Appendix B
Study Committee Biographical Information
Heidi C. Perry, Chair, is currently the Assistant Division Head for the Division Office for Air, Missile & Maritime Defense Technology at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. In her role, she leads strategic initiatives for undersea systems, including the development of new approaches in autonomy technology and artificial intelligence. She also serves as the Chief Innovation Officer for the division. Previously, Ms. Perry was the Director, System Engineering, at the Charles S. Draper Laboratory, Inc. She also served in other senior leadership roles, including the Director, Algorithms & Software and the Director, Internal R&D Portfolio. Her expertise includes guidance, navigation, and control; global position system anti-jam and ground control; autonomous systems; mission-critical software; and command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. Ms. Perry began her career with General Electric as a systems engineer working on the AN/BSY-2 Sonar System before moving to IBM to work as a systems engineer for avionics design and flight test programs. From IBM she moved to the Draper Laboratory as task leader for the Dolphin Navigation System Upgrade and remained with Draper for more than 20 years. During those years at the laboratory, she served as technical director for various research and development programs involving autonomous spacecraft, aircraft, robotics systems, and underwater vehicles. A member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), she was named AIAA Software Engineer of the Year 2004—New England Sector. A former member of the Naval Studies Board (2008–2013), she also served on the National Academies’ Committee on Capability Surprise for U.S. Naval
Forces, Committee on National Security Implications of Climate Change on U.S. Naval Forces, and Committee on the “1,000 Ship Navy”—A Distributed and Global Maritime Network. Most recently, she served as Co-Chair of the National Academies’ Committee on Mainstreaming Unmanned Undersea Vehicles into Future U.S. Naval Operations. She has also served as Chair for the Transportation Research Board’s Committee for Review of the National Naval Responsibility for Naval Engineering Program. She received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University and an M.S. in computer engineering from the National Technical University. She currently serves as a member of the President’s Council of Cornell Women.
RADM Thomas J. Eccles (NAE) is the Chief Executive Officer of Trident Maritime Systems, LLC. He served for more than 30 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring in 2013 as the Chief Engineer for ships, submarines, aircraft carriers, and their weapons and systems. His fields of expertise include naval operations and engineering, submarines, deep sea diving, and salvage operations. RADM Eccles led submarine design and construction programs and was responsible for research and development submarines, submarine escape and rescue systems, and atmospheric diving systems. His Flag Officer assignments included Deputy Commander for Undersea Warfare and Undersea Technology in the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), and Commander of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, before becoming NAVSEA’s Chief Engineer in September 2008. He is member of the Marine Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and previously served on the National Academies’ Committee on the Analysis of Causes of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Fire, and Oil Spill to Identify Measures to Prevent Similar Accidents in the Future. RADM Eccles earned a B.S. in electrical engineering, an M.S. in mechanical engineering, the Naval Engineer degree, and an M.S. in management of technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jaye Falls is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy. She previously served as a consultant to the Oracle BMW Racing Team for the 2003 America’s Cup, supporting the design and structural analysis of the racing yacht hull, mast, and appendages. She also worked as a Senior Engineer in the Proteus Engineering Division at Anteon Corporation performing ship design and analysis for monohull, multihull, and submarine vessels. Prior to working for Anteon, she worked as a Naval Architect at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. She served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Study to Update Coast Guard Vessel Stability Standards. Dr. Falls earned a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park; an M.S. in
ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and a B.S. in naval architecture and marine engineering from the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture.
Barry M. Horowitz (NAE) joined the University of Virginia (UVA) faculty as a Professor in the Systems and Information Engineering Department in September 2001, after a research and industrial career involving the application of systems engineering to many large and complex systems. He assumed the role of the Department Chair in 2009. Since joining UVA, he has focused his research efforts on wireless systems and a systems engineering approach for addressing cybersecurity. From 2006 to 2013 he served as the UVA research site director for the National Science Foundation−sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/U CRC) called WICAT (Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology). He has been leading a U.S. Department of Defense–sponsored research project on embedding cybersecurity resilience solutions into systems, referred to as System Aware Cyber Security. The project includes work on cybersecurity for airborne surveillance systems onboard unmanned vehicles. From 1969 through 1996 he was employed in a variety of positions at the MITRE Corporation, including the past 5 years as the President and the Chief Executive Officer. He chaired and served on numerous National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees, including the Naval Studies Board. He was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1996 and has served as a Cybersecurity Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2014 through 2016. Dr. Horowitz earned a B.S. from City College of New York, an M.S. from New York University, and a Ph.D. from New York University, all in electrical engineering.
