C
Committee and Staff Biographies
Joseph B. Reagan, Chair, is retired vice president and general manager of research and development at Lockheed Martin Missile and Space and retired vice president and corporate officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. Dr. Reagan joined Lockheed as a scientist in 1959, where he led the Space Instrumentation Group for 10 years and was responsible for the development and on-orbit deployment of over 20 scientific payloads for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense. His research interests included the areas of space sensors, radiation belt and solar particles, nuclear weapons effects, and the effects of radiation particles on spacecraft systems. Later, as general manager of the research and development division, he led over 750 scientists and engineers in the development of advanced technologies in the fields of optics, electrooptics, information software, guidance and controls, electronics, and materials. Today, he is a director of Southwall Technologies, Inc., a company that manufactures energy-selective thin films for the automotive, electronic, and architectural industries, and a director of SM&A, a leading company in proposal management and program assurance. Dr. Reagan is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and was vice chair of the National Research Council’s Naval Studies Board from 2000 to 2004. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from Boston College and his Ph.D. in space science from Stanford University.
Frank Alvidrez is senior program manager at Lockheed Martin Company for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Northrop Grumman/Lockheed Martin/Pratt & Whitney X-47B team responsible for a transformational joint
unmanned combat air vehicle program. He is a former Marine Corps aviator with expertise in unmanned aerial vehicles, low observable technologies, advanced interoperable enterprise architectures, command and control concepts, advanced systems engineering, network-centric operations and requirements, autonomy technologies, and survivability requirements for unmanned systems. He received his B.S. in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California and his M.B.A. from National University. He is a graduate of the Defense Acquisition University, Executive Program Management course, and a Department of Defense certified enterprise architect. Mr. Alvidrez has been part of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company’s Advanced Development Programs for 19 years.
Alfred O. Awani is currently director of advanced tactical lasers at Boeing’s Laser and Electro-Optical System Organization. Dr. Awani’s expertise is in large-scale systems integration, engineering analysis, design and development, autonomous systems, test and evaluation, technology development and management, systems engineering and requirements development, platform integration, and program management. He has held other key management positions at Boeing and was the Boeing Sikorsky Joint Program Office’s deputy director of systems engineering and chief of technology for the Boeing Sikorsky team on the Army Comanche RAH-66 program. Before joining Boeing, he was a research engineer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center, involved in various advanced configuration developments. Prior to his NASA assignment, he was an assistant instructor of aircraft flight dynamics and an instructor of engineering project management at the University of Kansas. He is the recipient of several national and international honors and awards, including the 2002 International Scientist of the Year and the 2001 U.S. Black Engineer of the Year. He earned his B.S. in aeronautical engineering at the Aerospace Institute, a dual M.S. in management and aerospace engineering at Northrop University, and a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Kansas.
Willard R. Bolton is technical director for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement-Unmanned Aerospace Vehicles Program, a Department of Energy collaboration involving industrial, academic, and national laboratory participation, and manager of the Exploratory Systems Technology Department at Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Bolton has an extensive background in aerodynamics, particularly stability and control of unmanned aerial vehicles. Prior to joining Sandia, he was an engineer at the Boeing Military Airplane Division. His professional experience, in both technical areas and program management, has included responsibilities for a number of advanced development and exploratory projects in areas ranging from parachute aerodynamics to high-speed penetration of water, ice, and earth by suborbital missile payloads. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Kansas.
William C. Bowes retired from the U.S. Navy with the rank of vice admiral. He is an independent consultant and serves as a director for two public companies and one university board, after having served as vice president of strategic plan-
ning at Litton Industries and leading a business unit of Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. His background is in military operations, naval aviation, systems engineering, life-cycle management, and program management. While in the Navy he served as commander of the Naval Air Systems Command and principal deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition. He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Idaho and an M.S. from the Naval Postgraduate School. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School.
