People Category: Thursday Sessions

Nand Mulchandani

Nand Mulchandani serves as the Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. Mulchandani brings more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry as a serial entrepreneur and senior executive in the enterprise infrastructure and security software industries to his service in the government to help transform the Department of Defense in adopting next-generation AI and software technologies.

Prior to government service, Mulchandani was at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and remains a non-resident Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Mulchandani also served as the Vice President of Market Development and Strategy for Citrix, a leading provider of desktop virtualization and networking infrastructure. He joined Citrix through its acquisition of ScaleXtreme, where Mulchandani was the CEO and co-founder. Prior to his tenure at ScaleXtreme, Mulchandani served in various capacities as CEO, co-founder, senior executive, and entrepreneur-in-residence for a number of technology startups and companies including the venture capital firm Accel Partners, OpenDNS (funded by Sequoia Capital and Greylock, acquired by Cisco), VMware, Determina (funded by Bessemer Venture Partners, Mayfield and USVP, acquired by VMware), and Oblix (funded by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, acquired by Oracle). Mulchandani started his career at Sun Microsystems as a compiler architect and holds a patent on dynamic code generation.

Mulchandani holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science & Mathematics from Cornell University, a Master in Science in Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Jason Stack

Dr. Jason Stack is the Director for the Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Research Division of the Office of Naval Research (ONR). In this role, he is responsible for planning, execution, and management of integrated basic research, applied research, and advanced technology development for ONR’s Science and Technology programs in physical oceanography, marine meteorology, ocean acoustics, arctic and global prediction, littoral geosciences and optics, marine mammals and biology, and space environments. The Division provides advanced, high-resolution environmental observational and prediction capabilities in support of warfare areas including anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare, and naval special warfare. Dr. Stack also serves as ONR’s Portfolio Manager for Autonomy. In this role, he leads ONR’s corporate strategy; manages the corresponding investment portfolio; and provides focus on transition, operationalization, and fielding for autonomy and autonomous unmanned systems. He is also appointed to the NATO Science & Technology Organization (Systems, Concepts, and Integration Panel) as the Member-at-Large for Autonomy.

Dr. Stack entered the Senior Executive Service in Jan. 2019. He joined the Federal Civilian Service in 2003 as a researcher in the Signal & Image Processing branch of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Florida where he conducted basic research in machine learning and applied research in signal processing, automatic target recognition, and autonomous behaviors for littoral warfare applications. He joined ONR in 2008 as a Program Officer leading investments in machine learning, autonomy, and sensor development for the underwater domain. At ONR, he eventually became the Team Lead for the Mine Warfare and Ocean Engineering Programs where he coordinated ONR’s overall portfolio in mine countermeasures, naval mining, explosive ordnance disposal, naval special warfare, and ocean engineering. He is a former US National Lead for TTCP, Maritime Group, TP-13 (Mine Warfare); has led multiple NATO Joint Research Projects; and is a co‐founder of the Mine Warfare Community of Interest focusing on data standards, systems interoperability, and modular open architectures.

Prior to joining the Federal Civilian Service and his graduate studies, Dr. Stack was employed in industry in Raleigh, NC as a design engineer developing power electronics and hydraulic control systems.

Dr. Stack holds the MSE and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the BSE degree in electrical engineering from Mercer University. He was a Georgia Tech President’s Fellow, a registered Professional Engineer, and holds over 40 publications and 2 patents in the fields of signature recognition and autonomous systems. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

David Steffy

David Steffy is Vice President and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems sector. Mr. Steffy is responsible for technology development and implementation across the company’s space and launch programs. Prior to this role, Steffy served as the CTO for Innovation Systems with similar leadership responsibilities. Before the acquisition of Orbital ATK by Northrop Grumman in 2018, Steffy served as Corporate Chief Engineer for Orbital ATK.

Steffy previously acted as Chief Engineer for Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Advanced Programs Group, providing technical oversight to the company’s Defense and Human Spacecraft Programs and led the Antares Program to develop a new medium-class launch vehicle. Earlier, he managed the group’s defense space systems business area. He was also Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager of the GEO communications business area where he was responsible for Star-1 Programs, launch vehicles and support of new business efforts.

Prior to assuming these responsibilities, Steffy was Program Director for the BSAT- 2 Program where he led the development of two direct-broadcast satellites for Japan. He led the ORBCOMM Flight Model 1 and 2 programs and the follow-on ORBCOMM Constellation Program to develop, build and fly 34 sophisticated LEO Communications satellites. Steffy holds three patents from the development of these satellites, which originated an Orbital Sciences product line.

Steffy joined Orbital as the systems engineering manager for the development of the Pegasus Launch Vehicle and was the vehicle engineer for the first flight. He has also held key roles in Orbital’s initial expansion into satellites. Previously, he worked in various systems engineering positions at Hughes Space and Communications (now Boeing Satellite Systems) on communications, defense and planetary spacecraft.

Steffy holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received the National Medal of Technology and the National Air and Space Museum Trophy for technical achievement as part of the Pegasus Development Team.

Marcia Lindstrom

Marcia Lindstrom leads the Strategic Communications Team for
NASA’s Space Launch System, the SLS – America’s rocket being
designed to carry humans to the Moon and on to Mars. Prior to joining
the SLS team, Marcia managed the External Relations Office for
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and before that served as the
Communications Strategist for NASA Headquarters leading the
Agency’s efforts for large-scale events. Marcia came to NASA after
more than a decade of work at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Her
tenure at the Center involved development efforts such as the Saturn V
Restoration and included a 6-year stint as the Director of Operations for
the Center’s world-renowned Space Camp programs. Marcia is a
veteran of the USAF.

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.