People Category: Moderator
David Miller
Jeffrey Slotnick
Jeffrey Slotnick is a Boeing Technical Fellow with over 30 years of experience in the areas of CFD and applied aerodynamics, with particular emphasis in the application of the OVERFLOW overset grid flow solver (and related tools) to complex aerospace air and space vehicle platforms. He has been a champion of internal CFD process development and automation, while leveraging long-term external collaborations with government, academic, and industry groups to infuse advanced CFD technology into Boeing. He is the lead author on the NASA-sponsored CFD Vision 2030 study report.
Over his career, Jeff has made significant contributions in CFD modeling of Space Shuttle launch vehicle ascent aerodynamics, commercial airplane (787-9, 747-8) low-speed (high-lift) numerical simulation, air-breathing propulsion effects, development of wake vortex simulation capability, and concept development and verification of transport aircraft formation flight.
Jeff is currently involved with efforts to optimize airplane flight testing for certification using modeling and simulation methods, and manages several research projects aimed at maturing key CFD technologies to predict aerodynamic characteristics at the edges of the flight envelope. To this end, he is heavily involved in the development and testing of several CFD validation experiments through collaborations with the academic and government partners to collect critical datasets to help assess and improve flow
physics modeling.
Jeff graduated with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1986.
Allie Braun
Allie Braun currently works for Earthrise Alliance, a philanthropic initiative established to fully utilize Earth science data to combat climate change, as the Communications and Administrative Assistant. Additionally, she works as the Coordinator of the Brooke Owens Fellowship. Prior to this, she served as a David E. Shi Center for Sustainability Fellow from 2014 to 2018. She has been a Communications Intern with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and NASA. Braun has been a writer and editor for Unwritten.com for four years and has been published in the Huffington Post several times. She is an alumnus of the Washington Media Institute and holds a B.S in Sustainability Science from Furman University.
Graham Warwick
Graham Warwick leads technology coverage for Aviation Week. Scottish-born and a former aeronautical engineer, he was an editor with Flight International for 30 years before joining Aviation Week in 2008. He is responsible for covering all aspects of advanced technology in aviation and aerospace. He is a recipient of the Aerospace Industries Association’s Lyman Award for lifetime achievement in aerospace communications.
Stephen Frick
Stephen Frick is the Director of Hypersonics and Advanced Materials, Lockheed Martin Space Advanced Technology Center. In this role he is responsible for developing future discriminating capabilities in the areas of advanced materials, advanced electronics, advanced manufacturing, and hypersonic mission development for LM Space products.
Mr. Frick joins Lockheed Martin after a nineteen-year career as a NASA Astronaut. He has flown two space missions on the Shuttle Atlantis, as pilot on mission STS-110 in 2002 and mission commander on STS-122, for a total of over 565 hours in space. Other key positions in support of human spaceflight included Astronaut Office Exploration Branch Chief, Orion Program Flight Crew Testing Lead, and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School Smith/McCool NASA Chair Professor.
A 1986 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he served as a naval aviator, strike fighter pilot, and test pilot retiring as a Captain in 2010. He has logged more than 4,300 flight hours in 38 different aircraft, including 26 combat missions and over 370 carrier landings. His awards include the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, and Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
Mr. Frick has a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, and an MS in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
Mark Lewis
Dr. Mark J. Lewis is the Executive Director of NDIA’s Emerging Technologies Institute (NDIA ETI), a non-partisan think tank focused on technologies that are critical to the future of national defense. ETI provides research and analyses to inform the development and integration of emerging technologies into the defense industrial base.
Prior to this position, Dr. Lewis was the Director of Defense Research & Engineering in the Department of Defense (DoD), overseeing technology modernization for all Services and DoD Agencies, as well as the acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering. In that role, he was the Pentagon’s senior-most scientist, managing a $17B budget that included DARPA, the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Space Development Agency, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC), and the Department’s basic and applied research portfolio.
From 2012 to 2019, Dr. Lewis was the Director of the Science and Technology Policy Institute, an FFRDC that supported the Executive Office of the President and other Executive Branch agencies in the formulation of national science and technology policy. Dr. Lewis is a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, where he served as the Willis Young, Jr., Professor and Chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering until 2012. A faculty member at Maryland for 25 years, Dr. Lewis taught and conducted basic and applied research in the fields of hypersonic aerodynamics, advanced propulsion, and space vehicle design and optimization. Best known for his work in hypersonics, Dr. Lewis’s research has spanned the aerospace flight spectrum from the analysis of conventional jet engines to entry into planetary atmospheres. From 2004 to 2008, Dr. Lewis was the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force, the principal scientific adviser to the Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Air Force. As the longest-serving Chief Scientist in Air Force history, his primary areas of focus included hypersonics, space launch, energy, sustainment, advanced propulsion, basic research, and workforce development. From 2010 to 2011, he was President of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Dr. Lewis attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Bachelor of Science in Earth and Planetary Science (1984), and Master of Science (1985) and Doctor of Science (1988) in Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is the author of more than 320 publications and has been an adviser to more than 60 graduate students. In addition, he has served on various boards for NASA and DoD, including two terms on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.
