support Association (SASA), the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), and serves on the Strategic Advisory Board for the United States Geospatial-Intelligence Foundation (USGIF). Travis earned a B.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University.

Evan Lortie, systems engineer, AGI: In this role, Evan supports Lockheed Martin and NASIC customers through on-site visits to provide demonstrations, training, and technical product application support. Evan joined AGI as an application support engineer in May 2006, previously serving as an application support intern in summer 2005. He holds a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic and State University.

Tom Lovern, senior analyst, SAIC: Tom has more than 20 years of experience in communications system analysis and systems engineering. He is currently providing GPS navigation analysis in support of the Missile Defense Agency, Systems Test and Evaluation Performance Assessment Lab (STEPAL) and Range Safety. He has been active in the analysis of countermeasure design and RF Xpatch signature data in support of the BMDS. He has supported the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Nuclear C3 Directorate in the analysis of the effects of nuclear weapons on defense communication systems and has managed software programs developing information display systems for DTRA and USSTRATCOM. He has also worked in RF engineering; antenna analysis and design; computational electromagnetics; and semiconductor technology. He received a Ph.D in physics from the University of Virginia in 1979.

Rich Lucas, project manager, SAIC: Richard Lucas, project manager, SAIC: Rich is the project manager for SAIC’s STK/Missile Modeling Tools software development, located in Huntsville, Alabama. His team is responsible for the development and maintenance of Missile Flight Tool, Missile Design Tool, Interceptor Flight Tool, and other software.

Prior to his current position, he managed SAIC teams in Crystal City, Virginia, that maintained Tomahawk cruise missile simulations for Navy PMA-281, the C2 segment of Tomahawk. Prior to joining SAIC, Rich served with The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, CA, where he worked on a wide variety of military space programs, including satellite, launch vehicle, and ground segments. Rich has a Bachelor of Science in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT and a Master of Science degree from UCLA in aerospace engineering specializing in control systems and dynamics.

Jonathan Lowe, applications engineer, AGI: Jonathan is a member of the product support and national sales engineer teams. Since 2006, he has spent most of his time as AGI’s onsite engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center supporting the use of STK and ODTK for Earth-orbiting, lunar, and interplanetary mission design and operations. Before joining AGI in 2005, Jonathan co-oped at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center for 4 years. He graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2005 with a B.S. in aerospace engineering.

Roger Martinez, senior systems engineer, AGI: Roger works in AGI’s Services department. In this role, he provides custom technical support and training for innovative projects harnessing the benefits of AGI technology. Roger began his AGI career as a systems engineer for the West Coast sales teams out of the Northern California office in 1995. In that capacity he worked with programs such as SBIRS, MUOS, THAAD, and Iridium. Roger earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering from San Jose State University, and served as the AIAA San Francisco Section Programs Chair and Secretary.

Sarah Meehan, technical lead, Appistry: Sarah is the technical lead for federal programs at Appistry. In this role, Sarah advises and supports customers in the use of Appistry's EAF to create cloud-like computing environments for achieving massive scalability and fault tolerance in applications. She has been in the IT industry for more than 15 years and has more than 10 years experience developing and deploying geospatial visualization and analysis applications for defense and intelligence. Sarah has a B.A. in math and physics from Ripon College.

Matt Moffatt, application support engineer, AGI: Matt works in AGI’s Services group. His responsibilities include creating and maintaining custom applications, managing services projects, and managing the customer relationships associated with those projects. Matt holds an M.S. in aerospace engineering as well as a Masters Minor in high-performance computing from The Pennsylvania State University. While in graduate school, he worked as a fellow in the Consortium for Education in Many-Body Applications where he researched the potential for use of a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method to solve low speed flow problems.

John Myers, senior software engineer, Goodrich ISR Systems: John is the lead software engineer for the Reconnaissance Mission Planning System on the DB-110 Program. In this role, he is responsible for overall product development and integration with airborne and external planning systems. John previously worked for the Air Force Research Laboratory and was awarded a patent. He has a B.S. in software engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a Certified Software Development Associate.

Joe Mountain, principal engineer, Gnostech: Joe has been providing engineering support to the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) concept for the US Navy for more than 25 years, where his expertise has focused on GPS R&D and support for IT21, ISNS, PFPS, GCCS-M, TAMPS, and JMPS. He is a widely regarded principal engineer and subject matter expert for the Naval Mission Planning System (NavMPS) community, serving an important role in Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) development. Joe serves as a consultant to both the the Naval Air (NAVAIR) System Command Mission Planning Program Office and Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Joint Programs Office (JPO) in areas of collaborative mission planning, C4I interfaces, shipboard network infrastructures, and network security mechanisms. Joe is part of the system engineering team that is responsible for integrating NavMPS on afloat and ashore platforms as well as forward-deployed locations. Joe is currently focusing his research in the areas of network security, cross-domain solutions, and mission-planning interoperability.

