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AGI Users' Conference Presenter Bios
Stephane Albert Stephane Albert is the senior manager of modeling, simulation, and new technologies at CAE. He is responsible for the STRIVE Framework Suite—an integral part of CAE’s Next-generation Simulation Solutions Technologies. In addition, he is responsible for worldwide activities for office equipment manufacturers and large integration partners and spends the majority of his time evangelizing new concepts to customers. The current market areas he is focusing on are: C4ISR, UAV, Homeland Defence, Networked Distributed Simulation, and Networked Mission Operations areas. Albert is presently the Chair of the Simulation Association of Canada that is linked to SISO International. Albert came to CAE with more than 17 years in the IT industry, with specific expertise in simulation, networking, security, and application development. Previously, Albert held positions at AT&T, Novell, Nortel Networks, SUN Microsystems, and CoSine Communication, and has been involved in business development activities for new technologies such as ATM and Ethernet.

Walter Amos Walter Amos is an engineer with ATK Elkton division, where he participated in the ATED (ASAS Technology Evaluation Demonstration) experimental rocket launch working on STK visualizations. Prior to this, he worked with United Space Alliance in Houston on development of the Unix platform Trajectory Server software system for Space Shuttle operations in Mission Control at Johnson Space Center, focusing on on-orbit navigation and numerical integration systems. He holds a B.S. in physics from University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. in physics from University of Texas at Austin.

Robin Biesbroek is currently on contract to the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) Concurrent Design Facility (CDF), serving as a mission analyst, system engineer, or team leader during the assessment studies of future European Space Agency (ESA) projects. In this position, Biesbroek has created various trajectory optimization tools, including the ‘Swing-by Calculator’ and the ‘Lunar Transfer Orbit Calculator,’ and is responsible for the use of mission analysis tools within the CDF, including STK. During his career, he has worked at ESA’s launch base (French Guyana), ESTEC (The Netherlands), ESOC (Germany), JAQAR (The Netherlands), and DEIMOS (Spain). Biesbroek holds an M.S. in aerospace engineering from Delft University of Technology.

Arnold J. Byrd Jr. Arnold J. Byrd Jr. is a software engineer at Lockheed Martin. Prior to this, he worked at Emerging Business Solutions as a software developer. He holds a B.S. in information technology with an emphasis in computer science from Christopher Newport University, and minors in computer science and mathematics.

Joyce Chau Joyce Chau is a systems engineer at Lockheed Martin. She has worked on Common Operational Picture and Web applications for Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) and internal independent research and development projects for the past year. Along with her work, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science at George Washington University. She holds a B.S. and an M.S. in computer science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Lymari Castro Lymari Castro is a signal analyst and systems engineer for the Department of Defense (DoD) Technical SIGINT Airborne Program (COMBAT SENT). She utilizes STK to simulate real SIGINT collection scenarios and modes of operation of radar systems to get a visualization of the problems occurred during the collection and the technical capabilities of an emitter of interest. She also uses STK for mission planning. Castro worked as a systems engineer for Raytheon Electronic Systems where she performed modeling and simulation of MDA radar systems and missile trajectory analysis. Also, she was an instructor of physics at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. She has an M.S. in engineering physics from Cornell University and graduate courses in electrical engineering and physics from Johns Hopkins University and University of Puerto Rico, respectively. She earned a B.S. in theoretical physics from the University of Puerto Rico, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. Castro performed research projects at the DOE-Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, NASA, and the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center.

Jonathan DeGumbia Jonathan DeGumbia is a systems engineer for Omitron, Inc., where he leads the development of the Flight Dynamics System of the mission operations control center for the NASA/DOE Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission. During an earlier employment, DeGumbia worked on the design and implementation of the STK/Scheduler module. Prior to that, he was employed as an Attitude and Orbital Control System engineer on NOAA’s GOES project. DeGumbia holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Florida Tech and an M.S. in systems engineering from The John Hopkins University.

