People Category: AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum 2019

Mark D. Wilson
Chief Operating Officer
Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, Inc.

Mark Wilson became the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, Inc., (LibertyWorks^®) in 2010 after serving as the Executive Director since 2009. The primary mission of LibertyWorks is to create an agile, entrepreneurial team that excels at developing innovative, affordable power system solutions that enable Rolls-Royce to provide segment-leading solutions for our customers.

Mr. Wilson joined Rolls-Royce in 1982 and has moved through a series of assignments in engineering leadership positions over the past 37 years. Prior to his roles in LibertyWorks, Mr. Wilson held the position of Chief Engineer – JSF LiftSystem^® for four years. In this role he had the technical responsibility for development, qualification and entry to production of the LiftSystem for the F-35B under contract from P&W. Prior to this assignment, from 2001 to 2005 he was the Chief Engineer – JSF F136, where he had technical responsibility for completion of the Rolls-Royce workscope for the pre-SDD phase of the F136 program, in partnership with GE.

Mr. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the New York Institute of Technology. In 2010, he completed the Global 2020 Executive Leadership program from the Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business and in 2017 he completed the Rolls-Royce Leadership Academy at the Oxford University Said Business School.

Steven Martens

Dr. Steve Martens is currently the Propulsion, Power and Thermal Management Program Officer at The Office of Naval Research, Code 35 – Aviation, Force Projection and Integrated Defense. He manages a portfolio of Science and Technology programs to ready new technologies and capabilities for transition to the USN and USMC. Prior to his current role, Dr. Martens spent 20+ years at GE Aviation and GE Global Research, where he developed a deep technical background in advanced propulsion, inlets and exhausts, unsteady aerodynamics and aeroacoustics. He holds a MS and PhD in Aerospace Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University.

Simon Weeks

Dr Simon Weeks was appointed as Chief Technology Officer of the UK’s Aerospace Technology Institute in September 2014 and leads technical aspects of the ATI. Simon also chairs the NATEP National Steering Board and is a member of the Warwick Manufacturing Group Board.

Prior to joining the institute, Simon spent most of his professional career in Rolls-Royce, most recently as Head of Aerospace Research & Technology leading the global research and technology programme for future jet engines for Rolls-Royce. Before this, Simon held a number of other senior technical leadership roles in Rolls-Royce including Director of Engineering Operations for Aero Engine Controls (a RR-Goodrich Joint venture company) and Technical Director for Eurojet (leading the development of the EJ200 engine for the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft).

Simon is a chartered engineer and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He gained a MA in chemistry and a DPhil in the electro-chemistry of fuel cells at Oxford University.

Don Thomas

DONALD A. THOMAS (PH.D.) NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born May 6, 1955, in Cleveland, Ohio. Married to the former Simone Lehmann of Göppingen, Germany. They have one son. He enjoys swimming, biking, camping, flying. His mother, Mrs. Irene M. Thomas, resides in Bloomington, Indiana. Her parents, Margrit and Gerhard Lehmann, reside in Göppingen, Germany.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Cleveland Heights High School, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in 1973; received a bachelor of science degree in Physics from Case Western Reserve University in 1977, and a master of science degree and a doctorate in Materials Science from Cornell University in 1980 and 1982, respectively. His dissertation involved evaluating the effect of crystalline defects and sample purity on the superconducting properties of niobium.

ORGANIZATIONS: Tau Beta Pi; Association of Space Explorers (ASE).