H. Lee Buchanan is executive vice president of Perceptis, LLP, a holding company of wireless and intelligence (government) companies, where he provides expertise in mergers and acquisitions. His experience is in advanced, very high risk, high-payoff technologies such as optoelectronics, laser materials, high-temperature superconductivity, electronic warfare, signal processing, composite structural materials, high-energy-density power sources, and biological warfare defense. Previously, he served as assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition and as deputy director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In addition, he was with TITAN Corporation where he founded, built, and directed the company’s scientific activities in applied physics, chemistry, and biology. Prior to that he was a senior physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, conducting theoretical and experimental research into the physics of directed-energy weapons. Dr. Buchanan also served as a naval flight officer. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. in applied physics from the University of California, Berkeley/Davis.
John A. Corder retired from the U.S. Air Force with the rank of major general. His background is in U.S. Air Force operational and joint issues. Since his retirement, he has been employed as an independent technical adviser. He has served as an ad hoc adviser to the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board on the subjects of theater battle management, theater air defense, and tactical ballistic missile defense. General Corder is a former command pilot and navigator. His military career also included assignments as director of electronic combat and commander of the 65th Electronic Combat Air Division with the U.S. Air Force in Europe. He was deputy commander for air combat operations for the Central Command Air Forces in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. General Corder was responsible for the planning and execution of 3,000 combat sorties per day—an effort that involved the coordination of Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and allied aircraft from nine other nations. He earned a B.A. in business administration from the University of Nebraska and an M.B.A. from Auburn University.
Robert W. Day is director of space programs at the Raytheon Corporation. His background is in combat command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence systems. Mr. Day joined Raytheon through its merger with the
Hughes Aircraft Company, where he was deputy manager of defense systems. Prior to joining Raytheon, he served in the U.S. Navy for 26 years, during which time he flew A-6 aircraft combat missions. In Washington, Mr. Day served on the staff of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations as a requirements officer for air warfare and as a division manager for technology requirements. His last duty assignment was as director of stealth and counterstealth technology, where he was responsible for all technology developments, testing, technology transfer, security, export policy, and interservice contacts in the area of stealth and counterstealth. Mr. Day received his B.A. in chemistry from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. from George Washington University.
Earl H. Dowell is the William Holland Hall Professor and dean emeritus of the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr., School of Engineering at Duke University. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Dowell has research interests in aerodynamics, air-breathing propulsion, computational mechanics, energy and power technologies, and structural dynamics. His current research interests include the dynamics of nonlinear fluid and structural systems and their associated limit cycle and chaotic motions. Dr. Dowell has served on numerous scientific boards and advisory committees and currently is a member of the National Research Council’s Air Force Studies Board. He received a B.S. from the University of Illinois and his S.M. and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Valerie J. Gawron is a fellow at General Dynamics. Her experience is in cognitive and environmental effects of human performance, with a specialization in situational awareness, workload, testing, and evaluation as well as engineering psychology and human factors covering the areas of design, research, simulation, and training. She has produced numerous simulation programs, training manuals, and standardized test procedures to improve aviation. She was a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board from 1996 to 2000 and has been a member of the Army Science Board since 2001. Currently, she serves as chair of the Science and Technology Working Group of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Space-Human Factors Engineering Group, is a consulting editor of the International Journal of Aviation Psychology, and is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. She has over 270 publications. Dr. Gawron earned a B.A. in psychology, an M.S. in industrial engineering, and an M.B.A. in business administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo; an M.A. in psychology from the State University College at Geneseo; and a Ph.D. in engineering psychology from the University of Illinois.
Frank A. Horrigan is retired from the technical development staff for sensors and electronic systems at Raytheon Systems Corporation. He has broad general knowledge of all technologies relevant to military systems. Dr. Horrigan, a theoretical physicist, has more than 40 years of experience in advanced electronics, electrooptics, radar and sensor technologies, and advanced information systems.
In addition, he has extensive experience in planning and managing investments in independent research and development and in projecting future technology growth directions. Dr. Horrigan once served as a NATO fellow at the Saclay Nuclear Research Center in France. Today he serves on numerous scientific boards and advisory committees, including the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board and the Naval Studies Board. He recently chaired the NRC’s Committee for the Review of the Office of Naval Research’s Marine Corps Science and Technology Program. He earned a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Harvard University.