A recipient of the USAF Exemplary, Meritorious, and Exceptional Civilian Service Awards, and of the Secretary of Defense Outstanding Public Service Award, Dr. Lewis was also the 1994 AIAA National Capital Young Scientist/Engineer of the Year; received the IECEC/AIAA Lifetime Achievement Award, the AIAA Dryden Lectureship Award, and the AFA Theodore von Karman Award; and is an Aviation Week and Space Technology Laureate. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Woodrow Whitlow, Jr.
Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, Jr. is Technical Director for National Aerospace Solutions, LLC (NAS). In this role, he provides overall leadership and guidance on technical matters and advises NAS senior management. He serves as the primary NAS interface to the Arnold Engineering Development Complex Technical Director and advises the NAS Mission Execution Director on technology programs and projects. Dr. Whitlow is the primary interface with university- and industry-sponsored research programs and the University Consortium and Technical Advisory Board. He coordinates subject matter input, research programs, and efforts to build the technical workforce. Dr. Whitlow is the NAS interface for all Cooperative Research and Development Agreements and represents the company at national and international technical forums.
Before joining the NAS team, Dr. Whitlow was Executive in Residence in the Cleveland State University Washkewicz College of Engineering (2013 – 2016). He collaborated with the Dean of Engineering to implement strategies to strengthen the college, increase the enrollment of students in the engineering disciplines and to raise their retention rates. He developed approaches to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who earn engineering degrees. Dr. Whitlow coordinated a successful proposal to establish an Additive Manufacturing and Training Center in the College of Engineering and served as advisor for student engineering projects. He served as Co-chair of the Dean’s Diversity Council and developed a plan to eliminate implicit bias in the faculty hiring process.
Before accepting the appointment at CSU, he was the Associate Administrator for the Mission Support Directorate at NASA Headquarters (2010 – 2013). The directorate had a budget of $3.8 billion and enabled program and institutional capabilities to conduct NASA’s aeronautics and space activities. As the directorate’s associate administrator, Whitlow was responsible for most NASA management operations, including human capital management, headquarters operations, agency operations, the NASA Shared Services Center, strategic infrastructure, cross-agency support, and construction and environmental compliance and restoration.
Prior to being appointed to the Associate Administrator position, he was director of the Glenn Research Center. There, he was responsible for managing an annual budget of approximately $750 million, and overseeing a workforce of approximately 1,680 civil service employees that is supported by approximately 1,580 contractors. The center has 24 major facilities and over 500 specialized research facilities located at the 350-acre Cleveland site and the 6,400-acre Plum Brook Station site in Sandusky, Ohio. At Glenn, Whitlow led research and development efforts in the areas of aeropropulsion, in-space propulsion, aerospace power and energy conversion, communications technology, and human research.
From September 2003 through December 2005, Whitlow served as the Deputy Director of the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center. There his duties included assisting the director in determining and implementing center policy and in managing and implementing the center’s missions and agency program responsibilities in the areas of processing, launch, and recovery of launch vehicles; processing of spacecraft; and acquisition of launch services. Prior to this appointment as Deputy Director, he served as the Director of Research and Technology at the Glenn Research Center.
Whitlow began his professional career in 1979 as a researcher at the NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. He assumed various positions of increasing responsibility before moving to the Glenn Research Center in 1998. In 1994, he served as Director of the Critical Technologies Division, Office of Aeronautics, at NASA Headquarters.
Whitlow earned his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and doctor of philosophy degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds an honorary doctor of engineering degree from Cranfield University. He has written more than 40 technical papers, most in the areas of unsteady transonic flow, aeroelasticity and propulsion.
Whitlow has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive, Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive, U.S. Black Engineer of the Year in Government, NASA Exceptional Service Honor Medal, NASA Equal Opportunity Honor Medal, the (British) Institution of Mechanical Engineers William Sweet Smith Prize, Minorities in Research Science Scientist-of-theYear Award, and National Society of Black Engineers Distinguished Engineer of the Year Award. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics elected him as a Fellow in 2010.
Jason Gardellis
Daniel L. Dumbacher
Dan Dumbacher is the Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Before joining the AIAA staff in January 2018, Dumbacher was a Professor of Engineering Practice in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, where he taught courses in systems thinking, systems engineering, and space policy.
Prior to Purdue, Dumbacher served as the Deputy Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Development Division, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. In that capacity, he provided leadership and management as the Program Director for Exploration Systems Development, which included: the Space Launch System, Orion, and Ground Systems Development and Operations development and integration efforts. He led a national team of over 5,000, spanning all NASA centers and industry, and was responsible for a $3 billion annual budget.
During his career, he has received numerous awards and honors including the coveted Silver Snoopy Award and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. In 2015, Purdue recognized him with the Gustafson Teaching Award.
Dumbacher earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He has also completed the Senior Managers in Government program at Harvard University.
Dumbacher is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana. He and his wife Lee have three grown children.