SPECIAL HONORS: Graduated with Honors from Case Western Reserve University in 1977. Recipient of NASA Sustained Superior Performance Award, 1989. Recipient of 4 NASA Group Achievement Awards, 4 NASA Space Flight Medals, 2 NASA Exceptional Service Medals, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

EXPERIENCE: Following graduation from Cornell University in 1982, Dr. Thomas joined AT&T Bell Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey, working as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff. His responsibilities there included the development of advanced materials and processes for high density interconnections of semiconductor devices. He was also an adjunct professor in the Physics Department at Trenton State College in New Jersey. He holds two patents and has authored several technical papers. He left AT&T in 1987 to work for Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company in Houston, Texas, where his responsibilities involved reviewing materials used in Space Shuttle payloads. In 1988 he joined NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center as a Materials Engineer. His work involved lifetime projections of advanced composite materials for use on Space Station Freedom. He was also a Principal Investigator for the Microgravity Disturbances Experiment, a middeck crystal growth experiment which flew on STS-32 in January 1990. This experiment investigated the effects of Orbiter and crew-induced disturbances on the growth of crystals in space.

He is a private pilot with over 250 hours in single engine land aircraft and gliders, and over 800 hours flying as mission specialist in NASA T-38 jet aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in January 1990, Dr. Thomas became an astronaut in July 1991. Dr. Thomas has served in the Safety, Operations Development, and Payloads Branches of the Astronaut Office. He was CAPCOM (spacecraft communicator) for Shuttle missions STS-47, 52 and 53. From July 1999 to June 2000 he was Director of Operations for NASA at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. A veteran of four space flights, he has logged over 1,040 hours in space. He was a mission specialist on STS-65 (July 8-23, 1994), STS-70 (July 13-22, 1995), STS-83 (April 4-8, 1997) and STS-94 (July 1-17, 1997). Initially assigned to the ISS Expedition-6 crew, his flight assignment withdrawal resulted from a medical issue affecting long duration space flight qualifications. In his last assignment he served as the International Space Station Program Scientist overseeing NASA experiments performed on the ISS. Dr. Thomas retired from NASA in July 2007 in order to pursue private interests.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-65 Columbia (July 8-23, 1994) set a new flight duration record for the Space Shuttle program. The mission flew the second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2). During the 15-day flight the crew conducted more than 80 experiments focusing on materials and life sciences research in microgravity. The mission was accomplished in 236 orbits of the Earth, traveling 6.1 million miles in 353 hours and 55 minutes.

STS-70 Discovery (July 13-22, 1995). During the STS-70 mission, Dr. Thomas was responsible for the deployment of the sixth and final Tracking and Data Relay Satellite from the Space Shuttle. Mission duration was 214 hours and 20 minutes, traveling

3.7 million miles in 142 orbits of the Earth.

STS-83 Columbia (April 4-8, 1997). The STS-83 Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) Spacelab mission, was cut short because of problems with one of the Shuttle’s three fuel cell power generation units. Mission duration was 95 hours and 12 minutes, traveling 1.5 million miles in 63 orbits of the Earth.

STS-94 Columbia (July 1-17, 1997), was a re-flight of the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) Spacelab mission, and focused on materials and combustion science research in microgravity. Mission duration was 376 hours and 45 minutes, traveling 6.3 million miles in 251 orbits of the Earth.

Gerry McCartney

Gerry McCartney is executive vice president for Purdue Online, the online education initiative adopted in June 2018 by Purdue University President Mitch Daniels and the Board of Trustees with the goal of systematically developing and growing a coordinated, unified systemwide portfolio of offerings from Purdue’s physical campuses and from Purdue Global that serves all types of students.

McCartney is overseeing development of a one-stop-shop system for matching prospective students with courses and programs that best fit their needs – even pointing them to options they may not have considered. He also is positioning Purdue as a top provider of tailored corporate training and re-training.

Under McCartney, Purdue’s online offerings are being rooted in sophisticated market research and online analytics to provide the best experience and most value for students seeking the same kind of world-class education traditionally available from Purdue.

McCartney served as Purdue’s chief information officer from July 2007 to December 2018. In 2013, his role was expanded to include responsibility for the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Effectiveness (OIRAE) and oversight of information technology at the regional, as well as West Lafayette, campuses. In 2017, he was named executive vice president with the additional duty of leading an effort to develop a more organized, strategic approach to online and digital offerings for the entire Purdue system, which resulted in Purdue Online.

