John Cavolowsky is responsible for the overall planning, management, and evaluation of ARMD’s efforts to cultivate revolutionary concepts, tools, and technologies that enable aviation transformation. TACP solicits and encourages ideas, creates the environment for researchers to experiment with those ideas, explores broadly-critical technologies, develops new computational and experimental tools, performs ground and small-scale flight tests, allows failures and learning from them, and drives turnover into future concepts and first-of-a-kind capabilities.
He also supports the ARMD associate administrator in a broad range of mission directorate activities, including strategic planning and external coordination.
Previously, Cavolowsky was director of the Airspace Operations and Safety Program, where he led overall planning, management, and evaluation of ARMD’s efforts in foundational air traffic management and operational safety research that enables development of revolutionary improvements to, and modernization of, the National Airspace System.
Prior positions include director of the former Aviation Systems Program, deputy program director and associate program manager for the Airspace Systems Program, and project manager for the Human Measures and Performance Project.
Cavolowsky began his NASA career in 1989 at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California as a technical lead and research manager for aerothermodynamics, addressing research and development challenges in hypersonic propulsion and thermal protection systems. He also served as a technical manager for aerospace programs in the Office of the Center Director at NASA Ames and has published more than 25 technical papers.
Cavolowsky has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
Official Bio
Nick Lappos is Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow, for Rotary and Mission Systems, where he is responsible for the Sikorsky Technical Fellow community and the introduction of advanced technologies into new and existing products. Lappos began his Aerospace career in the US Army, where he served a combat tour as an attack helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He joined at Sikorsky Aircraft in 1973. Through 2005 and then again from 2011 to present, he has served in a variety of roles at Sikorsky, including as program director for the S-92®helicopter during its development and certification. Under his leadership, the program earned the Robert J. Collier Trophy. Lappos also served as director of Test Engineering and as assistant chief and chief Research and Development test pilot, logging more than 7,500 hours of flight time in over 70 different types of helicopters. During his Sikorsky career, Lappos has participated in the development of aircraft such as the S76, UH-60, RAH-66, ABC, Fantail, Shadow, Fly-by-wire demonstrator, CH-53E, S92. A former Designated Engineering Representative (DER) flight test pilot, he has been a member of several National Academy of Sciences, NASA, AHS International, FAA and Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) committees, and holds over 20 patents and three helicopter world speed records. He is currently a member of the National Academy of Engineering’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and is a former member of the NASA Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable.
In addition to his achievements at Sikorsky, Lappos has been a vice president for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., and a senior vice president and chief technology officer for Bell Helicopter, Textron. He has also served as Chairman of the Vertical Lift Consortium, from 2009 -2010 and again from 2012 to the present. In that role, he’s responsible for the leadership and administration of the self-formed (Department of Defense) DOD consortium for the vertical lift industry.
Lappos graduated as a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1973. Honors include Dean’s List, Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Gamma Tau. He was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni of Georgia Tech in 2004. Lappos is also a recipient of the Sir Barnes Wallis Medal for significant contributions to innovation from the UK Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators, 2013 and an Honorary Fellow (2013) and Technical Fellow (1995) of the AHS as well as a three-time recipient of the Frederick Feinberg Award as most outstanding pilot. In 2018, he was awarded the AHS Nikolsky Honorary Lectureship. In 1988, he received the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Tenhoff Award. He is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war, where he flew Cobra helicopters.
Dr. Richard Wahls is the senior technical and strategy advisor to the Director of NASA Aeronautics’
Advanced Air Vehicles Program. He leads, manages, and technically contributes to
multidisciplinary fundamental and integrated systems research advancing the energy efficiency
and environmental compatibility of advanced transport aircraft, and to applied research and
development of tools, technologies, and concepts for all vehicle classes from subsonic through
supersonic speeds.
Dr. Wahls is a leader and technical authority in aerodynamics, ground testing, and the
development of advanced aircraft concepts and technologies. His personal research has
emphasized high Reynolds number aerodynamics and scale effects utilizing the unique
capabilities of the US National Transonic Facility, and the study of innovative aerodynamic
technologies and integrated aircraft configurations. He is the author or co-author of 78 technical
publications and has given invited presentations around the world. During his 29+ years at
NASA Langley Research Center, Dr. Wahls has served in increasingly broad, influential
leadership positions in national aeronautics programs.
Dr. Wahls is a Fellow of the America Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he is
currently a member of the Forums Advisory and Emerging Trends/Technologies Committees,
and a charter member of the AIAA Drag Prediction Workshop Organizing Committee currently
planning DPW-VII for June 2022. He was a 2017 recipient of the AIAA International
Cooperation and Sustained Service Awards.
Dr. Wahls earned his B.S. (1984), M.S. (1986), and Ph.D. (1989) degrees from North Carolina
State University in aerospace engineering.