Roderic Don Roderic Don joined ATK’s Advanced Propulsion and Space Systems Group in January 2005 as a project engineer with the Elkton Division’s ATK Launch Vehicle (ALV) Team. His duties include testing and debugging the ALV flight controller hardware and software, and interfacing with the associated ground support equipment. Don received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Delaware in 1990, and was on the research staff there for nine years before moving on to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, where among his many duties, he was a certified fixed and rotary wing UAV pilot. Don’s hobbies include digital photography and model aircraft.

Anthony Faulds Anthony Faulds is the president, owner, and senior scientist of Trinnovations. He 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.

Phil Flores Phil Flores is a major account manager for Cisco Systems, Inc., currently leading Cisco's support for several government programs nationwide. He has worked with STK for three years and helped lead an effort within Cisco to use STK in a way that common government customers would find useful, untraditional, and cost-effective. Prior to Cisco, Flores worked in both software and hardware sales to support several government and commercial customers with leading-edge solutions to plan, maintain, and operate numerous terrestrial and celestial communications networks.

Ryan Frederic Ryan Frederic serves as a senior systems engineer with Applied Defense Solutions (ADS). His responsibilities include managing ADS data integration and modeling and simulation efforts, both of which focus heavily on the use of COTS software components. Prior to ADS, Frederic served as the technical product manager for STK at AGI, as well as a systems engineer and product support engineer. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech where he earned his B.S. in aerospace and ocean engineering.

Cherie Gott Cherie D. Gott is an operations research analyst for HQ NORAD- NORTHCOM / Directorate of Analysis. In her current position since 1991, Gott is responsible for a broad range of duties providing technical analyses in support of homeland defense and NORAD primary mission areas: aerospace warning and aerospace control. Additionally, she serves as lead technical analyst in support of NORAD current capabilities review, and is one of two principal analysts for the Technology Assessment Project, whose goal is to provide traceable analyses and justification for NORAD advocacy of required surveillance and engagement assets. Gott received an M.S. in mathematics/operations research from the Colorado School of Mines and a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Southern Colorado.

Curtis Hay Curtis Hay earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Colorado Technical University and an MBA from Colorado State University. Prior to his current position as a senior systems engineer for Spirent Federal Systems—a supplier of high-performance GPS test equipment—Hay served eight years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. His active duty assignments included GPS orbit analysis at Schriever AFB in Colorado Springs, CO; anti-jam GPS R&D for guided weapons while at Eglin AFB in Florida; and a final assignment with the GPS Joint Program Office. Hay also served for several years as the lead GPS engineer for OnStar, a division of the General Motors Corporation.

Alex Herz Alex Herz co-founded Orbit Logic Incorporated in March 2000 after more than a decade of satellite operations systems engineering, ground system design and integration, and program management experience. He started his career at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, working in the payload operations branch for five years supporting console operations, payload integration, crew display design, payload system manual development, and ground and flight operations procedure development. After relocating to the Washington, D.C.-area in 1995, Herz held the position of lead operations engineer and return module experiment integration engineer for the METEOR mission before moving on to manage the proposal team for the outsourcing of EUVE extended mission satellite operations from GSFC to the University of California, Berkeley. Following NASA’s acceptance of the EUVE outsourcing proposal, he was a Director at Omitron, Inc. where he designed and managed the mission ground systems and operations concepts for two NASA small missions (Vegetation Canopy Lidar and Swift) as well as supporting advanced planning on NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) program. Herz co-founded Orbit Logic to provide COTS-based satellite ground system design, software development, operations, and management services to the space industry. In addition to providing these services for a variety of corporate customers, Orbit Logic, along with AGI, developed and released STK/Scheduler, an industry-leading COTS scheduling tool. Herz received a B.S. in engineering physics from Cornell University.

John Jendzurski John Jendzurski is an electrical engineer at Booz Allen Hamilton, providing engineering consulting services to various industry organizations. Prior to this, he built GPS receiver jammers for Scientific Research Corporation. He has a background in electromagnetics, radar, and satellite communications. He is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Kristen Jones Kristen Jones is currently a system/software engineer at Northrop Grumman TASC, supporting the intelligence community. She has12 years experience in software engineering, both in commercial industry and government contracting. Jones received her B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia.