Under McCartney’s IT leadership, Purdue developed the nation’s largest campus cyberinfrastructure for research, with multiple supercomputers listed in the internationally known Top 500 list. Also during his tenure, Purdue developed some of the nation’s best learning and classroom technologies, including Hotseat and Passport and pioneering academic analytics apps Signals and Forecast.

McCartney holds tenure at the rank of professor in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute and is the Olga Oesterle England Professor of Information Technology.

Before becoming CIO, McCartney served two years as assistant dean for technology at Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, executive MBA and engineering management programs. From 1993 to 2004, he was associate dean and chief information officer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He was director of the Krannert Computing Center from 1990 to 1993 and was manager of user services at the Purdue Computing Center from 1988 to 1990. He also has held managerial positions in the computing centers at both the University of Notre Dame and Maynooth College in Ireland.

McCartney holds a patent on a product providing authenticated access to Internet-based research and data services. He also earned the CIO Enterprise Value Award in 2003, the 2013 Global Leader in IT Value Award and the 2015 Computerworld Premier 100 Award. He frequently speaks and comments on the entrepreneurial management of technology for national media.

In 1995, McCartney received his doctorate in sociology and anthropology from Purdue. He also earned diplomas in advanced computer programming and systems analysis from the Graduate School of Engineering at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, in 1982 and 1984. He took first class honors in both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1981 and 1984, respectively, from Maynooth College.

Carla Sands

Carla Sands is the Workforce Program Manager for Aviation Week Network. She leads their student and young professional workforce study and manages the prestigious 20 Twenties Awards Program. As a young professional herself, she finds engaging with students and young professionals to encourage a career in the aerospace and defense industry very rewarding.

Carla graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in 2008 and worked in both the North Carolina and Georgia DOT Aviation Divisions. She became the Assistant Manager for the Aviation Program at the Georgia DOT in 2012. After a move to Indianapolis in 2015, she began her work with Aviation Week.

When she’s not out promoting the aerospace and defense industry, she’s playing ball or watching movies with her husband and three boys.

Kenneth Suder

Dr. Suder joined NASA Glenn in 1983. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. His experience includes computational and experimental research in multistage turbomachinery for advanced air breathing propulsion systems. He is most noted for his contributions to the NASA Rotor 37 and Rotor 67 Benchmark data sets used for CFD validation. He chaired the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Turbomachinery Technical Committee from 2010-2013, and he is an ASME Fellow.

Dr. Suder has also held several key leadership roles within the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. As the Chief Technologist for NGLT (Next Generation Launch Technology) TBCC (Turbine Based Combine Cycle) Revolutionary Turbine Accelerator project and the Principal Investigator for NASA (Fundamental Aeronautics Program) Hypersonic project 1999-2010, he led the development of a Mach 3-4 turbine engine for the first stage of a 2-stage to orbit launch system. From 2010-2014, Ken was the Sub-Project Manager for Propulsion Technology in the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project, leading combustor, propulsor and core turbomachinery research & development efforts to demonstrate enabling technologies to meet the NASA Subsonic transport goals to reduce fuel burn, emissions, and noise. For the last 5 years, Ken served as the Chief of the Turbomachinery and Turboelectric Systems Branch, and most recently he was selected as the NASA Senior Technologist for Airbreathing Propulsion at NASA Glenn Research Center.

Sunil James

Sunil James is currently a Senior Manager of Propulsion Technologies at Honeywell Aerospace. He is responsible for the development of compressor, combustor, and turbine technologies for propulsion engines. Prior to this role, Sunil was a combustor design and development manager and led teams on propulsion combustor programs for HTF7000, TFE731, and F124. He also led teams on APU combustor programs for 777X, A350, A220, and COMAC C919. Additionally, he was also involved in demonstrator programs such as HPW3000, VAATE STF, and TPE. In addition to combustor design and development, Sunil has extensive experience in the development and application of large eddy simulation tools for gas turbine combustor design and has published several technical papers on this subject. He is an associate fellow of AIAA.