People Category: AIAA Aviation Forum 2019

Peter Iosifidis

Peter Iosifidis is the Program Manager of the Lockheed Martin X-59 Low Boom Flight Demonstrator program being developed for NASA by the company’s Air Vehicle Design & Technologies of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics – Skunk Works® in Palmdale, California. Peter has been with Lockheed Martin for 35 years including 27 years at Aeronautics and 8 years at Mission Systems and Training.

Peter has a diverse background in the aerospace business with recognized experience in managing and leading programs, as well as developing company strategies to support competitive efforts. Peter’s experience spans from Program Management and Business Development to Operations and Global Sustainment. This is complimented by leadership roles as Program Manager, Capture Manager, and Deputy Director of aircraft modifications.

Peter began his career in the US Air Force at Beale AFB, CA. as a Crew Chief on the Lockheed Martin U-2 Aircraft. Since joining Lockheed Martin, he has held roles of increasing responsibility on programs including Special Mission C-130, X-33 Single Stage to Orbit Vehicle, and the F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter. While at Mission Systems and Training, Peter led the Global Sustainment and Operations organization of a large Foreign Military Sales Program in Taiwan.

Peter holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and Masters of Science in Technology Management from Pepperdine University.

Stephen Wells

Steve is currently the Director of Flight Sciences for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Prior to leading Flight Sciences, Steve served on two Commercial Derivative Aircraft programs. Steve joined the KC-46 team as Deputy Chief Project Engineer, Validation & Verification in April of 2014, and assumed the role of KC-46 Chief Project Engineer in July. In this capacity, he led the recovery of the program through first flight, FAA certification, military certification, and delivery of the first KC-46 to the United States Air Force in January of 2019. After the first delivery, he served as Chief Project Engineer for the P-8 program through January, 2020.

In November of 2013, Steve was named the 787 Regional Fleet Director. In this role he serves as an extension of the 787 Fleet Chief to provide dedicated executive communication and focus for the customers in his region. He is responsible to lead fleet reliability improvement efforts and to support new customer introductions. He is responsible for supporting customers in for Africa, the Middle East, and India.

In July of 2012, Steve assumed the role of 767 Chief Project Engineer. In this position, he was responsible for design approval, certification strategy, product integrity, and safety for the 767 commercial models. In addition to these assignment, he worked closely with the KC-46 program to maintain alignment with the commercial models.

Steve’s previous assignment was Senior Manager for Configuration Aerodynamics. Named to this position in June of 2010, he had functional and process responsibility for aerodynamic lines development, lift and drag prediction, aerodynamic database development, and aerodynamics support for manufacturing and in-service operations.

Prior to this, Steve worked in Boeing Test & Evaluation (BT&E) in the Flight Test organization. He joined the flight test team in 2008 as Supervisor for the Performance Aerodynamics Analysis group, and was promoted to 787 Deputy Test Program Manager in June 2010.

Before moving to Flight Test, Steve served as the 787 Configuration Aerodynamics Supervisor joining the High Lift Configurations group in March of 2005 and later leading the combined High Lift and High Speed Configuration Aerodynamics groups through 787 derivative studies.

In 2002, Steve became High Lift Lead Engineer in the Enabling Research and Technology organization. Here he led teams in the development of automated Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics techniques for high lift and led investigations for the advancement of high-lift, cryogenic, flight-Reynolds-number test techniques.

Steve joined the Boeing Company in 1994 hiring into the 767 aerodynamics group to work on the 767-300ERY program. After gaining experience on the 747-MD and 767-400 programs, Steve served as the high lift aerodynamics focal on the 777-200LR/300ER program. In addition to these duties, he led a cross functional team that developed the Tail Strike Protection control law used on the 777-200LR/300ER models and included in the 787 control laws.

Steve started his career in 1992 when he joined the Aerodynamics Technology group at McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach California.

Steve holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois and a MBA from the University of Washington.

