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Roundtable 2 Speaker Biographies
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Dr. Paul Eckert holds the position of International & Commercial Strategist within Space Exploration Systems, NASA Systems, The Boeing Company, in Arlington, Virginia. In this role, he develops strategies to optimize international business relationships and explore new commercial opportunities. Eckert previously served as Business Development Communications Coordinator for the Space Exploration Systems office, facilitating communication and collaboration involving the office and Boeing Government Affairs, Legislative Affairs, and Communications. Earlier, after joining The Boeing Company in January 2003, Eckert held the position of Senior Strategy Analyst within the NASA Systems Strategic Planning office in Houston, Texas. There he supported Space Shuttle return to flight planning, advanced space transportation, Earth observation, space science, government relations, and customer message development.
In 2001 and 2002, Eckert served as a Technology Policy Analyst in the Office of Space Commercialization, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., helping to develop policies promoting the economic interests of the U.S. commercial space industry, both domestically and internationally. From 1999 through 2000, he was a Legislative Affairs Specialist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with responsibility for liaison with the U.S. Congress involving space and aeronautics technology, information technology, systems engineering, and technology transfer to industry. Immediately prior to joining NASA, Eckert served as a Policy Analyst for the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), in Bethesda, Maryland, building a coalition of biomedical and physical science research societies promoting legislation to double Federal basic research funding.
In 1997 and 1998, he was science and technology advisor to U.S. Senator John Breaux of Louisiana, having been awarded a Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). From 1986 through 1997, Eckert rose to become Director of Quality Improvement in the Behavioral Services Division of Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, where he laid the foundation for an information system integrating financial management and strategic planning.
Eckert holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in History from Harvard University, as well as a Ph.D. in Psychology from Michigan State University. Drawing on postgraduate training in organizational development, he has developed expertise in coalition building and conflict resolution. Eckert is fluent in French and has participated in international science and technology activities, including a European Union Visitors Program study tour to Brussels and Paris in 1999.
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Dr. Michael Economides' research efforts involve the optimization of the overall hydrocarbon production system from the reservoir, the wellbore and to the market. He has done major contributions on reservoir stimulation theory, advanced reservoir exploitation strategies and complex well architecture design features. He is currently conducting industry efforts for driving deep offshore technology development, world energy scenario forecast and natural gas development. Next generation technology of oil and gas industry involves the development of advanced computer-aided tools.
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Dave Hendry is a producer for The Futures Channel, a digital media company which produces and distributes documentary videos and other multimedia content about the scientists, engineers and visionaries who are shaping the future. Since 1999, The Futures Channel has taken students behind the scenes in fields ranging from satellites and space exploration, to oceanography and meteorology, to architecture and structural engineering. The company is a popular content provider to the education market through the Internet, server-based networks and DVD distribution.
Mr. Hendry is two-time winner of the George Foster Peabody award for video documentary productions, and has directed or coordinated media-based formal and informal education programs in four National Science Foundation projects. He was coordinating producer of the PBS Special Special Living and Working in Space: The Countdown Has Begun, and senior producer of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory production Catch the Wind: The QuikSCAT Story.
Mr. Hendry lectures widely to educators and others about education policies and teaching practices that will prepare today's students to become the creative workforce that America will need for the challenges of the 21st century, and has served as a faculty member in scores of teacher training institutes for districts nationwide.
Mr. Hendry earned a B.S. in mathematics and a B.S. in physics from the University of Arizona, both in 1973, and has worked as a solid state physics research engineer, mathematics teacher, school administrator, software programmer, web site designer and corporate training consultant in addition to the experiences described above.
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John Michael Lounge is the business development director for Space Exploration Systems, NASA Systems, Washington, D.C. As the business development director, Lounge is responsible for developing overall space exploration business capture and growth strategies. He is also responsible for acquiring and managing new business funds to support relevant research and development projects and for funding proposal activities in response to the various customer RFP's. Lounge served as the director of program development for NASA Systems Business Development organization before assuming his present duties in February 2004.
Lounge joined the NASA Astronaut Corps with the astronaut candidate class of 1980. He served as a member of the launch support team at Kennedy Space Center for the STS-1, STS-2, and STS-3 missions. Following his first flight, he was assigned to the first mission to carry the Centaur (cryogenically fueled) upper stage (STS-61F). After the mission was canceled, he participated in Space Station design development. From 1989 through 1991, Lounge served as chief of the Space Station Support Office, representing astronaut interests in Space Station design and operation planning. A veteran of three space flights, Lounge has logged over 482 hours in space. He was a mission specialist on STS-51I (August 27 to September 3, 1985) and STS-26 (September 29 to October 3, 1988) and was the flight engineer on STS-35 (December 2-10, 1990).
Lounge graduated from Burlington High School, Burlington, Colo., in 1964; received a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1969 and a Master of Science degree in Astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1970.
