Robert D. Love, Ph.D., is an aircraft conceptual design engineer at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) focused on multi-disciplinary UAS design optimization, life cycle cost estimation and mission analysis.
During Dr. Love’s 10 years at GA-ASI, he has also acted as both Project Engineer for Technology Development, and Airframe Design Engineer.
Prior to joining GA-ASI, Dr. Love supported F-2 composites production at Lockheed Martin. He serves on the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aircraft Design Technical Committee and as a liaison to the Electrified Aircraft Technology Technical Committee. He has authored more than 12 reviewed papers and multiple patents.
Dr. Love earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida in 2011 after obtaining his B.S. in Aerospace & Materials Engineering from Auburn University.
Girls Take Flight Alumna: Fatima Laugo
Fatima Laugo is currently a Junior at Morse High School. Outside of Girls Take Flight, Fatima is heavily involved in JROTC, participating in various teams such as Academic League and Vex Robotics. She also oversees a non-profit organization called SOAR that educates young female and nonbinary students about the drone industry. Her hobbies include learning about space exploration and modern military aviation. She is currently in flight school studying towards her Private Pilots License. After high school, she hopes to major in either Aerospace Engineering or Physics at Stanford, Cornell, or the US Air Force Academy. She dreams of becoming a pilot for the US Air Force and eventually working for either NASA, SpaceX, or other well-established aerospace companies.
AIAA Associate Fellow Don Edberg has been teaching aerospace vehicle design since 2001 at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (CPP); he also holds part-time positions at USC and UCLA. CPP student design teams he has advised have placed over 20 times in AIAA student design competitions in Missile Systems, Space Transportation Systems, Spacecraft Design, and Aircraft Design. At CPP, he has received the Provost’s Excellence in Teaching award, College of Engineering’s Outstanding Teaching Award, and the Northrop Grumman Faculty Teaching award. He regularly presents short courses in launch vehicle and spacecraft design. He received a B.A. in Applied Mechanics from the UC San Diego, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aeronautical and Astronautical Sciences from Stanford. He is an Eminent Engineer in Tau Beta Pi and was Engineer of the Year of the AIAA Orange County, CA section.
Sophia Crowder is a Student Ambassador for Higher Orbits, founder of girl-empowering initiative, ITGirls, and a Space Coast Scholar of the NASA/Virginia Space Grant Consortium. Sophie aspires to inspire the next generation of STEMists, innovators, and space explorers with her work and advocacies. Her biggest aspiration is to be an innovator for the space program as an engineer and/or physicist. Aside from STEM, Sophie is also an avid musician, a trained fencer/martial artist, a multi-awarded essayist, TedEd speaker, as well as a scuba diver and pilot-in-training. She is a staunch advocate for gender equity and serves in the Advisory Board of Être Girls as well as the Girls Advisory Council for IfThenSheCan (both mentorship programs for female empowerment). She was most recently named one of 12 #GirlsOfTheFuture (by the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s IfThenSheCan Ambassador Program) for her Covid-19 invention (the Curie Box) and accomplishments in aerospace science including her winning STEAM experiment with Higher Orbits’ Go-For-Launch program. Sophie is 16 years old and currently pursuing both her high school diploma and Associate’s Degree in Science & Math.
Timothy Bleakley is an Engineering Supervisor for Airspace Technology and Standards at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI). Tim and his small team are focused on all aspects of enabling remotely piloted aircraft to fly in the National Airspace System, for military, government and commercial purposes. The work involves engagement with research institutions, standards development organizations, national and international aviation regulators and industry groups.
Tim joined GA-ASI in 2013 as a Lead Structures Engineer to develop a certifiable variant of the Predator B, which first flew in late 2016 and is now known as SkyGuardian. Going on to lead Systems Engineering, then acting as Product Support for SkyGuardian, Tim’s career within GA-ASI has been both multifaceted and varied; a particular highlight was introducing the aircraft he himself helped design to his former RAF colleagues at RAF Waddington in Summer 2020.
Prior to joining GA-ASI, Tim served 16 years as an Engineer Officer in the Royal Air Force, supporting fast jet combat aircraft and UAS in UK military operations.
Tim holds Masters’ degrees in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and in Aerospace Vehicle Design from Cranfield University in the UK.
Dr. Thomas (Tom) Prevot is the Air Taxi Product Lead at Joby Aviation. He and his team are developing the air taxi service for the future Joby network of electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Tom joined Joby in January 2021, after having served as the Director of Engineering for Airspace Systems at Uber Elevate since 2017. Prior to joining Uber, Tom was with NASA Ames Research Center for more than 20 years. Tom is passionate about developing and evaluating future concepts and technologies for the air transportation system. He has published over 100 conference and journal papers. He earned his doctorate in aerospace engineering from the Munich University of the German Armed Forces in 1995.
Julie Van Kleeck retired from Aerojet Rocketdyne last year as the vice president of the Advanced Space and Launch Business Unit
Julie joined the company in 1981 as a systems engineer. She specialized in system design and system architectures and was the Chief Systems Engineer on a number of first-generation missile defense systems such as the Advanced Liquid Axial Stage (ALAS) and Brilliant Pebbles. Many of the technologies pioneered on those systems are still in use in today’s missile defense systems. She was recognized at Aerojet, GenCorp, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) office for her contributions to first-generation missile defense systems.
Later, in the company’s Space business area, she played pivotal strategy, capture, and program management roles prior to moving into executive management. She worked on many Satellite, Spacecraft and Launch Vehicle propulsion programs always working to advance the state of the art of propulsion technology while maintaining focus on Mission Success. Some of her key accomplishments included: Managing the Atlas V Solid Rocket Motor program that developed and qualified the Solid Rockets that powered the Pluto New Horizons Mission; Leading the Electric Propulsion Development Organization Responsible for developing Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Electric propulsion that revolutionized Satellite propulsion, Delivery of the nations next generation Human Space Propulsion systems such as the Orion and RS25 for SLS.
Throughout her career she worked with DOD, NASA and commercial customers on efforts to advance launch and in-space propulsion and materials and manufacturing technologies. She is widely known in the aerospace community and has held leadership roles in numerous industry organizations, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Coalition for Deep Space Exploration (CDSE), Powerhouse Science Center and the SLS/Orion industry coalition. She has also been a champion throughout her career for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Women in Aerospace (WIA), being a leader, both internally through Women in Network (WIN) and externally, through numerous industry groups such as WIA, California Assembly task force on STEM as well as working with local junior high and high schools.
