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Biographical Sketches of Committee Members
LARRY D. WELCH, Chair, is a senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) since 2009. He is also a past president and CEO of IDA. Prior to retiring from the U.S. Air Force as a general in 1990, after a 40-year career in the Air Force, he served as follows: from 1986 to 1990, 12th Chief of Staff; from 1985 to 1986 as Commander in Chief, Strategic Air Command; from 1984 to 1985 as Vice Chief of Staff; from 1982 to 1984 as a Deputy Chief of Staff, Programs and Resources; and from 1981 to 1982 as Commander of Air Force Central Command. General Welch’s current affiliations include the Air Force Academy Foundation (director); Air Force Space Command Independent Strategic Advisory Group (chairman); Atlantic Council (councilor); Council on Foreign Relations (member); and Defense Policy Board (member), among others. He chaired the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Department of Defense Basic Research. General Welch holds an M.S. in international relations from George Washington University and graduated from the National War College and the Armed Forces Staff College.
RITA R. COLWELL is a distinguished university professor both at the University of Maryland, College Park, and at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also senior advisor and chairman emeritus at Canon US Life Sciences, Inc., and president and chairman of CosmosID, Inc. Her interests are focused on global infectious disease, water, and health. She is currently developing an international network to address emerging infectious diseases and water issues, including safe drinking water for both the developed and developing world, in collaboration with Safe Water Network, headquartered in New York City. Dr. Colwell served as the 11th director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), 1998-2004. In her capacity as NSF director, she served as co-chair of the Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council. Dr. Colwell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, holds a Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Washington, and was a member of the NRC Committee on Review of Specialized Degree-Granting Graduate Programs of the DoD in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Management.
BLAISE J. DURANTE retired from the U.S. Air Force as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition Integration, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, in Washington, D.C. Mr. Durante managed the acquisition staff organization charged with planning, managing, and analyzing the Air Force’s research and development, and acquisition investment budget. He oversaw the integration of research, development, and acquisition budget formulation and execution and directed streamlined management team activities, including Air Force acquisition reform and reduction in total ownership cost efforts. He directed the development of weapon
system acquisition policy, including program direction. Mr. Durante served as the chief financial officer for the modernization accounts. As director for Air Force Contracted Advisory and Assistance Services, he directed and was accountable for the Air Force’s CAAS programs. He was responsible for acquisition professional development, including directing, coordinating, and reviewing actions mandated by the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act and Department of Defense (DoD) directives. Mr. Durante also managed acquisition reporting systems and the Air Force’s international RD&A programs. He is a member of the NRC Air Force Studies Board.
MELISSA L. FLAGG is a senior program officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation where her primary focus is with the fellows program focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Prior to joining the MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Flagg served as the director for the Office of Technical Intelligence within the Office of the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering, within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. She also served in roles within the Department of Navy and the Department of State. From 2004-2009, she worked with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Global, serving first as associate director for S&T policy and force protection in the London office, then as the director of the ONR Global International Liaison Office at headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and later as ONR’s director, strategy and plans. From 2001-2004, Dr. Flagg supported the S&T Adviser to the Secretary of State as a AAAS S&T diplomacy fellow and later as a foreign affairs officer. Her professional awards include the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award, and the Superior Honor Award from the Department of State. She is a member of the NRC Air Force Studies Board. Dr. Flagg received a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the University of Arizona.
BRENDAN B. GODFREY is a visiting senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, where he conducts studies on numerical simulation of plasmas, participates in committees of the National Academies, and served as advisor to the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research. Previously, he was director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), responsible for its nearly half billion dollar basic research program. Known for his contributions to computational plasma theory and applications, he is author of more than 200 publications and reports. He also has served on numerous professional and civic committees. He is a fellow of the IEEE and of the American Physical Society (APS). Dr. Godfrey was a member of the NRC Committee on Review of Specialized Degree-Granting Graduate Programs of the DoD in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Management and is a member of the Air Force Studies Board. Dr. Godfrey received his Ph.D. from Princeton University.
ZACHARY J. LEMNIOS is vice president, research strategy and worldwide operations, at IBM. In this position, Mr. Lemnios is responsible for the full scope of operations across the twelve IBM global research laboratories. Before joining IBM in 2012, Mr. Lemnios was the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering at DoD, from July 2009 to November 2012. In this position, he provided leadership, strategic vision, and programmatic executive for all near-, mid-, and far-term research and engineering efforts across DoD. He shaped the department’s technical strategy to support the President’s national security objectives and the Secretary’s priorities. Mr. Lemnios served as the chief technology officer at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory from August 2006 to June 2009 where he provided strategic vision for the laboratory as a member of the director’s staff and the Laboratory Steering Committee. He holds an M.S. in electrical engineering from Washington University.