Shashank Narayan, director of software technology integration, AGI: Shashank is the overall project lead for all new product development, architecture, and technology initiatives. Prior to joining AGI, Shashank was a senior software engineer at Honeywell IAC in Fort Washington, PA. During his tenure at Honeywell, Shashank received a patent for "Call mechanism for static and dynamic linked functions within an object oriented controller using heterogeneous tool sets." This patent was the basis for dynamically loading objects in a real-time controller. Shashank has taught XML & Java courses as part of the continuing education curriculum at Penn State, Great Valley, PA, and for local software development companies. Shashank earned a B.S. in computer science and engineering from The Bangalore University, India and an M.S. in computer science and engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Daniel Newman, program manager, Tactical Technologies Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): Dan currently has a portfolio of programs encompassing a wide range of manned and unmanned aircraft systems, survivability equipment, and aircraft development and operational modeling capabilities. Prior to joining DARPA, he was a technical fellow of The Boeing Company in V/STOL Aircraft Configuration Development. While at Boeing, Dan served as the program manager for Boeing Joint Heavy Lift efforts on the RAH-66 Comanche Program, as Full Scale RCS Model IPT lead and Configuration Closure team lead, as design lead for numerous developmental programs, as manager of Preliminary Design, as the focal for NASA Ames Research Center efforts, and in numerous other design and leadership roles. Dan received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell University, and an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center at the University of Maryland. Since 1998, he has served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Alfred Ng, Control manager, Space Technologies Branch, Canadian Space Agency: Alfred joined the Canadian Space Agency as a research scientist in Orbital and Attitude Dynamics. In 2000, he was promoted to manager, Control, within the Space Technologies Branch. In 2007, he was invited to join the Astrodynamics Committee in IAF. He is also a member of the organizing committee of the International Symposium of Spacecraft Formation Flying Missions and Technologies. In 2006, he proposed the project JC2Sat to both CSA and JAXA. It was subsequently accepted by both agencies. Alfred graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1992 with a Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering.

Thom Oaks, technical marketing specialist, ESRI: Thom joined ESRI in 2004 as a technical marketing specialist. He has worked in the GIS field for more than 10 years, including the first two years of the Department of Homeland Security’s existence as a contractor overseeing projects for the Office of Border Patrol. Thom served four years in the US Marine Corps as a Signals Intelligence Analyst, and then went on to attend Ohio University, receiving a B.S. in geography and a B.A. in psychology. He holds an M.A. in geography with emphasis on GIS from Towson University in Baltimore.

Daniel Oltrogge, senior analyst and CEO, 1Earth Research, LLC: Dan received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University and University of Southern California, respectively. Since 1985, Dan has supported a wide range of customers in the areas of early orbit launch support; mission planning; constellation design and astrodynamics software development and application; requirements analysis; and program acquisition. Dan co-founded 1Earth Research in 2003, and has provided extensive support in the technical development and operations of nanosatellites; development of space operations standards in the International Standards Organization and the Orbital Debris Coordination Working Group; astrodynamics studies; on-orbit operations; and situational awareness.

John "JP" Ploschnitznig, research staff, Riverside Research Institute: JP is a principal member of the research staff at Riverside Research Institute (RRI), Washington Research Office. He has served as the chief technical lead for the Ballistic Missile Technical Collection (BMTC) Analysis of Alternatives (AoA), and is currently working a special project where RRI is providing operational support to the intelligence community. Prior to this position, he supported the British Government on a research project on the island of Cyprus. JP entered the Air Force in 1986, and after a yearlong assignment in Greenland, he returned to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) where he supported the Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) community by exploiting wideband radar data used to image foreign satellites. He was also responsible for the measurement and exploitation of several foreign weapon systems at United States measurement ranges. In 1992, JP became the Low Observables Engineer for the F-117A Development System Program Office. He was responsible for the Radar Cross Section specification development and subsequent testing of F-117A proposed upgrades. In 1995, he separated from the Air Force and returned to NASIC as a contractor. After spending a year and a half at NASIC supporting the Radar Line of Sight branch, he moved to Washington, D.C., to support DIA/DT, formerly the Central MASINT Organization. Since 1995, JP has used STK to support his duties. The software’s visualization capability and technical accuracy provided the foundation for many technical briefings, supported operations through sensor emulation, was the impetus to a sensor accuracy improvement program, and was the official BMTC AoA Coverage Model. JP has a B.S. and an M.S. in electrical engineering.

