Biographical Sketches of Panel Members
Patrick Griffin (chair) is a principle member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories and a member of the Committee on Commercial Aviation Security. At Sandia National Laboratories, he performs research in the areas of radiation modeling and simulation, neutron effects testing, radiation dosimeter, and radiation damage to materials. He is active in the standardization community and is the current chair of the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) Subcommittee E10.05 on Nuclear Radiation Metrology.
Robert Berkebile is a consultant on air carrier operations with 41 years of experience, including the coordination of cargo and passenger baggage. Before his retirement, Mr. Berkebile was manager of customer services automation for US Airways and director of station services for USAfrica Airways. He is a member of the National Research Council (NRC) Panel on the Assessment of Technologies Deployed for Aviation Security, a panel under the Committee on Commercial Aviation Security.
Homer Boynton has extensive experience in security matters, including 25 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 12 years with American Airlines as managing director of corporate security. He has chaired many advisory panels on airline security, including the Security Advisory Committee of the Air Transport Association and the Security Committee of the International Air Transport Association. He was a member of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Research, Engineering and Development Advisory Committee.
Len Limmer retired in January 1998, closing a distinguished 26-year career with the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board, a local government agency responsible for the administration, management, and operation of the world's second busiest airport. He has cross-functional experience in public safety, including security police, counterterrorism, explosives detection/disposal, crash rescue, structural fire, and hazardous materials remediation. He has been an officer of numerous Texas and national associations concerned with public safety in large metropolitan areas. He is a member of the NRC Panel on the Assessment of Technologies Deployed for Aviation Security, a panel under the Committee on Commercial Aviation Security.
Harry Martz is the leader of the nondestructive evaluation research and development thrust area for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He received a B.S. in 1979 from Siena College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in 1986 from Florida State University. For six years, he led the computed-tomography project at LLNL, applying computed-tomography and x-ray and proton radiography to material characterization and gamma-ray gauge techniques for treaty verification activities. His current projects include the use of nonintrusive x-ray and gamma-ray computed-tomography techniques as three-dimensional imaging tools to understand material properties and analyze radioactive waste forms. He has applied these techniques to the inspection of automobile and aircraft parts, reactor fuel tubes, high explosives, shape charges, and the contents of waste drums. The research and development in his group includes the design and construction of scanners and preprocessing, image reconstruction, and analysis algorithms. Dr. Martz chaired the NRC Panel on Configuration Management and Performance Verification of Explosives-Detection Systems, was a member of the Panel on Airport Passenger Screening, and is a member of the Committee on Commercial Aviation Security and the Panel on the Assessment of Technologies Deployed for Aviation Security.
Clinton Oster, Jr., is a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. He has investigated the sequential steps, from basic research to applied research to development to commercial implementation to the progressively difficult decisions of continuing or terminating a project based on, among other things, eventual
investment opportunities. Professor Oster's current research centers on aviation safety, transportation economics, international aviation, airport and airway infrastructure, environmental and natural resource policy, and environmental remediation. His most recent book, Why Airplanes Crash: Aviation Safety in a Changing World, was published in 1992. Professor Oster served on a Transportation Research Board study committee on highway speed limits and recently chaired a National Academy of Sciences study committee on civilian aviation employment. He has been a consultant on aviation and other transportation issues to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the FAA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, state and local governments, and private-sector companies in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Australia.