Parimal Kopardekar (PK) serves as the Director of NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI). In that capacity, he is responsible for exploring new trends and needs related to aviation in the areas of autonomy, aeronautics manufacturing, and advanced air mobility. He also serves as NASA’s senior technologist for Air Transportation Systems and principal investigator for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) project. He was formerly manager of the NASA’s Safe Autonomous System Operations Project, which developed autonomy related concepts, technologies and architectures that will increase efficiency, safety, and capacity of airspace operations.
Prior to that, he managed Next Generation Air Transportation Systems (NextGen) Concepts and Technology Development Project. He enjoys initiating new concepts and technology ideas that increase airspace capacity and throughput, reduce delays, and reduce the total cost of air transportation. At NASA, he has initiated many innovative research projects including reduced crew operations, net-enabled air traffic management, autonomy for airspace operations, Shadow-Mode Assessment using Realistic Technologies for the National Airspace System (SMART NAS), and low-altitude airspace management system focused on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations.
He is the winner of the 2020 NASA Government Invention of the Year and the 2018 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (known as the Oscars for the federal workforce) in the “Promising Innovations” category. In 2017, he was named among the 25 most influential people in commercial drone industry. He has published over 50 conference and journal papers with three best paper awards, delivered more than 20 keynote talks at national and international conferences, and participates as an expert with media on topics related to unmanned aircraft systems, urban air mobility, autonomy, and supply chain management. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and recipient of numerous NASA awards including Outstanding Leadership Medal and Engineer of the Year. He holds a doctorate and master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering and bachelor’s degree in production engineering. He serves as the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Aerospace Operations. He also serves as an adjunct faculty and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to operations management and supply chain management.
Official Bio
Kevin Michaels is the author of AeroDynamic: Inside the High-Stakes Global Jetliner Ecosystem, a recipient of the 2019 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award.
Kevin is Managing Director of AeroDynamic Advisory, a specialty consulting firm focused on the global aerospace and aviation industries. He has 34 years of experience, including hundreds of consulting engagements for leading aviation and aerospace companies across the globe. Kevin is a globally recognized expert in the aerospace manufacturing and MRO sectors, and has significant functional expertise in business-to-business marketing, customer satisfaction, M&A advisory, technology assessment, cluster development, and strategic planning. His experience spans the air transport, business & general aviation, and military sectors.
Kevin is a contributing columnist to Aviation Week & Space Technology and Forbes. He also chairs the Industry Advisory Board of the University of Michigan’s Aerospace Engineering Department, and is on the Board of Directors of Proponent, a leading aerospace distributor. He holds BS – Aerospace Engineering and MBA degrees from the University of Michigan, and MSc and PhD degrees in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
Karen Feigh iis a professor and associate chair for research at the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Feigh’s expertise is in flight mechanics and controls, and the aeronautical engineering multidisciplinary research areas of robotics, autonomy, and human interactions. Feigh has experience in fast-time air traffic simulation, conducting ethnographic studies of airlines and fractional ownership operation control centers, designing expert systems for air traffic control towers and NextGen concepts, and conducting human-in-the-loop experiments for concept validation. Feigh is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Zonta International; received the Wilbur and Orville Wright Graduate Award; and was an Amelia Earhart Fellow, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and a Marshall Scholar. Dr. Feigh received a Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Drake Berglund leads Boeing’s strategy development and partnerships within its Sustainability and Future Mobility organization. Previously, Drake was a Principal in Boeing’s Corporate Strategy team, served as Program Manager for Boeing’s 747 and 777 Component Services businesses, and was part of Boeing HorizonX, which was responsible for venture investments and strategy development across emerging aerospace market segments.
Drake holds a BA from Occidental College and an MBA from The Wharton School. Drake lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