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Dr. Neville Marzwell is the Manager for Advanced Concepts and Technology Innovation at NASA-Jet propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Dr. Marzwell has 33 years experience in defense and aerospace systems technologies in which he initiated various technology breakthroughs and paradigm innovations. His work expertise is in the area of robotics, sensors, guidance, navigations and controls. Current Assignment is to lead Invention and Innovative Technology Development Effort and Identify New Enabling JPL Science Missions that could utilize those Technologies. Dr. Marzwell main effort is to develop technology for the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (EDMD), and insure a close fit between HQ needs and JPL planned capabilities. Neville also provides in collaboration with various universities Technology Development Support to Industry and other NASA Centers when synergistic with JPL missions. Before joining JPL, he was program manager of Advanced Technology with the High Energy Laser research at the Rockedyne Division of Rockwell International where he developed innovative wavefront sensing and correction systems, and optical and sensor protection systems for surveillance satellites, and the High Energy Laser Program. At Honeywell Research Center he was instrumental in advances in infra-red detector technology, electro-optical materials and fiber optical systems. Dr. Marzwell was a Josephine de Karman fellow at the California Institute of Technology and holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics, and Materials Science from Caltech. He has published more than 79 papers in refereed and professional journal and served on various national and international panels, workshop, conferences and symposium committees.
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Dr. Thomas L. Matula is Assistant Professor of Business at the University of Houston - Victoria. He has a Bachelors degree from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (1983) and both an MBA degree (1984) and Ph.D. in Business Administration from New Mexico State University (1994). His doctoral dissertation focused on development of a model designed to identify factors that would influence public support for a commercial spaceport.
Dr. Matula has since has published numerous articles on space policy and economic development strategies for the space industry. His research focus has been to apply the basic principles of economic development and venture creation to space commerce. Dr. Matula has served on the American Society of Civil Engineer's Space Engineering and Construction Committee and its Subcommittee on Space Education Initiatives. His academic career includes fifteen years of teaching, research and consulting in the fields of economic development, strategy and marketing.
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Dr. Lee Morin worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the laboratory now known as the Media Lab after graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 1974. Morin matriculated at New York University School of Medicine in 1974, received a Master of Science in Biochemistry in 1978, an M.D. in 1981, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1982. He then completed two years of residency training in General Surgery at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center and at the Montefiore Hospital Medical Center in New York City.
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in April 1996, Morin reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch, followed by the Astronaut Office Advanced Vehicles Branch, and ISS training tasks in the Shuttle Operations Branch of the Astronaut Office. Morin served on the EVA crew of STS-110 (2002) and has logged over 259 hours in space, including over 14 EVA hours. He is currently assigned as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science, State Department, Washington D.C.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-110 Atlantis (April 8-19, 2002) was the 13th Shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station. Mission milestones included: the delivery and installation of the SO (S-Zero) Truss; the first time the station's robotic arm was used to maneuver spacewalkers around the station; and the first time that all of a shuttle crew's spacewalks were based from the station's Quest Airlock. Morin performed 2 EVAs totaling 14 hours and 9 minutes. The crew prepared the station for future spacewalks and spent a week in joint operations with the station's Expedition-4 crew. Mission duration was 10 days, 19 hours and 42 minutes.
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Mark Nall has been the manager of NASA's Space Partnership Development Program at Marshall Space Flight Center for over five years. This program, comprised of 12 Research Partnership Centers, specializes in industry, academia and governmental research partnerships that bring the best talent and resources to bear on problems of common interest. Previous to this assignment, he managed 10 Research Partnership Centers from Marshall Space Flight Center. Before joining MSFC, Mr. Nall spent 5 years at NASA Headquarters in the Office of Commercial Programs. At NASA Headquarters, he was the Program Manager for the commercial development of large-scale space infrastructure. This included the Commercial Middeck Augmentation Module contract that was awarded to Spacehab to provide additional research capability on the Space Shuttle for industrial payloads. Before joining NASA in 1989, Mr. Nall was a captain in the United States Air Force Systems Command, where he served as a research pilot flying Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft, and as a Project Manager for test support of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile.
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Rex Ridenoure has had a distinguished career as a space-mission engineer and system architect on more than a dozen space missions. He is a champion of and leader in the emerging market sector of commercial deep-space missions, and is an officer and Ecliptic co-founder.
Before Ecliptic, Rex was Chief Mission Architect at BlastOff! Corporation working on commercial lunar missions and, before that, Chief Mission Architect at SpaceDev, a commercial space-exploration and development company. Before SpaceDev, he was manager of the Space Systems Division at Microcosm, Inc., a small space-mission engineering firm.