Born in New York, raised in Illinois and New Hampshire, Steve currently lives in Snohomish, Washington with his wife and daughter. In his all too scarce spare time, he enjoys mountain climbing and woodworking.

Eric Barnes

Eric Barnes is currently a Northrop Grumman Fellow in Advanced Manufacturing and Emerging Programs. He is responsible for the Aeronautics System Sector Additive Manufacturing (AM) Technology portfolio and integration of Additive Manufacturing across Northrop Grumman Corporation. Eric has over 30 years of experience in materials, processes and Manufacturing research and development, implementation, design, and production support. Prior to his current role, Eric was the Sector Manager of Air Vehicle Materials and Processes Engineering, including materials research and development.

Eric has led the development, implementation and strategy for polymer and metallic additive manufacturing on multiple air and space programs and has received three additive manufacturing patents and has six patents pending.

Mr. Barnes has managed many DoD contracts from AFRL, DARPA, ONR, Army Research Labs and NASA in the areas of additive manufacturing, coatings, polymer composites, automation, drilling, and metals.  In addition to the aforementioned R&D programs, Eric has worked on the F/A-18 E/F, B-2, F-35, NASA Reusable Launch Vehicle, Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile, Targets, among others.

Eric is active in several societies including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and Society for the Advancement of Materials and Processes Engineering. He has also served the broader additive manufacturing community as the Northrop Grumman Governance Board representative at America Makes. Eric has participated in many government AM road mapping and strategy activities and at the request of the director of DOE Advanced Manufacturing Office, performed a peer review of DOE’s Manufacturing Development Facility and their Additive Manufacturing Center. Eric was the Industry Chair of the MAI Consortium for three years and a Director/ Board member of the MAI Association for over ten years.

Education:

BS, Mechanical Engineering, CSULB

MS, Materials Science and Engineering, UCLA

Systems Engineering certificate, California Institute of Technology

Michael Romanowski

Dr. Michael Romanowski is the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Director of Policy & Innovation in the Aircraft Certification (AIR) Service.  In this role, he provides executive direction in support of aerospace innovation, by seeking out the best solutions for the organization that will drive outcomes, anticipating key changes in the market, and mobilizing teams around the change to develop a clear pathway to certification for all aerospace products. He also provides direction in the development and maintenance of AIR regulations, guidance and directives, research and development activities for AIR, and maintains and manages the Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor program, as well as fleet safety studies and evaluation of overall fleet safety needs.

Professional Knowledge & Experience

Dr. Romanowski previously served as the Director for Commercial Space Integration in the Office of Commercial Space Transportation.  In this role he provided executive leadership for the safety and environmental regulation and oversight of commercial spaceports, launches and reentries, and the integration of these operations within the National Air Space.

Before joining the Office of Commercial Space Transportation he served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he was the aviation advisor to the first-ever Chief Technology Officer of the United States.  He also served as the FAA representative to the White House’s National Science and Technology Council and its Committee on Technology.  In these roles, he focused on developing and advancing strategies and policies across the federal government and with the private sector that promoted innovation, and accelerating the benefits of federal investments in aviation and aeronautics.

Prior to his White House assignment, Dr. Romanowski was the FAA Director of NextGen Integration and Implementation with responsibility for ensuring the integrated application, planning, programming, budgeting, and execution of FAA’s NextGen air traffic management modernization portfolio.

Before joining FAA, he was Vice President of Civil Aviation at the Aerospace Industries Association, where he headed all its activities on aviation-related issues and policy, including the areas of research and development, aviation infrastructure, and safety and security.  At the same time, he was also the President of the National Center for Advanced Technologies, a non-profit corporation that assists the federal government by developing cooperative links between government, academia, and business on policy issues, with a focus on civil and military aerospace research and development.  Dr. Romanowski also held position as the Director of Product Safety, Certification and Airworthiness at Sikorsky Aircraft with responsibilities spanning Sikorsky’s entire product line.  Before joining Sikorsky, he held a similar role at Pratt and Whitney.

