Organizers

Panelist Bios (to be updated)

Susan Schoenung is president of Longitude 122 West, Inc., a consulting firm in Menlo Park, California. She has worked with the NASA airborne science team for fifteen years as a project engineer. She has been involved in the design and specification of unmanned aircraft systems for numerous science and civil missions, including the Western States Fire Mission. She co-leads the NASA airborne science effort to derive system requirements for UAS and manned aircraft systems. She earned a BS in Physics from Iowa State University and an MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Susan is a long-time member of IEEE.

Thomas Zajkowski began working at the USDA Forest Services’ Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) as an remote sensing instructor, and photo plane pilot in 1999. Since 2001 Tom has served as a technical advisor to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). RSAC supports NIFC by serving as a liaison to other agencies such as NASA and NGA and by evaluating remote sensing technologies that have possible fire management applications. Since 2003 Tom has worked with NASA-Ames on the Wildfire Research and Applications Partnership (WRAP). Tom has AAS from Ames Community College in Aviation and holds a Commercial Pilots License. He received a B.S. in Geography specializing in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing from the University of Utah.

David Rousseau received his degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of California, Davis and continued his studies in aerospace vehicle design at the University of Maryland. He has worked at the David Taylor Naval Ship R&D Center, Aviation & Surface Effects Dept. in Bethesda, MD, the Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego, and is now at the SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego. Among the many projects he has worked on are: a Vertical Attitude Takeoff & Landing fighter concept, Wing-In-Ground-Effect aircraft and was the primary test pilot for a Power-Augmented-Ram-Landing-Craft variant; various DARPA projects including the "Cormorant" submarine launched & recovered UAV; and is the creator of the Nightingale UAS concept for MedEvac, Rescue & Logistics. He also spent two years as a technical advisor at CINCPACFLT, Pearl Harbor under the Navy Science Assistance Program, and is currently working on Maritime Domain Awareness.

Tad McGeer did work on robotic aircraft starting from 1990, when he served as Chief Scientist at Aurora Flight Sciences. He headed early design studies on the Perseus and Theseus unmanned research aircraft, and then proposed the Aerosonde miniature aircraft concept for long-range weather reconnaissance. This led to founding of The Insitu Group, beginning in a Silicon Valley garage in 1992, and moving to the Columbia River Gorge in 1994. Insitu pioneered development of miniature robotic aircraft in worldwide trials through the latter half of the 1990s. In 2000, Dr McGeer led design of Seascan for long-endurance imaging reconnaissance. Seascan made the longest-ever flight for a ship-based aircraft in 2004, while the GeoRanger variant made the first unmanned geomagnetic surveys, and the Scaneagle military variant was adopted by the US Marines and Navy. Dr McGeer directed all of Insitu’s engineering through 2004, with particular responsibility for conceptual and configuration design, performance, dynamics and control, avionics, algorithms, simulation, and onboard and ground software. In 2006 Dr McGeer founded Aerovel Corporation to concentrate on civil applications of robotic aircraft. He serves as an affiliate faculty member in Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Washington. He has been flying for more than 30 years and 2,500 hours, with glider, sea, and instrument ratings.

Vince Ambrosia is a senior research scientist and adjunct faculty member of California State University – Monterey Bay, working at NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, Calif. He received a Bachelor of Science in Geography from Carroll College, Waukesha, Wis., in 1978. He was awarded a Master of Science in Geography (remote sensing) from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville in 1980.

James Jewell James Jewell, B.S., M.S., M.B.A. is the President of UAV MarketSpace, Inc. Oyster Bay, NY. UAV MarketSpace is a consultancy directed to facilitate the introduction of UASs into the NAS. UAVM has published UAVM.com, a comprehensive UAS reference website. UAVM offers consulting services to assist in the development of markets and applications for UASs. Jim is an affiliate consultant with American Aerospace Advisors Inc.