2021 5th Workshop on eVTOL Infrastructure

  

There are limited number of sponsorships available. Fill out this eVTOL Workshop Sponsor Application to apply for a sponsorship. 

• Gold Sponsorship (5 max): $2,500 — includes logos/signage, flyer, three complimentary registrations and a 20-minute speaking slot. (Subject to approval and availability.)
• Silver Sponsorship (5 max): $1,500 — includes logos/signage, flyer, one complimentary registration and a 10-minute speaking slot. (Subject to approval and availability.)
• Advertiser (10 max): $500 — includes logos/signage. (Subject to approval and availability.)

Cliff Johnson is a research engineer, program manager, and technical expert for the Aviation Research Division at the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ. He leads several research and development activities that seek to improve aviation safety, primarily focused on rotorcraft, unmanned aircraft, and vertical lift (i.e. eVOTL). Mr. Johnson is qualified on the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems platform and has supported several unmanned aircraft and rotorcraft simulations and live flight tests as a test director, pilot, and flight test engineer.

Rex is a 40-year veteran of aviation and is the co-founder and president of Five-Alpha (5α) LLC, a globally recognized aeronautical consultancy specialized in helicopter and vertical flight infrastructure development, safety, training, and education. He currently serves as Infrastructure Advisor to the Vertical Flight Society, is Co-chair of the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team’s (USHST) Infrastructure Working Group and is a committee member on the National Fire Protection (NFPA) 418, Standard for Heliports. He is past president of the National EMS Pilots Associating (NEMSPA) and past president of the Indiana Association of Air Medical Services (INAAMS). Rex is an alumnus of Parks College of Aviation at St. Louis University and is a former U.S. Army Warrant Officer and ‘Aeroscout’ Helicopter Instructor Pilot having served both on active duty and in the Indiana Army National Guard.

Mr. Michael Dyment is the Managing Partner of NEXA Advisors, an aerospace investment banking and corporate finance advisory firm. A highly experienced transportation, aerospace and defense industry consultant and trusted financial advisor to top management, he has decades of industrial and transportation research, corporate finance and infrastructure investment familiarity. Aerospace clients have included Airbus, Thales, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and NASA to name a few. NEXA Advisors has undertaken Urban Air Mobility business intelligence and finance programs for eVTOL vehicle and service providers and directly for NASA. In support of its institutional investment clients, NEXA recently completed a ground-breaking business intelligence study, Urban Air Mobility—Economics and Global Markets, which provides market intelligence, supply chain analysis and 20-year economic forecasts for 75 of the world’s largest metropolitan areas.

Dawn M.K. Zoldi* is a licensed attorney, an U.S. Air Force veteran and the founder and CEO of P3 Tech Consulting, connecting people and their advanced tech platforms with full spectrum policy-relevant information. Ms. Zoldi was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1992 and commissioned through direct appointment in the United States Air Force in July 1993. In her almost 25 years of active duty as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Ms. Zoldi ultimately attained the rank of Colonel and performed a myriad of duties at various command echelons in the continental U.S. and deployed forward. Ms. Zoldi is currently the Deputy Director of the USAFA's Center for Character and Leadership Development. She is an internationally recognized expert on unmanned aircraft system law and policy, and a recipient of the Woman to Watch in UAS (Leadership) Award 2019.

*Ms. Zoldi is appearing in her private capacity.

Yolanka is a business attorney and consultant with over two decades of experience in the successful development, implementation and management of mission-driven programs. Prior to joining Community Air Mobility Initiative as Co-Executive Director, Yolanka has been a sustainable aviation consultant for nine years, working with industry, government, academia and nonprofits on policy, standards and regulations, industry development, market challenges, communications and media relations. Yolanka also serves as Executive Director of CAFE Foundation where she organizes the annual Electric Aircraft Symposium.

John Tritschler is the Director of Research at the US Naval Test Pilot School, where he leads a variety of research projects ranging from classical fields, such as aerodynamics and flight dynamics, to emerging topics, such as planning algorithms and logical architectures for automated systems. He also teaches courses in helicopter aerodynamics and autonomy algorithms. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Maryland, where he continues to teach as an adjunct. He is a former Army Aviator, qualified in the mighty UH-1 “Huey,” the UH-60 Blackhawk, and the UH-72 Lakota helicopters. He is the VFS Pax River chapter president.