Cheree Kiernan Cheree Kiernan is a flight operations integrator on the Delta expendable launch vehicle program. In this role, she plans flight data collection and operate the tracking network on Delta II and Delta IV flights from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB. Kiernan has a B.S degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Central Florida, has served as Chair of the Boeing STK Users Group from 2001 to 2003, and was lead flight operations integrator for the first Delta IV Heavy flight.

George Krasovec George Krasovec has served as an ICBM trajectory analyst at Headquarters Strategic Air Command and as a Pentagon staff scientist conducting campaign-level simulations of future weapon systems. Following his active duty, Krasovec was a space systems analyst for satellite mission planning and orbit determination software. Krasovec has conducted and directed a variety of R&D activities involving air traffic control systems, computer system performance modeling, system engineering design methodologies, architecture description languages, formal analysis, and information security. Recently, Krasovec developed the STK-based Mission Minder ISR planning tool and is a major contributor to AFRL’s Net-Centric SIGINT Focused Information System (NCSFIS) program. He holds a B.S. in mathematics/physics from the USAF Academy and an MBA from the University of Nebraska.

William Napier William Napier is a range systems engineer for ITT Systems Division on the Spacelift Range Systems Contract (SLRSC). He has more than 30 years direct launch range experience and is currently working with vehicle tracking systems deployments in support of all USAF Western and Eastern Range launches including NASA Shuttle. Primary responsibilities include geographic locations and performance determinations of major tracking systems: metric radar, telemetry down-link, and command destruct up-link. With both ranges planning to transition to a GPS metric track capability, am evaluating the metric radars for a minimum launch head quantity, location, and performance to provide risk mitigation to the GPS ranges.

Marc Neely is currently working as a contractor for the Space and Missile Defense Command Battle Lab (SMDBL), with emphasis in software development of Tactical Communications (TADIL’s) and integration of C4ISR platforms into the Advanced Warfare Environment (AWarE). Neely also holds the rank of Major in the Alabama Army National Guard and is assigned to the 62 nd Troop Command as the Assistant G-3. Neely received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Alabama.

Jeremy Odhner Jeremy Odhner is currently a senior communications system engineer at Northrop Grumman TASC in Chantilly, VA. He has 27 years experience supporting government programs in both government and private industry. His areas of expertise include analysis, modeling, and simulation of satellite and communications systems. Odhner received a B.S. in physics from the University of Maryland, an M.A. in mathematics from Villanova University, and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Brandon Owens Brandon Owens is a research assistant for the W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory at Stanford University. Since October of 2003, he has been a member of the Gravity Probe B Mission Planning Group where his duties have included STK scenario development and upkeep, radio communications scheduling, flight control, animation development, and the investigation of in-flight anomalies due to radiation. He interned at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas from 2001 to 2002, received a B.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University in 2003, and earned an M.S. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in 2005.

Eric Patterson Eric Patterson is a member of the research staff at Riverside Research Institute (RRI), Washington Research Office. Patterson has twenty-three years of experience in Advanced Geospatial Intelligence (AGI), Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT), and Collection Management, with seven years in the training and education field. His responsibilities included everything from installing and maintaining collection platforms to planning and executing worldwide collection strategies in support of operations such as ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM. Before retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 2003, Patterson led a Joint service team providing 24-hour crisis collection management and oversight to include data mining, fusion, and multi-INT integration of intelligence for the cueing of National and Service organic and tactical MASINT sensors. Patterson revolutionized the MASINT Operations Coordination Center’s Web site which was named “Intelink Web Site of the Year” for 2004. His other Web creations include the Daily MASINT Summary, OEF/OIF MASINT Sensor Tasking Tool, Significant Collections Activity Report, and many other tailored, fused Web tools. Since his retirement, Patterson supported the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency by developing the collection planning tool used to evaluate and forecast future system capabilities to collect against hundreds of ground targets using azimuth and elevation constraints for both the collection and the Sun (illumination) geometry. He also authored the Synthetic Aperture Radar, Thermal-Infrared, and Spectral Imaging portions of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s “Advance Geospatial Intelligence Source Management for the Analyst” course. Patterson has supported the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Directorate for MASINT and Technical Collection by designing and coding the Ballistic Missile Technical Collection Analysis of Alternatives Modeling Tool to support collection effective analysis. The Web-enabled tool used STK to provide an efficient way to evaluate existing and future ground and ship-based RADAR system capabilities to collect against foreign ballistic missile launches. He also designed the Essential Elements of Information (EEI) Interface for the MASINT Requirements System, Version 3.