Joshua Poley, sales and product support manager, AGI: In this capacity, Josh oversees all aspects of the daily activities and objectives of AGI’s systems engineers and Product Support team, including customer technical support, training, and demonstrations. Josh began his AGI career as an application support engineer in AGI’s Product Support department. He then spent three years as a systems engineer in Colorado Springs before moving back to AGI’s Exton, PA, headquarters to join the Product Management team. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Software Service team project lead. Josh holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from The Pennsylvania State University.

William Pomerantz, director, Space Projects, X PRIZE Foundation: In addition to his work on the X PRIZE Foundation's space prizes, Will also serves as a coach for the Zero Gravity Corporation, joining passengers in weightlessness on parabolic flights. He is a graduate of the NASA Academy at Goddard Space Flight Center and has formerly worked at Harvard University, Brown University, and the Futron Corporation, an aerospace consultancy based in Bethesda, Maryland. He is a co-founder of SpaceAlumni.com, an online news and networking tool for young space professionals around the world, and served as chief editor for two years. He is currently vice president of the ISU-USA Alumni Association. From 2006 through early 2007, Will proudly served on a National Research Council Federal Advisory Committee producing a report on "Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration." He holds a BA in Earth and planetary sciences from Harvard University, and a Masters of Science in space studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France.

Dr. Richard Quinn, staff scientist, AER: Richard is a staff scientist, team leader, and manager for the Space Plasma and Interactions Group within the Space Weather and Effects Division at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), Inc. Since joining AER in 2004, he has actively developed, validated, and delivered operational scientific software in support of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) geospace research, while working closely with the customer to identify critical requirements and extend knowledge of the geospace plasma environment while bringing other company personnel into projects under his guidance to better meet customer needs. Richard leads AER efforts in four major projects: Radiation Belt Remediation; AF-GeoSpace software development; DMSP ground software maintenance, under contract to AFRL; and development of the AER Space Environment and Effects Toolkit (SEET) for STK, using code from AF-GeoSpace obtained under a CRADA with AFRL. Prior to joining AER, Richard spent three years as a post-doc and project leader at the Max Planck Institute in Garching, Germany, after earning his MS and PhD in physics from The University of Iowa and a BS in physics from the University of Kansas. 

Dr. Haroon Rashid, senior development engineer, AGI: Haroon develops and supports the STK/Comm module, while working with organizations to ensure that STK software satisfies requirements for interference analysis and resolving issues related to frequency spectrum sharing at international levels. Prior to AGI, Haroon worked for the Saudi Arabian Department of Defense in the Middle East. He was a senior adviser on a project jointly carried out by the U.S. Air Force and the Saudi Arabian Air Force. His key responsibility was in defense communications high-speed network planning. From 1987 until 1996, Haroon served as a supervisor for communication planning and engineering and as senior project manager at Saudi Aramco. Haroon also worked for the University of Arkansas, where he taught electrical engineering and conducted research on an artificial intelligence project for the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Haroon holds his B.S. in electronic and communications engineering from the University of Engineering in Lahore, Pakistan, and he received his Ph.D. in communications engineering from the University of Arkansas.

Scott Reed, systems engineer, AGI: In this role, Scott demonstrates the full capabilities of AGI software to potential users, and assists existing customers with implementing and integrating solutions based on AGI technologies. Scott holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, where he earned an Air Force Commendation Medal and an Air Force Achievement Medal.

Kevin Ring, senior software engineer, AGI: In this role, Kevin supports the development of the company's software technologies, with specific focus on the architecture and implementation of AGI Components. Kevin joined AGI in 1997 as an intern, and has also served as a software developer. He holds a B.S. in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Dr. Alexey Rudenko, network consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton: Alexey graduated from University of California, Los Angeles, with a Masters and Ph.D. in computer science in 1998 and 2002 respectively. He worked as a research assistant at the University of California in 1995 and 2002. He published a number of papers in journals and conference proceedings on mobile computers battery power saving techniques, Active Networks, QoS, video streams adaptation techniques, and artificial intelligence planning. After his graduation from UCLA, he worked in the communication industry on various DoD projects. Since 2006, he has worked for Booz Allen Hamilton as a network consultant. His current focus is network management, network protocol evaluation, and M&S techniques. His professional interests include mobile network protocols, distributed communication systems, ad hoc networking, and MONET applications.

Todd Smith, business development, new markets, AGI: Todd is the technical product manager for enterprise integration at AGI and is responsible for directing the industry interoperability of AGI's product line. He has a Bachelor of Science in geography/GIS from Penn State University and has 10 years of GIS experience.

