People Category: Webinars

Jim Cooper, as the Lead for Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Solutions at COMSPOC Corp, supports strategy and business development and execution, as well as marketing and sales, to deliver commercial SSA solutions to government, military, and commercial organizations worldwide, including the strategic pursuit and development of large, long-term program opportunities and enterprise accounts.  Jim has over 30 years of professional experience in SSA policy, operations, international engagement, and funding support, spanning active duty military, military contractor, and commercial enterprises.  Prior to the establishment of COMSPOC Corp. as a separate entity in 2020, Jim conducted similar duties for Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI), an Ansys Company, for four years.

COMSPOC Corp is a global leader in SSA, as well as Space Domain Awareness and Space Traffic Coordination and Management.  Through the first-of-its-kind commercial SSA center, COMSPOC delivers accurate, precise, and timely SSA to address current and emerging challenges in today’s space environment.  COMSPOC Corp. operates the Commercial Space Operations Center, the Space Data Center, and the free space safety service CelesTrak, and provides staffing and resources for the Center for Space Standards and Innovation, its research arm, and the Space Safety Coalition.

Prior to joining AGI, Jim provided SETA support for 16 years to HQ USAF/A3 and for 3 years to HQ AFSPC/A3 in the SSA mission area.  In this capacity, he advocated for SSA in the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process, supported SSA operational concerns and policy development, and conducted international engagement in SSA for the AF/A3.

After graduating with a B.S from the US Air Force Academy in 1985, Jim served in the USAF for 8 years as an Orbital Analyst in the Space Surveillance Center at Cheyenne Mountain AFB, CO, and a Master Instructor for Undergraduate Space Training at Lowry AFB, CO.  Upon separating from the USAF, he worked as a commercial diver for 4 years in marine oilfield support and inland marine facility inspection.

Jim is married to Mrs. Sarah Cooper; they are the parents of two children – Zachary, 15 years old, and Elizabeth, 11 years old.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

Kerry Buckley is vice president, Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), the federally funded research and development center that MITRE operates for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In this role, she leads MITRE’s domestic and international civil aviation, aviation/aerospace, and transportation strategic and business operations, with a focus on advancing safety, security, effectiveness, and efficiency of aerospace and transportation systems in the United States and around the globe. Their work builds upon MITRE’s decades-long legacy and partnership with the FAA and other partner federal agencies in the National Airspace System (NAS) including DoD, DHS, and NTSB.

Buckley was previously vice president, Air & Space Forces, for MITRE National Security, the division MITRE operates to develop solutions for Department of Defense agencies, the Intelligence Community, and the Department of Justice. In that role, Buckley set strategy and priorities to ensure MITRE delivered technical capabilities and Air Force mission objectives, including Air Force’s critical needs in space warfighting, air operations, nuclear enterprise modernization, cyber operations, and joint lethality in contested environments. She previously served as MITRE’s vice president for Intelligence Programs, helping set strategy and priorities in support of the Intelligence Community.

Prior to her Intelligence role, Buckley directed MITRE’s Information Technology Technical Center. An expert in organizational sciences, Buckley focused heavily on a systems science approach to social, behavioral, and linguistic issues of national importance. She applied her organizational planning and performance measurement knowledge to information sharing, enterprise IT, and collaboration initiatives for agencies across the U.S. government.

Buckley was the director of business process research at Veridian Corporation, a unit of General Dynamics. Buckley previously was an industrial/organizational psychologist for the Human Resources Research Organization. While there, she supported projects for the U.S. Army. She also served as a personnel psychologist at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Buckley is a 2022 Federal 100 award winner for her leadership in building a foundation for public and private cooperation in the space domain. The Federal 100 awards recognize leaders from private industry, academia, and government who show how government can better leverage technology to serve its citizens.

Buckley earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and statistics from Boston University. She also holds a master’s degree in philosophy and a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from The George Washington University.

Steph Earle is currently the manager of the Space Policy and Outreach Branch for the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation. In that role, he is responsible for overseeing a variety of activities to promote and ensure orbital safety, including oversite of international engagements related to space activities and work with United Nations space committees. He leads the department’s work on national space policies and projects and initiative to enhance launch collision avoidance effectiveness and orbital debris mitigation. He also supports the development and implementation of interagency activities that advance safety issues for launch vehicles and on-orbit safety.

Steph holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Air Force Academy, a master’s degree in space operations focused on astrodynamics from the University of North Dakota, and a second Master of Science in Strategic Purchasing Technology Management degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Before he retired as an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Steph worked as a Missile Combat Crew Commander for the Minuteman ICBM; performed space surveillance and tracked ballistic missiles, space launches, and all low- and mid-Earth-orbiting satellites at a space surveillance radar facility; and served as the lead Air Force launch controller at Cape Canaveral Air Station for numerous rocket launches including multiple missions to Mars, a Global Positioning Satellite, and a commercial satellite to bring MTV to Russia. In addition to a number of headquarters assignments, Steph’s last active duty post was as Chief of the Space Policy Branch on the Joint Staff where he worked countless national-level space issues including national strategies, policies, and issues. Since 2012, Steph has engaged in the same national forums as the advocate for commercial space launch activities within AST.

Dan Hawk, Oneida Nation, Wisconsin. Dan was born and raised on the Oneida Indian Reservation. On March 2022, Dan addressed the United Nations Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space by providing the history-making General Exchange of Views. Dan has been appointed to lead the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium Lunar Dust Interoperability and Standards Focus Group. Dan discovered how lightning strikes and is currently working with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to prevent dust explosions in mines and factories.

Dan enlisted in the Army National Guard out of high school and served in the Navy as a nuclear reactor operator on two Fast-Attack submarines. Dan was a senior power plant operator at UW-Madison and UW-Madison Hospital. While working with the Wisconsin Space Grant, Dan and Dr. Aileen Yingst founded the First Nations Launch and the Tethered Aerostat Program. Following WSGC, Dan supported the Montana Space Grant in ensuring the Salish Kootenai Tribal College was successful and BisonSat was launched on October 8, 2015. Following BisonSat, Dan worked with the U.S. Department of State, to remove Native Americans from the International Traffic and Arms Regulations List. Prior to BisonSat Dan helped the El Paso Community College with two NanoRacks ISS Experiments and launched a payload RockOn payload on a suborbital Terrier-Orion in 2009. Dan is a recognized Amazon Black Earth expert with NASA, NOAA, and the DOE in the latter Dan made one ton of high CEC carbon and is being used to mitigate radiocesium-137 on Bikini Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Dan currently supports Space Traffic Management, Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium, Green Aero industrial hemp rocket fuel research, NASA Office of Tribal Affairs, and the new National Native American Space Grant. Dan is an International Committee Member for the National Space Society, a Member of the United Nations Indigenous Committee. Dan also is on a number of indigenous and space panels like the Indigenous Research Center, MIT Space Enabled Group, and Anthropogenic Environmental Impact on Space Traffic.

Dan is currently working with NASA to waive Satellite Export Controls to First Nations People, Canada. In cooperation with many entities and institutions, the first tribal sovereignty data blockchain Jay Treaty satellite is being designed.