John Ploschnitznig John Ploschnitznig 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. Ploschnitznig 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, Ploschnitznig 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, Ploschnitznig 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. Ploschnitznig has a B.S. and an M.S. in electrical engineering.

Dr. Haroon Rashid Dr. Haroon Rashid is the senior development engineer at AGI. His responsibilities include developing and supporting the STK/Comm module. Haroon works closely with groups in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that are defining requirements for interference analysis and resolving issues related to frequency spectrum sharing at international levels in order to ensure that the STK software satisfies these requirements. Prior to AGI, he worked for the Saudi Arabian Department of Defense where he was a senior adviser on a classified 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, Rashid served as a supervisor for communication planning and engineering at Arabian-American Oil Co. He also worked for the University of Arkansas, where he conducted research on an artificial intelligence project for the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. His efforts focused on detection and tracking of objects in time-varying imagery. While at the university, he taught electrical engineering. Haroon holds a B.S. in electronic and communications engineering from the University of Engineering in Lahore, Pakistan, and received his doctorate in communications engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Alan Reeves Alan Reeves works for the Space Information Office of Royal Air Force (RAF) Fylingdales. He has worked in the industry throughout the word. First, working within the field of fighter control, Reeves joined RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, RAF Saxa Vord in the Shetland Islands, RAF Staxton Wold in North Yorkshire, and RAF Mt. KEtn in the Falkland Islands, among others. He was then employed within the HQ at RAF Bentley Priory in London before leaving the "hands-on" fighter control world to work on tactical radars. Reeves joined RAF Fylingdales in January of 1999. After completing time on crew, he was selected for the specialized post of space information and intelligence, where he collates and correlates all space tasking and derives space intelligence that can be used to support both UK & U.S missions. Through his work, he earned an AOC's commendation from the 2004 Queen's Birthday honors list, for his contribution and innovations to support UK space intelligence.

Harold Robertson Harold Robertson is an engineer at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. He is currently assigned to the Engineering Directorate's Exploration Division and is developing requirements for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). In addition to the launch window lighting analysis for the Space Shuttle Discovery, Robertson helped develop the Shuttle Return to Flight Test Plan and supported the Columbia recovery operations and the accident investigation. Previous NASA assignments include the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle flight test operations, Space Shuttle mission planning and operations, and a rotational assignment to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where he supported the Spartan Freeflyer program. As an Air Force Officer, he provided Minuteman III and Peacekeeper ICBM trajectory analysis and targeting software support. Robertson is a 1982 graduate of the University of Alabama with a B.S. in aerospace engineering. He also holds an M.S. in space sciences from the University of Houston - Clear Lake.

Efrain Rodriguez Efrain Rodriguez is the Technical SIGINT Research and Development Leader for the Department of Defense (DoD) Technical SIGINT Airborne Program (TSAP): COMBAT SENT Program Management Office (PMO). He is responsible for the development and design of new signal analysis techniques and enhanced software tool solutions for TSAP. He also works along with the AGI Product Development team to create new software solutions for the COMBAT SENT Program, integrating and designing new tools on STK to maximize quality of product and optimize resource allocation. Previously, Rodriguez was part of the Radar Design Electronics Laboratory at Raytheon Systems Company, where he worked as part of the Design Team for hardware development and support for programs such as PATRIOT and THAAD Radar Systems. Rodriguez holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, and is currently pursuing an M.S. in computer engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a Certificate degree in radar signal processing and techniques from Georgia Institute of Technology. He also has graduate courses in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Massachusetts and Harvard University, respectively.