He was co-recipient of the 2002 AIAA Space Systems Award for key contributions to the NASA/JPL New Millennium Deep Space One mission. In 1999, he was co-recipient with three other engineers of a Laurel Award (the aerospace "Oscar") from Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine for playing a key role in the salvage of the HGS-1 comsat, using a method that made HGS-1 the first commercial spacecraft to reach the Moon's distance. He enjoyed a distinguished career at JPL for 11 years as a mission and systems engineer, holding lead engineering roles on the pioneering, ion-propelled Deep Space One project, the New Millennium Program of advanced spacecraft, the Lunar Observer pre-project, the Voyager Neptune encounter, and the ultra-low-cost Caltech/JPL SURFSAT project. Also at JPL, Rex managed several initiatives addressing low-cost deep-space missions using microspacecraft. Before JPL, he was a research engineer at Utah State University on small, low-cost satellites, a mission and systems engineer at Hughes Space and Communications on several telecommunications satellites, and a Crew Systems engineer at Lockheed on the Hubble Space Telescope. In the latter capacity, he was co-organizer of a proposed Lockheed corporate astronaut office and also served as a space-suited test subject for Hubble in-orbit servicing simulations. In 1986 he taught space systems design at Utah State University.
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Dr. Frank Schowengerdt is currently the director of the innovative partnerships program office at NASA headquarters. In that position he is responsible for developing partnerships between researchers in the industrial, academic and governmental sectors for the purpose of advancing the space exploration vision and creating terrestrial benefits. Prior to that, he was director of the space product development division at NASA headquarters. His previous experience includes 34 years in academia, having held positions as visiting assistant professor at the University of Nebraska and positions in all professorial ranks at the Colorado School of Mines. He was head of the physics department there for 13 years and vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty for 6 years. He founded the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space, a NASA Research Partnership Center, which he directed for 7 years. He was instrumental in establishing the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute and was founder and first chairman of the board of the Colorado Advanced Materials Institute. He was a distinguished visiting scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. His professional interests include atomic and nuclear physics, atomic collisions, surface and interface physics, particulate physics and control, materials processing, microgravity experimentation, combustion phenomena and the commercialization of space. His most recent interests lie in helping to make the national vision for space exploration more affordable through partnerships and more sustainable by improving the lives of people here on Earth.
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John Strickland lived for 30 years in western New York state before moving to Austin, Texas in 1976. He received a B. A. in Anthropology with a minor in Biology from SUNY at Buffalo in 1967, and a second B. A. in Computer Science from St. Edward's University in Austin in 1986. He also earned graduate credits in both Anthropology and Biology. He has been a professional programmer and analyst since 1980, and has been employed as a senior Analyst/Programmer for the State of Texas in Austin since July, 1989.
Mr. Strickland has been an active member of space and science related organizations from 1961 (when he joined the American Rocket Society as a student member) to the present. In 1975-6 he joined both the National Space Institute and the L-5 Society: the "parents" of the NSS. He was the founder and has been the chairman for the Austin Space Frontier Society from 1981 to the present. He created the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award for the National Space Society in 1988, (shortly after that author's death), and has managed the award from then to the present. He also worked on the design and supervises production of the Von Braun Award. In 1988, he was a founder of the NSS Chapters Assembly, and served as one of its officers. He is currently the NSS director representing Region 3: the Southwestern states, and he is also a director of the Sunsat Energy Council. He is an Advocate in good standing with the Space Frontier Foundation and a member of the Mars Society. His involvement with both Austin, TX environmental groups and CSICOP, a national group working for better science coverage and less pseudo-science in the mass media, has given him a unique perspective in dealing with energy vs. environment and other controversial issues. He is a long-time member of the Heart of Texas Orchid Society.
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Berin Szoka is the Executive Director of the Institute for Space Law and Policy. The mission of the Institute is to aid in creating the legal regime of free markets and property rights that will allow private enterprise, supported by sound public policy, to open the space frontier to all mankind.
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Dr. Paul J. Werbos is best known as the original inventor of backpropagation, as part of his Harvard PhD thesis, which was reprinted in full in his book the Roots of Backpropagation, Wiley 1994, along with his classic 1990 tutorial on backpropagation through time for Proc IEEE. He was one of the three original two-year presidents of the International Neural Network Society, and winner of the IEEE Pioneer Award. He is Program Director for Control, Networks and Computational Intelligence at NSF, which actively seeks more proposals in this area. He has also been active in many cross-cutting funding initiatives; for example, he serves on the Working Group for energy storage and distribution of the interagency Climate Change Technology Program, and coordinated the NASA-NSF-EPRI solicitation on space solar power (NSF 02-098). He is also on the Planning Committee of the Millennium Project of the United Nations University (http://millennium-project.org), and has published a few papers on quantum foundations and technology (see arXiv.org, physics and nonlinear systems). He also has two degrees in economics from Harvard and the London School of Economics.
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