MODERATOR: Dr. Daniel A. DeLaurentis

Chief Scientist, Systems Engineering Research Center | SERC Research Council Member – (ESOS) | Professor, School of Aeronautics & Astronautics and Director, Institute for Global Security and Defense Innovation (i-GSDI), Discovery Park at Purdue University

Dr. Daniel DeLaurentis serves as the Chief Scientist of the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), assuming the role from Dr. Barry Boehm, Chair of the SERC Research Council. Dr. DeLaurentis is co-lead of the Enterprises as Systems and System of Systems (ESOS)Research Area as a member of the SERC Research Council, in addition to leading a project to develop an Analytical Workbench for system of system (SoS) architecture analysis, design and evolution. In addition to the SERC, he leads research projects with the Missile Defense Agency and NASA in developing agent-based modeling and simulation and associated design tools for development of advanced battle management (MDA) and air transportation (NASA) architectures. Dr. Daniel DeLaurentis is a Professor in Purdue’s School of Aeronautics & Astronautics. Dr. DeLaurentis also serves as the Director of Purdue’s Institute for Global Security and Defense Innovation (i-GSDI) in the University’s Discovery Park.

His primary research interests are in the areas of problem formulation, modeling and simulation, and robust system design and control methods for aerospace systems and systems-of-systems (SoS). This includes agent-based modeling, network theory, optimization, and aerospace vehicle modeling. His research is conducted under grants from NASA, FAA, Navy, the Missile Defense Agency as well as the Systems Engineering Research Center.

Dr. DeLaurentis is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and served as Chairman of the AIAA’s Air Transportation Systems (ATS) Technical Committee from 2008-2010. He is also AIAA’s Deputy Strategic Technologies Coordinator since 2011. Dr. DeLaurentis is also a member of the IEEE and INCOSE and active in “systems circles” of those societies. He was the Co-Chair of the System of Systems Technical Committee in the IEEE System, Man, and Cybernetics Community (2009-2014) and is Associate Editor for the Transactions of the IEEE Systems, Man, & Cybernetics: Systems.

Dr. Thomas Karr

Assistant Director of Directed Energy – OUSD (R&E), DoD

Dr. Thomas Karr is the Assistant Director, Directed Energy in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Research and Engineering). His responsibilities cover all Directed Energy research and development in the Department of Defense.

He has four decades of experience in the application of science to national security. Prior to joining OUSD(R&E) he was a DARPA program manager for six years, where he created new programs for kinetic and non-kinetic effects, communication, information processing and exploitation, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. He was the Director of EO/IR Technology at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems and at Northrop Grumman, and was a Group Leader, Program Leader and senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for twelve years. He also co-founded a commercial space company, and consulted for many companies in the national security industry.

He earned his A.B. cum laude in Physics from Princeton, his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maryland, and was a Joliot-Curie Fellow of the Atomic Energy Commission of France. He has published over 50 scientific papers, serves on the Organizing Committees of three scientific conferences, holds three patents, and he is a Fellow of the Military Sensing Symposia (MSS), the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), and the Optical Society of America (OSA).

Dr. Daniel Ragsdale

Assistant Director for Cyber, OUSD (R&E), DoD

Dr. Daniel “Rags” Ragsdale is the Assistant Director for Cyber, in the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (Research & Technology). In that role, Dr. Ragsdale is responsible for coordinating cyber modernization efforts across the Department of Defense, with specific responsibility for the establishment of policies and for supervision over cyber modernization research and engineering, technology development, prototyping, experimentation, developmental testing, and transition activities.  He is also responsible for making recommendations concerning the allocation of resources and alignment of efforts across the Department.

Before his recent return to service in the Department of Defense, Dr. Ragsdale was the founding director of the Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center and a Professor of Practice in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. In the Director role, Dr. Ragsdale was responsible for leading, coordinating, and facilitating cybersecurity research and educational activities across the University.  Dr. Ragsdale had previously served as a Program Manager in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).  In that capacity, he successfully led and managed a $175M research and development portfolio of classified and unclassified cybersecurity and educational programs.

Dr. Michael Zatman

Assistant Director for Fully Networked C3, OUSD (R&E), DoD

Dr. Michael Zatman became the Assistant Director for Fully Networked Command, Control and Communications in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering on January 22nd 2019. In that capacity Michael is responsible for leading the Nation’s vision and strategy for networking, command, control and communications to support and enhance the Department’s warfighting capability.
During his career Michael has provided both organizational and technical leadership to the creation, development and fielding of new technologies, the solving of complicated technical problems and the optimization of multi-faceted system and platform concepts. He is a nationally recognized expert in communications, radar, sensor and electronic warfare systems with an extensive knowledge and understanding of ground, sea, air and space based communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

Prior to joining the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Michael was a fellow at SAZE Technologies from 2012 to 2018. From 2007 to 2012 Michael was Technical Director of QinetiQ North America’s Technology Solutions Group, where he was responsible for technical innovation and competency across a wide range of C4ISR, maritime and transportation projects. Additionally, he was the principal investigator for several new Navy, DARPA, IARPA and Air Force programs. Michael came to QinetiQ North America from DARPA where he spent four years as a Program Manager running programs and studies involving space, airborne and ground-based platforms, radar, communications, signal/electronic/communications intercept, optical sensors, multi-functional structures and quantum theory. Earlier in his career Michael worked at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he led multi-organizational & multi-disciplinary teams to design future surface radar, airborne radar and communications systems, developed signal processing algorithms and performed system engineering analysis for Air Force, Navy and MDA radar and communications systems.

Michael has authored over 65 technical publications, two book chapters and received multiple patents. Michael received his PhD and BEng (Hons – 1st Class) degrees from the University of Leeds and was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service in 2007.