Dr. Mike Gazarik has over 30 years of experience in the design, development, and deployment of spaceflight systems. Currently he serves as the Faculty Director of the Engineering Management Program for the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado. He is also a part-time Staff Member at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He led the creation of the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters and served as the first Associate Administrator championing NASA’s rapid development and incorporation of transformative technologies that enable the Agency’s missions and address the Nation’s aerospace community’s most difficult challenges. Joining Ball Aerospace in 2015, Mike served over 8 years as the Vice President of Engineering providing overall strategic and operational leadership of engineering, program execution, and technology. He led the organization through an accelerated growth period doubling the size of the organization and company in five years.
Earlier in his career, Gazarik served as the acting director of the Engineering Directorate at NASA’s Langley Research Center and led programs developing an infrared camera for on-orbit shuttle inspections and entry, descent and landing instrumentation for the Curiosity and Perseverance mars missions. Prior to joining NASA, Gazarik served as project manager for the Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory. Gazarik also worked in the private sector on software and firmware development for commercial and government applications including telecommunications and signal processing.
Gazarik understands that diverse teams develop better solutions. Under his leadership, engineering at Ball Aerospace saw a marked increase in diversity at all levels of the organization. He served as an executive sponsor for the LGBTA and Latinx Ball Resource Networks.
Gazarik earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 1987 and was a General Motors Scholar. He earned an M.S. in 1989 and a Ph.D. in 1997, both in electrical engineering, from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the AIAA and former Chair of the AIAA Corporate Strategic Committee. He is a member of the Engineering Advisory Board for the University of Colorado’s Engineering College and the Engineering Management Program. Gazarik was elected to the AIAA Board of Trustees in 2025, serves as a board member for the Space Sciences Institute, and formerly for Astroscale U.S., and Astrobotic Technology Inc. He also serves on the NASA Advisory Committee for Technology and Innovation and supported the Department of Defense Study on STEM and the Defense Industrial Base.
Gazarik has received numerous awards, including NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, a Silver Snoopy Award, one of NASA’s highest honors, received the 2023 AIAA Rocky Mountain Section Educator of the Year award, selected as the 2023 Engineering Manager of the Year by the American Society of Engineering Management, and was selected as a Distinguished Alumni from the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering in 2018. He was a leader in Boy Scouts of America, coached and refereed youth lacrosse, and led the development of lacrosse programs in the Hampton Roads area.
Barbara Esker is the Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Missions under the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. She provides continuity and coverage of the Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs (DAAP) responsibilities including oversight of ARMD’s program, mission, and project portfolio, setting program, mission, and project management strategy for the directorate including strategies for technology integration, and developing and improving program and project management related policies and processes. She also ensures overall coordination of aeronautics programs inside and outside ARMD working closely with program directors and mission integration managers, so that they adhere to national, agency, and directorate policies, guidelines, and processes.
At NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland prior to 2009, she served as deputy project manager for the Fundamental Aeronautics Program’s Subsonic Rotary Wing project and worked in a variety of program and project management positions supporting the Low Emissions Alternative Propulsion project under the Vehicle Systems Program, the Propulsion Base Research and Technology Program, the General Aviation Propulsion Program, and the Advanced Subsonic Technology Program. She also served as deputy chief and acting chief of the Propulsion Systems Analysis Office.
In 2019, Esker was recognized with a NASA Headquarters Honor Award for exemplary leadership. She has also received a NASA Exceptional Service Medal for sustained excellence and innovation in program management, three agency-level recognitions, six team achievement awards, 27 individual contribution awards, the Glenn Federal Women’s Program Award, the Cleveland Federal Executive Board Wings of Excellence Award, and has completed OPM’s Women’s Executive Leadership Program.
Esker holds a bachelor’s of science and master’s of science degrees from the University of Akron, both in mechanical engineering, along with certificates in engineering management and emotionally intelligent leadership from Case Western Reserve University. She is an AIAA Associate Fellow (class of 2020) and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Jamie M. Morin is vice president of Defense Systems Operations, Defense Systems Group at The Aerospace Corporation. He assumed this position on March 29, 2017. In this role, Morin serves as executive director of the Center for Space Policy and Strategy, which provides objective analysis and comprehensive research to ensure well-informed, technically defensible, and forward-looking space policy.
Morin most recently served as director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) for the Department of Defense, where he led the organization responsible for analyzing and evaluating the department’s plans, programs and budgets in relation to U.S. defense objectives, threats, estimated costs, and resource constraints.
Prior to his role as director of CAPE, Morin served for five years as the assistant secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management and Comptroller). Jamie also served for a year as acting undersecretary of the Air Force, where he led the Air Force Space Board and Air Force Council.
Previously, Morin was a member of the professional staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget, and served as the committee’s lead analyst for the defense, intelligence, and foreign affairs budgets. He also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and as an economic development strategist with the firm J.E. Austin Associates, where he worked on projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
EDUCATION
Morin graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s degree in foreign service. He earned a master’s degree in public administration and public policy from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University. He has also completed the Harvard Kennedy School’s Global Leadership and Public Policy Executive Program.
AFFILIATIONS
Morin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2013, he was named as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum.
Official Bio
