Scientific Advisory Board

Edward Tunstel, Ph.D., FIEEE

Chief Technology Officer, Motiv Space Systems, Inc. / Motiv Robotics

Robotics, Autonomous and Intelligent Systems Department

Short Bio: Dr. Tunstel develops and evolves technical strategy at Motiv Space Systems, Inc. He was previously Associate Director for Robotics at Raytheon Technologies Research Center, Sr. Roboticist and Space Robotics & Autonomous Control Lead at Johns Hopkins APL, and a Sr. Robotics Engineer, Advanced Robotic Controls Group lead, and Mars rover autonomy systems engineer at NASA JPL. He is an IEEE Fellow holding Ph.D., M.E., and B.S. degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering from UNM and Howard University.

Corey Schumacher, Ph.D.

Program Manager at Air Force Research Laboratory ACT3

Program Manager & Chief Technology Officer for ARCNet - The Autonomy Research Collaboration Network

Short Bio: Experienced engineering manager and researcher with expertise in autonomous systems development and R&D program management.

Nia M. Jetter

Amazon Senior Principal Technologist for Robotics AI

Short Bio: Nia Jetter is a Sr. Principal Technologist and Chief Engineer for Canvas Autonomous Mobile Robots for Amazon Robotics AI. Nia is also an Aerospace Engineer and spent 20 years working in Aerospace, primarily focused on Spacecraft Autonomy. She was a Technical Fellow at The Boeing Company who specialized in Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence.

Dave Maroney

Principle Systems Engineer, UAS and Autonomous Systems, The MITRE Corporation

Short Bio: Mr. David Maroney is a Principal Systems Engineer with MITRE’s Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development (CAASD). He has worked in civil aviation research for over 35 years, currently on the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the U.S. Civil National Airspace System (NAS). He has been a group leader for the CAASD’s UAS work program for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), managing a variety of projects involving cross-agency and international stakeholders. He has been involved in standards and rulemaking committees, and is a key contributor to the development of FAA UAS Research Plan and the broader vision for New Entrants in the NAS. He has been influential in UAS R&D – as an experiment lead MITRE’s Collaborative Experimentation

Michael X. Delli Carpini, Ph.D.

Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Annenberg School for Communication

Darryl Klugh, P.E.

Program Manager/Technical Director, Acclaim Technical Services

Short Bio: Darryl Klugh is a proud graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, earning a B.S. and an M.S. in electrical engineering. His career has focused on wireless technology and digital signal processing. He is a licensed Professional Engineer that started an engineering firm specializing in government contracting. After growing the company for over 8 years he decided to sell the company in an amiable acquisition. Mr. Klugh is currently a Program Manager and Technical Director for Acclaim Technical Services.

Peter Shannon

Managing Director, Advanced Air Mobility Enabling Technologies

Short Bio: Peter is an investor focused on advanced aerial mobility and its application toward positive impact for transportation across the economy. In this capacity, he is active in the aviation community around regulatory and technology issues critical to enabling high-scale adoption of aerial mobility systems. Peter co-authored a national strategy for Advanced Aerial Mobility as a member of the Committee on Urban Air Mobility Research and Technology through the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He is a standing member of the Transportation Research Board’s New Users of Shared Airspace Committee. He is also an appointee to NASA’s Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable and is involved in the FAA’s Unmanned Aerial System Integration Pilot Program.

John-Paul Clarke, Ph.D.

Professor and Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Memorial Chair in Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

Stochastic Models and Optimization Algorithms; Autonomy and Human-Machine Teaming

Short Bio: John-Paul Clarke is a professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Ernest Cockrell Jr. Memorial Chair in Engineering. Prior to joining the faculty at UT Austin, he was a faculty member at Georgia Tech and MIT, the Vice President of Strategic Technologies at United Technologies Corporation (now Raytheon), and a researcher at Boeing and NASA JPL. He has also co-founded multiple companies, most recently Universal Hydrogen – a company dedicated to the development of a comprehensive carbon-free solution for aviation.

Wes Sobbott

Network Security, Vice President

Short Bio: Wes joined Verizon in 1992 and has worked in a number of technical and managerial roles including running Operations for the Managed Security Services business unit. He is currently responsible for Network Security for Verizon to include all private and public terrestrial networks and the wireless LTE and 5G networks. Wes graduated with honors from Virginia Tech and completed a 6 month program at Carnegie Mellon University in partnership with the US CERT focused on CISO responsibilities.

Meredith Carroll, Ph.D.

Professor, Aviation Human Factors, College of Aeronautics, Florida Institute of Technology

Cognition and Learning, Human Machine Teaming, Human Performance, Interface Design

Short Bio: Dr. Meredith Carroll is a Professor of Aviation Human Factors at Florida Institute of Technology. She has nearly 20 years of experience studying human/team performance and training in complex systems, with focuses in cognition and learning, decision making, human-machine teaming, training system design/evaluation, and performance assessment. She holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia, an MS in Aviation Science from Florida Tech, and a Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology and Human Factors from the University of Central Florida.