Education, Certifications and Awards

Dr. Romanowski received his Doctorate of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University.  He also holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Boston University.

James A. Haas

Jim is the Director of Product Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He leads the team that presents the value of Boeing’s products to airlines, financiers, media and other key stakeholders. His team is also responsible bringing customer input on product development studies back to Boeing’s design teams.

Prior to his current assignment he served as Director of 747/767/ 787 Product Marketing, where he led marketing and analysis efforts for those models.

Jim joined the Product Marketing department in 1997 as Regional Director – Product Marketing, covering all Boeing models in support of sales campaigns. Prior to that assignment he was responsible for airplane performance support for all Boeing aircraft to the Sales, Marketing and Contracts organizations for sales campaigns in the Asia – Pacific region.

Jim began his career at Boeing in 1979 as a configuration design engineer in the 757 aerodynamics organization. Since that time he has held a variety of assignments in aircraft design and performance in the 757 and 777 programs, and in support of product development activities.

Jim holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering from Purdue University.

Nancy J. Currie-Gregg

Dr. Nancy Currie-Gregg has extensive experience supporting NASA’s human spaceflight programs and projects. Selected as an astronaut in 1990, she accrued 1000 hours in space as a mission specialist on four space shuttle missions–STS-57 in 1993; STS-70 in 1995; STS-88, the first International Space Station assembly mission, in 1998; and STS-109, the fourth Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, in 2002. A retired US Army Colonel and Master Army Aviator, she logged over 4,000 flying hours in a variety of rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft. Following the Columbia tragedy, she led the Space Shuttle Program Safety and Mission Assurance Office directing safety, reliability, and quality assurance efforts enabling the safe return to flight of the Space Shuttle in 2005. She then served in senior engineering positions at NASA including Deputy Director of Engineering at the Johnson Space Center and Chief Engineer and Principal Engineer for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center. In the fall of 2017, she joined Texas A&M University as a Professor of Engineering Practice in Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Dr. Currie-Gregg received her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from The Ohio State University, a master of science in safety engineering from University of Southern California, and a doctorate in industrial engineering with an emphasis in human factors engineering and automated systems from University of Houston.

Karl Garman

Karl Garman is the deputy director of research for the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. He co-manages the Office’s research portfolio to encourage, facilitate, and promote safe and efficient commercial space practices. A former flight test engineer, he is the immediate past chair of AIAA’s Flight Testing Technical Committee, a Certified Flight Instructor, and is the lead author for the annual Flight Testing Year in Review article. He earned his Ph.D. from Purdue University, a Master of Arts from the US Naval War College, and is an AIAA Associate Fellow.

Dean Fulmer

Dean Fulmer has been with The MITRE Corporation for over seven years working extensively on projects for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), Traffic Flow Management (TFM) and Commercial Space Transportation (CST).  For the past four years he has been the Portfolio Manager for all CST projects.  Mr. Fulmer enjoyed a 30-year career with the FAA where he was most recently the Acting Manager of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Group.

Although not current, he holds various pilot certificates and has extensive experience with flight instruction, part 135 charter operations and airport management.  Mr. Fulmer has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN.

Updated January 2019

Warren Frick

Warren is a manager within the business development organization of the Launch Vehicle Division of the Flight Systems Group of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and supports the application ofNorthrop Grumman’s diverse range of space launch capabilities towards the needs of potential customers- representing Antares, Pegasus, all the Minotaur’s, Omega and many of the other space launch systems in Northrop Grumman’s arsenal. After several tours in the United States Air Force, Warren has supportedlaunch systems for Orbital, ATK, Orbital ATK, and now Northrop Grumman.

Warren has a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, masters in Computer Science, is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of California and has more than 35 years of experience in the aerospace profession supporting space launch vehicle, satellite, and aircraft applications.