Arun R. Palusamy is currently program manager of systems development and technology at Northrop Grumman Corporation. His expertise is in survivability, countermeasures, and low observables; integration of electronic warfare systems and avionics development; missile defense; sensor/communications design requirements and addressing shipboard integration for next-generation mission systems; and integration of national sensors with naval airborne and surface assets to prosecute boost and midcourse-phase ballistic missile intercept missions. Mr. Palusamy received his B.S. in economics and math from Allegheny College and his M.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Robert J. Polutchko is currently manager of strategic business initiatives at the Charles S. Draper Laboratory. He is an experienced engineer with expertise in navigation systems, autonomous vehicles, weapons and aircraft simulations, aircraft avionics, and mission planning systems. Mr. Polutchko was the leader of the precision weapons technology business group responsible for management of the development and demonstration of revolutionary new tactical weapons and system capabilities for U.S. military and industry customers. He has 20 years of research and development experience as a guidance, navigation, and control engineer and manager working on the development of such systems for manned and unmanned spacecraft, collaborative autonomous vehicles, and precision guided weapons systems. Mr. Polutchko earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bruce Powers is an adjunct professor at George Washington University and a visiting professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. His background is in military requirements, concept development, and naval aviation. He is retired from government service, having spent his last 4 years as the head of strategic assessments and readiness assessments, where he managed mid-range, cost-constrained planning; provided wide-ranging options for the future Navy; and assessed current fleet readiness. He also served as special assistant for plans and analysis—a position in which he was responsible for tying naval aviation to national security policy, strategy, and technology and produced the annual Naval Aviation Plan, a vision for the coming 20 years. He was awarded a second Superior Civilian Service Medal by the Vice Chief of Naval Operations in 2001. Mr. Powers earned
an M.S. in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago and an M.S. in industrial engineering/operations from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Lyle H. Schwartz is currently an independent consultant. He was a professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University for 20 years and director of Northwestern’s Materials Research Center for 5 of those years. He then became director of the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he served for more than 12 years. His experience there included metals, ceramics, polymers, magnetic materials, techniques for characterization, and standardization of these characterization techniques, and his responsibilities included management of the research and development agenda in the context of a government laboratory. Dr. Schwartz subsquently assumed responsibility for basic research on structural materials of interest to the U.S. Air Force, in addition to the areas of propulsion, aeromechanics, and aerodynamics. He then completed his government service as director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, with responsibility for the entire basic research program of the Air Force. His interests include government policy for research and development, particularly for materials research and development and enhanced public understanding of the roles and importance of technology in society. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Schwartz received a B.S. in engineering and a Ph.D. in materials science from Northwestern University.
William A. Sirignano is engineering dean at the University of California at Irvine. He was a professor at Princeton University from 1967 to 1979 and was the George Tallman Ladd Professor and department head at Carnegie Mellon University from 1979 to 1984. His experience is in combustion, aerospace propulsion, combustion instability, spray and droplet science and technology, noise suppression, and applied mathematics; analysis of driving mechanisms for combustion instability in rockets and ramjets; nonlinear fluid dynamics theory for flame spread above liquid and solid fuels; resolution of turbulent flame and propagation in reciprocating and rotary internal combustion engines; and miniature combustor technology. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Sirignano received his Ph.D. from Princeton University.
Staff
Charles F. Draper is director of the NRC’s Naval Studies Board. Before joining the NRC in 1997, Dr. Draper was the lead mechanical engineer at S.T. Research Corporation, where he provided technical and program management support for satellite Earth station and small satellite design. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1995; his doctoral research was conducted at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), where he used an atomic force microscope to measure the nanomechanical properties of thin-film materials. In parallel with his graduate student duties, Dr. Draper was a mechani-
cal engineer with Geo-Centers, Incorporated, working on-site at NRL on the development of an underwater X-ray backscattering tomography system used for the nondestructive evaluation of U.S. Navy sonar domes on surface ships.
James E. Killian is a senior program officer at the National Research Council’s National Materials Advisory Board and a retired U.S. Navy captain. During his 26-year career in the Navy he served as the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier-based A-7 Corsair II squadron, commanding officer of the Navy’s Nuclear Weapons Evaluation Facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and program manager for the Navy’s Theater Nuclear Warfare Program (PMS-423) in Washington, D.C. He has a B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