Grant Soremekun, application engineer, Phoenix Integration: Grant focuses on the areas of software integration and design optimization. He has experience in applying multi-disciplinary optimization techniques to solve engineering design problems in the aerospace/Defense, power electronics, and building design industries. Prior to Phoenix Integration, Grant co-founded ADOTECH, Inc., where he helped to design customized genetic algorithm-based optimization software for Sikorsky, Schneider-Toshiba, and other engineering applications. He also participated in research projects resulting in multi-level design optimization software tools that were used by engineers at General Dynamics Amphibious Systems. He holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering and an M.S. in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech.

Frank Stoner, aerospace software engineer, AGI: Frank has a lead role in the design and development of AGI Components and the AGI data model. Prior to joining AGI in 1996, Frank served as a mission analyst and launch team member for geostationary spacecraft at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space. From 1986 to 1991, he worked for General Dynamics Space Systems as a principal investigator and mission analyst specializing in advanced vehicle design assessment. From 1991 until 1993, Frank pursued graduate work at Princeton University in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Frank received his B.S. in aerospace engineering in 1986 from The Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Patrick Seitzer, associate research scientist, University of Michigan: Patrick works in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Michigan. He has held staff astronomer positions at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. Currently, he is the principal investigator for MODEST (Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope), a NASA-funded project to use the University of Michigan's Curtis-Schmidt telescope in Chile for optical studies of orbital debris.

Pete Swan, technical sales manager, MÄK Technologies: Pete has more than 25 years experience in the modeling and simulation industry in various technical and managerial roles and is currently a manager of Product Sales at MÄK Technologies. Prior to joining MÄK, Pete was manager of Business Development at CAE, where he was responsible for technical sales of CAE’s modeling and simulation, networking, and synthetic environment software products. Pete’s modeling and simulation experience includes serving as product manager for STAGE at Virtual Prototypes, working as director Simulation Systems for ATS Aerospace, a Montreal company specializing in Air Traffic Control simulators, and as a simulation software programmer/analyst and program manager for the EDS Military Group in the UK. Pete has held several positions in modeling and simulation related organizations including secretary of the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) Board of Directors. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the National Training Systems Association (NTSA).

Dr. Sergei Tanygin, senior astrodynamics specialist, AGI: Sergei played major roles in the development of STK/Astrogator and Navigation Tool Kit; served as the technical lead for the Vector Geometry Tool and the STK/Attitude module including Attitude Coverage; and is one of the leading developers for STK plugins, terrain, 3-D visualizations, and core mathematical methods for integration, interpolation, and optimization. Prior to joining AGI in 1998, Sergei worked as a research assistant in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Cincinnati. He was invited by the Special Projects Office at NASA Johnson Space Center to support the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) project and worked on the NASA-funded AERcam Sprint Inspection Vehicle project. Sergei is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the American Astronautical Society (AAS), and is a reviewer for the Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics; the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets; and the Journal of the Astronautical Sciences. He has one patent and has presented more than 20 technical papers. Sergei received his B.S. with honors in aerospace control systems from The Institute of Aerospace Technology in Ukraine in 1993. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in dynamics and control from the University of Cincinnati.

Tom Urie, product manager, AGI: In this role, Tom manages AGI’s developer products—STK Engine and AGI Components—as well as AGI’s aircraft solutions. Before joining the Product Management team, Tom served as a technical marketing engineer and sales engineer at AGI. Prior to AGI, Tom worked at Boeing in the areas of preliminary design and performance analysis of aircraft. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in aerospace engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, and an MBA from the University of Baltimore.

David Vallado, senior research astrodynamicist, CSSI: David is a senior research astrodynamicist with the Center for Space Standards & Innovation (CSSI). Previously, he was a principal engineer with Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems in Denver, CO, where he worked to integrate new technologies into ground software control systems. He is also the author of the advanced astrodynamics textbook, Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications (3rd ed. 2007). Vallado has been recognized as the Microcosm author of the year (2007), as an AAS Fellow (2006), in Who’s Who (since 2001), and among the 1998 Outstanding Young Men of America.