Maj. Jerry Shay Maj. Jerry Shay is an FA-40 (Space Operations Officer) in the United States Army currently assigned as a project manager with the Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His current projects include the identification and validation of requirements for the Single Integrated Space Picture (SISP), the development of automated decision support tools and DSCS data integrated for Space Situational Awareness (SSA), High Altitude Airship, and working with AGI on the development of the Near Space Analysis Tool (NSAT) for JEFX 06. Shay earned a B.A. from East Stroudsburg University, an M.S. in space systems - engineering from Webster University, and is a graduate of the Army Space Operations Officer Qualification Course. His most recent military assignments include homeland defense officer responsible for the security of sensitive military sites within the United States, armor battalion operations officer at Camp Casey in Korea, and assistant professor of military science at Penn State University. Shay has received the following decorations/badges: Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, and an Air Force Space Badge.

Ken Sherman Ken Sherman is the president of Satellite Software Inc., which he founded in 1998 to market SATSOFT, a computer program released in November 2000 that is widely used by the satellite industry for communications satellite antenna coverage design and planning. Sherman also provides technical consulting services to companies developing satellite and radar antennas. His clients include General Dynamics, Orbital Sciences, Motorola, TRW, Intelsat, Westinghouse Electric, GTE, and others. Prior to this, he was a staff engineer for six years with Hughes Space and Communications Company (now Boeing Satellite Systems), developing satellite antennas and near-field antenna measurement systems. Sherman holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from George Washington University (1980) and UCLA (1982) respectively.

David Sherrier David Sherrier is a senior staff software engineer with the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. He has worked the past couple of years supporting the near-real-time visualizations of U.S. government launch operations. He has been involved with development of software to process telemetry data and generate real-time STK visualizations for the Atlas V and Delta 4 launch vehicles. He has also utilized STK extensively for development of animations in support of new business pursuits for Lockheed Martin. He has a B.S. and M.S. in aerospace engineering from Purdue University.

Paul Sorensen Paul Sorensen is a senior software engineer for the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. He has worked the past couple of years supporting the near-real-time visualizations of U.S. government launch operations and currently has stewardship over numerous ongoing projects including the rapid prototyping and deployment of innovative, custom software tools, many of which are used in conjunction with STK. Sorensen has been with the company since he graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.S. in physics more than six years ago. He's currently working on an M.S. in management with an emphasis in computer information technology from Regis University.

Trevor Stief Trevor Stief is a software engineer at AGI. In this position, he is responsible for the design and implementation of new features in the STK/Communications (STK/Comm) and STK/Radar software modules. Prior to AGI, Trevor worked for General Dynamics as a software engineer on the NWARS program, and at CACI on the JWARS program. Before that, Trevor spent five years at Lockheed Martin as a communications engineer. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University.