Don Berchoff (Col, USAF Retired) is the CEO of TruWeather Solutions, which synthesizes complex weather data sets into simple decision insight for the Unmanned Autonomous System, ground transportation and logistics industries. He has 35 years-experience in weather, aviation and logistics systems during which he designed and led regional and global aviation weather operations centers, co-authored the FAA NEXGEN Weather CONOPS and led all ground operations at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan (2007-2008.) He led the NWS Science and Technology Directorate (2008-2012) and was responsible for the transition of over $500M in new S&T infrastructure and software applications into NOAA operations. TruWeather’ s product, TruFlite V360 is a SaaS-based micro-weather data and analytics platform that plug and plays new sensor data streams and delivers services via APIs and a subscription-based web application user interface.

David Webber is a Research/Flight Test Engineer for the FAA’s Aircraft Certification Service. He is recently detailed to NASA as the FAA’s Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign’s Flight Test Liaison and is supporting Urban Air Mobility surrogate helicopter and other research flight test efforts at Armstrong Flight Research Center. He spent half his 30+ year career in Research flight test (X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability, F-18 Systems Research Aircraft and DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory) before transferring to the FAA’s Flight Test branch in 2006 where he has been involved in certification across all product lines (transport and small airplane, helicopter, and special class). David is an instrument-rated pilot and experimental airplane builder and is keenly interested in developing pragmatic standards across aircraft, airspace, and infrastructure to enable advanced air mobility operational concepts.

Dr. Colleen Reiche leads the aviation business for QS-2 and has over 13 years of experience supporting various clients including FAA and NASA in data analytics, aviation weather research, aviation new entrant assessments (including UAM and UAS), technical program and project management, and stakeholder engagement. She has a broad knowledge of the urban air mobility landscape and challenges, air traffic operations, weather and air traffic data, analytics and operational & environmental issues specific to aviation. Prior to joining QS-2, Colleen was a Lead Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton in DC where she led a comprehensive UAM Market Study for NASA ARMD which characterized key challenges facing emergence of UAM, including a detailed quantification of potential weather barriers. She was also formerly a Senior Principal Scientist at AvMet Applications in Reston, VA where she was the technical lead on many projects related to quantification of adverse weather impacts on aviation. Prior to her time at AvMet, she was an Associate Technical Staff in the Weather Sensing Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA where she developed approaches for conveying convective weather forecast uncertainty to air traffic managers. She received her PhD and M.S. in Atmospheric Science from Purdue University and her B.S. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from Villanova University.

Andy Thurling is CTO of NUAIR, technical manager of the New York UAS Test Site where he leads research on current and future UAS technologies, industry standards, and test techniques to verify compliance. Prior to NUAIR, Andy was Director of Product Safety and Mission Assurance at AeroVironment where he led airworthiness, certification, and airspace access strategic efforts. Andy is a Distinguished Graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School. His career in the USAF culminated as Commander of the Squadron responsible for testing the newest unmanned aircraft. Andy has over 2300 hours of flight time in more than 35 aircraft types.

Peter Zaal is a principal system architect with Metis Technology Solutions at NASA Ames SimLabs. He received his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from Delft University of Technology in 2011 and has been at NASA Ames since 2009. Peter provides guidance to simulation projects and simulator improvements at all SimLabs simulation facilities, including the Vertical Motion Simulator. In addition, he conducts research on human visual and motion perception and manual control in simulators and works with the FAA to develop objective simulator motion criteria for pilot training. Peter is the vice chair of the AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Technical Committee.

Dario Milani (Aerospace Engineer, CFD Expert, Dr.Eng Wind Engineer) is the CEO of DM-AirTech, a German based company which augments meteorological data to serve the resolution and highly-scalable needs of the AAM market. Dario is a young entrepreneur with several years of experience in technical roles, where he has designed and optimized aircraft components as well as lead technical teams as part of several aerospace projects e.g. the hydrogen based Airbus’ zero-emission program. DM-AirTech’s service, GWC, supports infrastructure and planning by providing an optimal vertiport placement and aerial corridors design guidelines, while the API GWC-Update connects to UASs and provide them sensor-numerical micrometeorological data and real-time operational assistance.