Simon Warwick, CJMTK program manager, ESRI: Simon started working for ESRI in 2001 as its national account manager for US Air Force C4ISR programs, and is now the ESRI program manager for the Commercial Joint Mapping Toolkit (CJMTK). Originally from South Wales, he became a U.S. citizen in 2005. He was educated at the University of Birmingham and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and served for 10 years with the Intelligence Corps of the British Army, rising to the rank of Major. Following specialist intelligence training, Simon served as an imagery analyst at the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Center (JARIC), attended the Defense Language School, qualifying as a Russian interpreter, and then specialized as a signals intelligence analyst at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). In the former Yugoslavia, he commanded the Deployed Secure Handling, Evaluation and Dissemination Detachment at HQ SFOR and then the UK National Intelligence Cell that supported the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps during the Kosovo conflict. In addition, Simon served in various intelligence posts in the UK, Northern Ireland, Germany, and Cyprus. During his final posting, he commanded an Imagery Intelligence Squadron back at JARIC.

Patrick Williams, research assistant, Penn State University: Patrick is a graduate student currently studying for a M.S. in aerospace engineering. Prior to returning to school, where he is also a research assistant, Pat was a design engineer for Boeing, and then an engineer on AGI’s test team. Pat is a member of AIAA, and is presenting his paper "Preliminary Findings Concerning Applications of Non-Linear Constrained Optimization Methods on Low-Thrust Orbit Transfers" at AIAA's AMOS conference this year. Pat also holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech.

Steve Williams, business area manager, Signal Monitoring. RT Logic: Steve is responsible for R&D and business development of RT Logic’s Channel Simulation, Signal Emulation, and Spectrum/Interference Analysis instruments, as well as government and commercial programs that utilize them. He joined RT Logic in December 2007 with 27 years of R&D and business experience in digital and RF Test & Measurement instrumentation with Hewlett-Packard, Agilent Technologies, Decision-Science Applications, and precisionWave Corporation. While at Hewlett-Packard, and more recently at RT Logic, Steve has taught in the EE department at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs campus. Steve has a BSEE degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, holds an Extra Class amateur radio license (KØSRW), and is an assistant section manager for the Colorado section of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). He lives with his wife and two daughters in Colorado Springs;, enjoys running and backpacking; and is the assistant conductor of the 120-member sanctuary choir at his church.

Mark Woodard, aerospace engineer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Mark has more than 20 years of experience in spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control systems. Mark has worked on more than a dozen NASA missions, providing flight dynamics analysis and operations support. His experience includes spin-stabilized and three-axis stabilized attitude determination and control systems, design of libration point orbits, and GPS navigation systems. Mark graduated from the University of Virginia in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering. He lives in Annapolis, MD, with his two teenagers and is an avid collector of antique corkscrews.

Dr. James Woodburn, technical director/chief orbital scientist, AGI: Jim is responsible for providing technical leadership for evolving AGI's software products and technology. Jim started out as a consultant for AGI and joined as a full-time employee in 1994. His areas of expertise include orbit determination, orbit trajectory generation, and visibility computations. Jim is responsible for two patent inventions awarded to AGI. He was also instrumental in the development of the Educational Alliance program at AGI that provides universities with free STK software and training to assist in course development. Prior to joining AGI, Jim spent eight years at Lockheed Martin developing software and working in spacecraft operations. Jim holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. He completed his postgraduate work at The University of Texas at Austin in 1994, earning his M.S. and Ph.D. in celestial mechanics.

James Wright, spacecraft orbit determination specialist and ODTK architect, AGI: Jim joined AGI in November 1998 and spent his first two years at AGI writing a technical specification and C++ code for an optimal orbit determination prototype program now known as ODTK. He brought with him thirty-four years of experience in applied theory and development of spacecraft orbit and attitude dynamics, estimation and control, including the development of two operational orbit determination programs, and one attitude determination program. He also brought with him his version of Herrick's Variation of Parameters in Universal Variables for orbit integration, implemented in C, which is used today in AGI's STK and Orbit Determination Tool Kit (ODTK). Jim is named on two U.S. patent inventions awarded to AGI. He studied astrodynamics under Samuel Herrick at UCLA, where he received an M.S. in engineering.

Lt. Col. Brian Zacherl, operations analyst, Marine Corps Combat Development Command: Brian is an operations analyst for the Operations Analysis Division of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico Virginia. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1985 and served to the rank of Corporal as an infantryman and communicator. After commissioning, Brian served as a Rifle Platoon Commander, Weapons Platoon Commander, and Company Executive Officer in the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines. In 1992, he transitioned to the aviation community and attended primary flight training in Pensacola, Florida, followed by intermediate and advanced strike training at NAS Meridian Mississippi. Upon completion of flight training he was assigned to fly the AV-8B Harrier II+ at MCAS Cherry Point NC. At Cherry Point, Brian served with VMA-231 and VMAT-203 as an instructor pilot. Major Zacherl's combat experience includes Operation Desert Shield/Storm, Operation Allied Force (Kosovo), Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and a Master of Science in operations research from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California.