Lt. Col. David Swanson Lt. Col. David Swanson is an assistant professor of Astronautics at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), Colorado Springs, CO. Lt. Col. Swanson is a member of the Department of Astronautics (DFAS) and serves as the officer in charge of the Falcon Satellite program ground station (FalconOPS). In his tenure at USAFA, Lt. Col. Swanson held the position of advisor in charge of the Space Operations Major and has been the director of the department’s principal space course–Introduction to Astronautics. As the course director, Lt. Col. Swanson made STK a mandatory part of the core course and authored the first edition of the laboratory manual—a companion to the course text book, Understanding Space, by Jerry Jon Sellers. Lt. Col. Swanson is currently developing three new capstone courses for the Space Operation Major. As the chairman of the Academy’s Space Working Group, Lt. Col. Swanson was instrumental in formulating the strategy for enhancing Space Education and Training (SE&T) at USAFA. Under his guidance, the Academy has a robust, cadet-run satellite operations squadron and is building an operational space lab. He is currently teaching an intermediate level course in space systems engineering while developing an Academy-wide space program called Space for All. A 1986 graduate of Southern Illinois University, Lt. Col. Swanson was first assigned to Lowry AFB, Colorado. After completing Undergraduate Space Training (UST), he was initially certified to operate the FLTSATCOM constellation of spacecraft. In the intervening years, he has been an analyst in Phillips Laboratory’s Satellite Assessment Center (SatAC), a program manager in Space and Missiles System Center’s (SMC) Space Test Program (STP), a programmer in the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) Plans and Programs (P&A) Directorate, and the executive officer to the NRO’s Deputy Director. He has held the position of staff officer in the National Security Space Architect (NSSA), was an orbital analyst (OA) and the Chief of the Special Operations (J3A) vault in Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center’s (CMOC) Satellite Control Center (SCC), and served as a speech writer to the Command in Chief of USSPACECOM. Before relocating to USAFA, Lt. Col. Swanson served as the deputy chief of Special Technical Operations (STO) in USSPACEOM’s Space Control Branch (J32). He holds Master’s Degrees from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in space operations, from the University of Colorado in electrical engineering, and from Air University in military strategic studies.

Stephen Talabac Stephen Talabac is the lead technologist for Sensor Web systems at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. He has 32 years experience directing the design, development, and deployment of leading edge information systems for remote sensing satellite and emergency mobile communications vehicle programs. After receiving his electrical engineering degree, he began his professional career with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS), where he developed real-time payload ground data systems for the nation's first operational, geosynchronous, and polar-orbiting meteorological spacecraft: SMS/GOES and TIROS. He then entered the private sector where, for more than 22 years, he served in the capacity of chief engineer, program manager, and director of Ground Systems for several Maryland-based aerospace firms. His engineering teams designed, developed, and operationally deployed end-to-end ground data systems for meteorological and other Earth remote sensing spacecraft under contract to NOAA, the DoD, commercial clients, and academia. Talabac was responsible for new business development and he led corporate internal research and development (IR&D) that produced reconfigurable satellite data processing boards using field programmable gate array (FPGA) and digital signal processor (DSP) technologies for NOAA and the U.S. Navy. In 2002, Talabac accepted a NASA Excepted (NEX) appointment at the Goddard Space Flight Center where he leads IR&D activities within the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate's Information Systems Division. He is exploring the potential benefits of Sensor Web information systems that apply adaptive measurement techniques and dynamic observing strategies to NASA observing systems. He is a senior member of the IEEE, and is a member of the National Space Society and The Planetary Society.

Mike Taylor Mike Taylor is a flight operations integrator on the Delta expendable launch vehicle program. In this role, he plans flight data collection and operate the tracking network on Delta II and Delta IV flights from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB. Taylor has an M.S. in space systems from Florida Tech, and is department manager of Delta Flight Operations.

Jack Turner is a senior engineer at MAXIM Systems Inc, in San Diego, California. Turner currently leads the Visualization Modeling and Simulation division of the Space Systems Group. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Upon graduation, Turner was commissioned in the US Navy. He flew with helicopter squadron HSL-47 and is currently a reserve officer with Naval Reserve Space and Naval Warfare Unit 0466 conducting satellite launch and early orbit operations.

Mark Woodard Mark Woodard is an aerospace engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia. Woodard has provided mission analysis, trajectory design, and attitude support for several NASA missions, and is currently supporting the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission.

Scott Woyak Scott Woyak is vice president, co-founder, and director of software solutions at Phoenix Integration, Inc. He holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and has more than 10 years of program management experience. At Phoenix Integration, Woyak works with customer needs to guide future development efforts at the company. Under his leadership, Phoenix Integration has developed and released ModelCenter, STK/Analyzer, and CenterLink. Woyak’s current areas of interest include probabilistic modeling, cost modeling, workflow automation, high-performance computing, and data visualization.

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