Sharon is a Principal and Strategic Director of Infrastructure at RWDI . She brings two decades of varied experience in environmental engineering to her work with RWDI’s clients. Sharon has conducted a number of projects in the field of advanced air mobility looking at the effects of aircraft on the environment related to rotor downwash and the effects of the environment on aircraft. She recently was involved in a project with the National Research Council of Canada to study wind flows in the urban canyon. Sharon is an active participant in the Vertical Flight Society and the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium.

Perry Comeau is the Chief Research Test Pilot at the National Research Council of Canada’s Flight Research Laboratory located in Ottawa, Ontario. Perry is currently deeply involved in a variety of research projects including Ship helicopter Operating Limitations Analysis and Modelling (SHOLAS) investigating simulation and modelling of pilot workload during helicopter landings at sea and in turbulence, handling qualities, autonomy and other fields. He holds a B.S. Physics from Dalhousie University, B.Eng in Computer Engineering from Royal Military of College Canada and a graduate of United States Naval Test Pilot School in Pax River, Maryland. He is a former Royal Canadian Air Force officer for 28 years, serving as an airframe technician, operational CH124 SeaKing pilot and Rotary Wing Experimental Test Pilot. Perry has accumulated over 3800 hrs in 37 different rotary and fixed wing aircraft types. He is an Associate Fellow of the Society of Test Pilots, and their Canadian Section Chairman.

Guy L. Larose is a Senior Technical Director and Principal at RWDI. Guy is an internationally recognized authority in wind engineering, long-span bridges and aerodynamics. He has a background in both academic research and consulting work both in North America and in Europe; he has made engineering contributions to some of the world’s tallest structures and longest bridges and served as a specialist in wind-tunnel testing at the Aerodynamics Laboratory of the National Research Council Canada. Guy’s recent work has focused on urban canyon wind flows, bridge aerodynamics, wind engineering of flexible structures during construction, pedestrian bridges and windinduced vibrations of bridge cables. A recognized leader in his field, Guy has published numerous journal papers and actively contributes as advisor or board member for many technical symposiums and professional associations. He is also Adjunct Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. Dr Larose received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 for his scientific contributions to bridge engineering and the SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award in 2018 for scientific contributions to drag reduction technologies.

Dr. Matthias Steiner is a Senior Scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) serving as Director for the Aviation Applications Program of the Research Applications Laboratory (RAL). Drawing from three decades of scientific experience, he leads new initiatives and directs research and development efforts broadly aimed at mitigation of avoidable weather impacts on various sectors, with a particular focus on aviation. Dr. Steiner’s vision, leadership, and substantial contributions toward mitigating weather impacts on the aviation industry reach deeply across the traditional boundaries of developing more accurate weather forecasts in order to integrate weather guidance in the decision-making process to better serve aviation operators. At present, Dr. Steiner is leading efforts to understand weather sensitivities and requirements for the rapidly growing interests in urban air mobility and using unmanned aerial systems for wide-ranging applications and safe integration into the national airspace system. Dr. Steiner has received multiple recognitions for excellent contributions to field programs, scientific missions, and outstanding publications. Most notable, Dr. Steiner is a Fellow of both the Royal and American Meteorological Societies.

Rory Feely is a transitioning Marine Corps Test Pilot. He has 26 years of fixed wing and rotary wing aviation experience with 15 years of proven, in-depth and hands-on experience in experimental and developmental flight test, aerospace project management and flight test instruction culminating in selection to Commanding Officer of the United States Naval Test Pilot School. In 2017, LtCol Feely cofounded HopFlyt, an electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) startup and served as the Chief Test Pilot and Chief Financial Officer for four and a half years. He currently serves on the Vertical Flight Society’s eVTOL Technical Committee and was the chair for the eVTOL technical session for 2020-2021. He is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a Fellow at the Royal Aeronautical Society.