WILLIAM MELVIN is deputy director for research at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), director of the Sensors and Intelligent Systems Directorate at GTRI, a University System of Georgia regents’ researcher, and an adjunct professor in Georgia Tech’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His research interests include all aspects of sensor technology development, electronic warfare, computational electromagnetics, signatures, systems engineering/developmental planning, autonomous/intelligent systems and machine learning, threat systems analysis, and quantum science and sensors. He has authored numerous papers in his areas of expertise and holds three U.S. patents on adaptive sensor technology. He is the co-editor of two of the three volumes of the popular Principles of Modern Radar book series. Among his distinctions, Dr. Melvin is the recipient of the 2014
IEEE Warren White Award, 2006 IEEE AESS Young Engineer of the Year Award, the 2003 US Air Force Research Laboratory Reservist of the Year Award, and the 2002 US Air Force Materiel Command Engineering and Technical Management Reservist of the Year Award. He was chosen as an IEEE fellow for his contributions to adaptive radar technology and is also a fellow of the Military Sensing Symposium. Also, he is a member of the NRC Board on Army Science and Technology, served on the Air Force Studies Board on Developmental Planning organized through the National Academy of Sciences, and has served on other committees sponsored by the NRC. Dr. Melvin received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Lehigh University, as well as the MSEE and BSEE degrees (with high honors) from this same institution, respectively. He is also a distinguished graduate of the Air Force ROTC Program, and a graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne School and the U.S. Air Force Squadron Officer School.
PARVIZ MOIN is the Franklin P. and Caroline M. Johnson Professor of Engineering at Stanford University. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1986. In 1987, he founded the Center for Turbulence Research (CTR), widely recognized as the international focal point for turbulence research. In 2003 he founded the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford. He is a co-editor of the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics and associate editor of the Journal of Computational Physics and the Physics of Fluids. Dr. Moin pioneered the use of direct and large eddy simulation techniques for the study of turbulence physics and control and modeling concepts, and he has written widely on the structure of turbulent shear flows. His research interests include aerodynamic noise and hydro-acoustics, flow control and optimization, large eddy simulation, turbulent combustion, aero-optics, parallel computing, and numerical methods. Dr. Moin is a member of National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He is a fellow of AIAA, APS, and is a current member of the NRC Panel on Mechanical Sciences and Engineering at the Army Research Laboratory. Dr. Moin received his Ph.D. in mathematics and mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
ROBIE SAMANTA ROY is vice president for corporate engineering, technology and operations at Lockheed Martin Corporation. Mr. Roy’s responsibilities include leading the corporation’s enterprise-level technology innovation strategy to ensure the corporation’s continuing ability to develop and leverage new technologies to help solve customers’ most challenging problems. In this role, he works with the Engineering and Technology Council and Enterprise Operations leaders to develop and actively manage an enterprise technology roadmap aligned with business area needs, focusing on innovation. He also works with Lockheed Martin’s university program with the goal of fostering and transitioning research from leading U.S. research universities, as well as liaison with U.S. government organizations critical to the formation of technical policy and the execution of research. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Mr. Roy was a professional staff member with the Senate Armed Services Committee with the portfolio of DoD’s wide spectrum of science and technology-related activities. He came to that position from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where he was the assistant director for space and aeronautics from 2005 to 2009 and was responsible for space and aeronautics activities ranging from human space flight to the Next Generation Air Transportation System. Before that, he was a strategic analyst at the Congressional Budget Office where he was responsible for studies on military and civil space, missile defense, international relations, and other strategic forces issues. Mr. Roy started his career as a research staff member in the Systems Evaluation Division of IDA from 1995 to 2003 where he conducted studies related to command, control, communications and computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. He holds a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT as well as a master’s degree in space policy from the George Washington University and diplomas from the International Space University and Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. Mr. Roy continues to serve in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
SUBHASH C. SINGHAL is Battelle Fellow Emeritus at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Dr. Singhal worked as a Battelle fellow and director, Fuel Cells, at PNNL from 2000 to 2012 and provided senior technical, managerial, and commercialization leadership to the laboratory’s extensive fuel cell and clean energy programs. Before that, he worked for more than 29 years, initially as a scientist and later as manager of Fuel Cell Technology at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. While at Westinghouse (which later became part of Siemens), he conducted and/or managed major research, development, and demonstration programs in the field of advanced materials and
energy conversion systems, including steam and gas turbines, coal gasification, and fuel cells. From 1984 to 2000, as manager of Fuel Cell Technology there, he was responsible for the development of high temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for stationary power generation. In this role, he led an internationally recognized group in the SOFC technology and brought this technology from a few-watt laboratory curiosity to fully-integrated 200 kW size power generation systems. He has authored 100 scientific publications, edited 17 books, received 13 patents, and given 315 plenary, keynote, and other invited presentations worldwide. Dr. Singhal is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Utah and a visiting professor at the China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, and the Kyushu University, Japan. Dr. Singhal is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has served on a variety of NRC activities over a span of 30 years. He is a current member of the Board on Higher Education and the Workforce. Dr. Singhal holds a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh.