Lauren J. Kessler is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at the Charles S. Draper Laboratory, where she has led the Intelligent Automated Systems and the Resilience and Fault Tolerance groups. She has been a key contributor to the laboratory’s unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) efforts, focused on the human operator engagement with the autonomous vehicles. She was the software systems safety lead for the autonomous path and mission planning system and led projects on automated hydrocarbon extraction rigs, lunar surface systems autonomy software architectures, and autonomous precision lunar landing mission management. She is currently working on the fault-tolerant flight computer software development for the DreamChaser unmanned spacecraft. Previously, she was a lead engineer at Northstar and Avidyne for the development and certification of a general aviation next generation Air Data/Attitude/Heading Reference System and a precision approach navigation device for the GPS-Wide Area Augmentation System. Her areas of expertise center on human-in-the-loop
and mission-critical systems, including war-gaming simulations, human-embedded autonomous systems, avionics, and human decision aides. She is a commercially rated helicopter pilot and advanced aviation ground instructor, and serves in the Civil Air Patrol in Massachusetts and on the University of Colorado Aerospace Engineering Sciences External Advisory Board. She earned an M.S. from Boston University.
Annette J. Krygiel served 38 years in U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) organizations with missions in mapping and imagery, including the Aeronautical Chart and Information Center, the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA), the Central Imagery Office (CIO), and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Her assignments spanned management and development of geodetic and gravimetric programs, telecommunications applications for mapping, and the management of large-scale computer systems. She was a program manager for the Digital Production System, then one of DOD’s largest software developments, providing DMA the capability to transform the mapping and charting process with revolutionary digital technologies. She later summarized lessons learned on large-scale systems’ integration in her book Behind the Wizard’s Curtain: An Integration Environment for a System of Systems. She became DMA’s Chief Scientist until her appointment by the Secretary of Defense as the Director of the CIO, a Combat Support Agency operating as the functional manager of the defense and intelligence imagery community. As an independent consultant for many years, Dr. Krygiel participated on many advisory panels and teams and also served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Naval Studies Board for 6 years. She earned a D.Sc. in computer science from Washington University in St. Louis.
VADM Fred M. Midgette retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2018 after serving as the Commander of the Pacific Area. In this capacity, he served as the operational commander for all Coast Guard missions within half of the world that spans from the Rocky Mountains to the waters off the East Coast of Africa. He previously served as the Deputy Commandant for Operations where he was responsible for developing operational strategy, policy, guidance, and resources that address national priorities. Other Flag Officer assignments include service as the Senior Military Advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security and Commander of the Ninth Coast Guard District. He specialized in afloat operations serving in seven Coast Guard cutters, commanding four of them; and additionally, he qualified as a Surface Warfare Officer aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer. He was the 14th Gold Ancient Mariner of the Coast Guard, which is an honorary position held by an officer with more than 10 years of cumulative sea duty who has held the qualification as a Cutterman longer than any other officer. He earned a B.S. in civil
engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, an M.S. in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an M.A. in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.
CDR Matthew Pickett is the Co-Founder and the President of Oceans Unmanned, a nonprofit organization with the mission to facilitate the use of unmanned technologies for environmental research and monitoring. He retired in 2007 from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as the Commander after serving 20 years, providing operational support for NOAA ocean and coastal research missions aboard ships, small boats, aircraft, and SCUBA diving. His NOAA career included 4 years as the Chief of the Remote Sensing Division Flight Branch and 3 years as the Superintendent of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. His aviation experience consists of multiple Federal Aviation Administration ratings, including an Airline Transport Pilot, Seaplane Rating, and Remote Pilot Certificate. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University.
Sean T. Pribyl, Esq., is a lawyer and a Senior Claims Executive with Gard AS P&I Club in Arendal, Norway, where he advises on legal matters related to marine incidents and serves on Gard’s autonomous systems workgroup. Most recently, he was an attorney with Blank Rome LLP in Washington, DC, with a practice focused on maritime international law, unmanned systems, and environmental and regulatory compliance. He is a widely published author in treatises and publications on topics related to maritime law and advanced automation in the transportation sector, and he is a regular speaker at international conferences and seminars on topics related to maritime law and unmanned/autonomous systems. He is an active participate on several international industry workgroups addressing legal issues with advanced autonomy in the transportation sector, including the International Working Group on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships at the Comité Maritime International. He served for 6 years as a Coast Guard judge advocate where he was an attorney-advisor to Coast Guard program offices on legal and policy matters related to unmanned systems, and he is a licensed merchant mariner (Deck Officer) with 8 years of service aboard commercial ships. Mr. Pribyl is also a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Marine Board and a Proctor in Admiralty with the U.S. Maritime Law Association. He earned a J.D. from Washburn University School of Law and an M.A. in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.
Chuck E. Thorpe is a Professor of computer science at Clarkson University. He has previously served both as the Provost and the Dean of Arts and
Sciences at Clarkson. He spent the bulk of his career with the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute (1979–2012), including the Director of the institute. The institute’s Navlab group built a self-driving car in 1989; drove autonomously across the United States in 1995; and contributed to both U.S. Department of Defense (Autonomous Land Vehicle) and U.S. Department of Transportation automation programs and projects (Automated Highway Demonstration and Single Vehicle Roadway Departure Countermeasures). He continues as an Adjunct Professor of robotics with Carnegie Mellon. He has more than 120 refereed publications in robotics. Dr. Thorpe has often been called to serve on scientific or advisory committees; he has served on several studies for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and national and international advisory committees. Dr. Thorpe earned a Ph.D. in computer sciences from Carnegie Mellon University.