As an associate of Davidson Code Concepts, LLC, Mr. Phelan brings 25 years of public sector fire service and code enforcement experience, having achieved national certification as a fire investigator and a fire protection specialist. In his private sector work Mr. Phelan has been admitted as an expert witness in the field of fire investigation and has an extensive background in post-incident analysis, often participating in successful civil litigation. Through these experiences he has developed a well-rounded understanding of the cause and effect relationship between the codes and system performance under fire conditions. Armed with these experiences and lessons he is able to present the code material in an easy to understand 'component concept' approach to provide his students with a practical application knowledge beyond straight code memorization.He is a published author and delivered at national fire service and code conferences. He presently serves on multiple code development committees and previously served on the ICC Fire Code Interpretation Committee.

Todd Stevens is employed at SEVO Industrial Fire Protection (IFP), LLC. IFP works directly with customers worldwide to supply a turnkey fire protection solution producing the design, installation, and maintenance of special hazards systems. Mr. Stevens presently works as the Operations Manager. His responsibilities include overseeing the daily operations, business development, project implementation, logistics and support of the overall company mission to ensure progress and success. IFP works in industry sections like Aviation, Data Centers, Municipal Buildings and Power Generation. The types of special hazard systems include chemical agents, inert gases, CO2, foam, water mist, and various fire detection applications. Mr. Stevens has an associate degree in Mechanical Engineering, is NICET IV certified in Water Based Systems Layout, NICET III in Special Hazard Suppression Systems, is a Certified Fire Protection Specialist and holds a fire sprinkler installation license in the state of NC. He is active in numerous fire protection associations such as NFPA, SFPE and is the immediate Past President of the FSSA.

Michael Gorin, Emerging Issues Program Manager, National Fire Protection Association Michael is a Program Manager at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). In this role Michael is responsible for identifying and developing solutions to emerging technology and safety issues that impact NFPA’s diverse stakeholder audience. He has led several first responder training development and research projects focused on lithium-ion battery safety for automotive and stationary storage applications. Michael is an active member of the International Association of Emergency Managers, and the Society of Automotive Engineers. He holds a BS degree in Criminal Justice from Johnson & Wales University, a Master of Public Administration degree specializing in Emergency Management from Anna Maria College and has completed executive leadership training at Yale University School of Management.

Danny is responsible for the overall Financial, Commercial and Operational facets of Helijet and its respective operating business units: Helijet Scheduled Service, Helijet Charters, Helijet Air Medical, and Pacific Heliport Services Ltd. As a founding member and principal of Helijet, Danny has established this industry-renowned company as the “Largest scheduled helicopter airline in the world”. Celebrating 34 years in service, Helijet has boarded over 2.5 million passengers on its scheduled helicopter airline. Danny oversees a diversified Company with over 170 professionals and is driven to mentor and focus his team on diversification towards air service innovation and solutions.

Ken Swartz was elected to the Board of Directors of the Vertical Flight Society in 2018 representing the Americas (Canada, Central America and South America) and is the Director of Marketing & Communications for the Electric Aircraft Symposium which he has presented at the past four years. He has been a driving force behind the Vertical Flight Society’s eVTOL News initiative since early 2017 and is senior editor of Vertiflite magazine and the www.eVTOL.news site. Ken is a senior aerospace marketing and communications strategist with Aeromedia Communications working with clients across the helicopter, VTOL and commercial aviation sector. As one of Canada’s leading aerospace journalists, Ken has also written thousands of articles helicopter operations, regional airlines and aerospace technology since the early 1980s.

I have been employed with USDA for 14 years and am currently the Manager of the National Wildlife Strike Database which houses over 250,000 quality controlled Civilian wildlife strikes to aircraft. My love of aviation started on our rural farm in Pennsylvania which had a grass runway and was a helicopter layover point for many helicopters over the decades. It has been a pleasure to work with our USDA airport staff, biologists, the fixed wing and helicopter community and private individuals that make up the amazing world of aviation.

Richard Dolbeer was a scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1972-2008 where he led diverse research projects to resolve conflicts between humans and wildlife in North America, Africa, and Asia. He has over 230 scientific publications. Richard was a founding member of Bird Strike Committee-USA and served as chairperson from 1997-2008. Among his accomplishments, Richard helped design a program to keep gulls away from the WTC recovery site on Staten Island, NY in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Richard testified before the National Transportation Safety Board regarding the “Miracle on the Hudson” bird-strike event in 2009. He was publicly elected to two 4-year terms on the Board of Education in Huron, Ohio, serving as President for 2 years. A native of Tennessee, Richard received his PhD degree from Colorado State University in 1972. Richard currently manages his 60-acre farm “Bluebird Haven” (www.bluebirdhaven.org) in Ohio and works as a science adviser to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has 2 children and 6 grandchildren.

Terrence McKenna blends a rich background in industry and military, test and operations, to realize the adoption of next-generation aviation technologies including Urban/Advanced Air Mobility, autonomy and automation, and eVTOL aircraft. His work in the public sector coupled with his in-depth hands-on experience allows him to provide insight on the intersections of these disparate and varied disciplines. He is Test and Experimentation Lead for the United States Air Force’s initiative in eVTOL aircraft, Agility Prime, and couples broad manned flight test and operations experience with optionally-piloted and remote aircraft development. He holds Commercial Fixed Wing Multi-Engine, Single-Engine, Instrument, Seaplane, Helicopter, and Remote Pilot's Certificates and earned his SB in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Aaron Johnson has fifteen years of experience in the fire service, particularly within fire prevention/protection within the ARFF industry. He currently runs his own consulting practice specializing in innovative fire protection for emerging technologies.

Jonathan Daniels, founder and CEO of Praxis Aerospace Concepts International. A performance–driven professional unmanned systems (UxS) innovator, serial entrepreneur, consultant, educator, and avid research roboticist. Among the many hats Mr. Daniels continues to wear, as well as his long list of accomplishments, he is the only FAA-Designated Airworthiness Representative (DAR-F) for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in Nevada and Board Member and Articulator in Residence© for Mercantile Logistics and International Trade, Inc (MLIT), a Licensed Customs Brokerage House and transportation/logistics technology company.

Dr. Jasenka Rakas is faculty in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and affiliated faculty with the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, University of California, Berkeley. She is the deputy director of the UC Berkeley National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR III) and its lead aviation researcher. Dr. Rakas is a founder of the Airport Design Studio and Aviation Futures Lab. Her research interests are in the area of Advanced Air Mobility, aviation infrastructure and facility performance, and their interaction with the environment. Dr. Rakas’ teaching interests are in the areas of air transport facility design, planning and operations. Since January 2021, Dr. Rakas has been leading the UC Berkeley Urban Air Mobility (UAM) research for the UAM ecosystem in the Paris Region, led by Groupe ADP and RATP Group, as part of the Re.Invent Air Mobility project. She is a recipient of seven national awards by the FAA/ACRP Airport Design Competition for Universities.

This company, based in Israel and looking to enter the United States market, develops AI software that detects anomalies in patterns of behavior. It fuses big data with input from multiple sensor sources for its predictive analytics and has vast potential for “Smart Airport” applications.

Joseph Block is an Aerospace Engineer at Crown Consulting (Crown) with research focus areas on advanced air mobility, uncrewed aerial systems, and air traffic management. Mr. Block led the development of the Vertiport Automation System Concept of Operations, supported requirement definition, and conversion to a MBSE model. He primarily supports NASA ARMD strategic planning, market analysis, concept development, and system analysis projects. Prior to Crown, he was a Business Technology Analyst at Deloitte Consulting and received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas.

Jeff is the Founder and CEO Helo Holding Inc. which developed and operates the HHI Heliport (65NJ) in Kearny, New Jersey. The heliport is the largest rotorcraft-only infrastructure in the New York City metropolitan area and home base for more than 40 corporate, charter, private and law enforcement turbine aircraft. Jeff also an active commercial helicopter pilot and the VP of Marketing and Sales for the Analar Corporation, an owner and operator of single- and twin-engine helicopters based in Princeton, New Jersey.

With over 40 years in the aviation industry, Patricia Wagner brings an unprecedented level of management experience, dedicated resourcefulness, and knowledgeable skillset to her role as General Manager for Atlantic Aviation at New York City’s East 34th Street Heliport. In 2019, Atlantic Aviation was awarded their second 10-year operating agreement for the continued management of the East 34th Street Heliport through to 2029. Today, Patricia and her team maintain the facility to the highest standards and manage the day to day operations and finances with great prosperity. The East 34th Street Heliport, also known as “Metroport,” is one of three general aviation heliports on the island of Manhattan and provides the highest levels of safety, efficiency, and professional service to the helicopter community for both New York City and the greater tri-state area. With the introduction of eVTOL aircraft, professional management over the infrastructure needs, the technical transition, and the scalable platform are paramount. Patricia and her team not only have the necessary resources and knowledge to oversee this introduction, but they also understand the importance of helicopter services throughout New York City. Looking towards the future of aviation, Patricia and her team welcome the overall industry’s progress with electric aircraft and they are eager to continue to support the helicopter industry throughout its evolution.

Jose Brett joined Det-Tronics in 2018 as the Business Development Manager for Hangars. Prior to working for Det-Tronics, Jose was the Americas Sales Manager for Kidde AirSense (aspirating smoke detection products.) He has over 7 years of experience in the fire and security industry holding different roles in marketing, sales and business development. Jose holds an MBA degree from Hamline University St. Paul Minnesota as well as BS degree from UNITEC Venezuela.

Steve Moore joined Det-Tronics in 2002 and has held positions in project engineering and marketing. He has extensive experience in application and design of both fire suppression and flame detection systems. Steve is a registered Professional Engineer (Fire Protection) in the State of Minnesota and holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota.

John Weller has been a National Wildlife Biologist for the FAA since 2009 and is currently the past-Chairman of the Bird Strike Committee USA. His responsibilities include the development and oversight of national strategies, regulations and guidance regarding wildlife hazards on and within the vicinity of airports, which affect aircraft safety or impact airport development and land use. He provides oversight to the National Wildlife Strike Database, cooperative partnerships, outreach, and research targeting hazardous wildlife and mitigation techniques. John collaborates with foreign States, and assists ICAO with the development of international guidance and their Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs).

Major Paul Flanigen is an U.S. Army Acquisition Corps Officer pursuing his PhD at the University of Michigan’s Robotics Institute. He is researching methods for detecting and visualizing low profile vertical obstacles in flight. His previous education includes a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy, a M.S. in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Before returning to graduate school, he oversaw development, engineering, modernization, and sustainment of state-of-the-art sensor systems for Special Operations aircraft.

Torrie is a Product Manager at Wisk Aero specializing in all things vertiports! She is working with standards development bodies and infrastructure partners to define vertiport requirements, both physically and operationally. She also contributes to NASA’s Transformative Vertical Flight Working Group on Intra-City AAM as a vertiport expert. In her graduate work at Northwestern University Transportation Center prior to Wisk, Torrie focused on optimizing vertiport locations. She has created temporal and geographic demand forecasting models to determine optimal vertiport placement, developed vertiport/infrastructure requirements, and optimized fleet strategies using mode choice and machine learning models. As a transportation engineer, Torrie aims to promote AAM as a sustainable mode of transportation and generate its public acceptance. Torrie is also a certified SAFe Agile Product/Project Manager with experience in digital technology consulting.

Dr. Payan is a Research Faculty at the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Payan is currently the Georgia Tech Deputy Site Director for the Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility, and Sustainability – PEGASAS, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Center of Excellence for General Aviation. Over the past years, she has been involved with several projects related to aviation safety such as the use of data analysis and machine learning techniques for determining precursors to potential aviation safety events, the development of safety metrics for rotorcraft operations, the study of scenario-based training for rotorcraft, the impact of the availability and accuracy of weather information on the safety of rotorcraft operations, as well as the study and conceptualization of technologies to prevent wire strikes.

Ray has over 31 years air traffic management in the New York City metro along with 15 years of aviation policy and legislation experience on Capitol Hill. He was a FAA subject matter expert for NexGen Air Traffic Systems development and deployments including DataComm CPDLC, Terminal Flight Data Manager, and the SLS-5000 GBAS. He is the Co-Founder, Chairman and Executive Director of the Urban Low Altitude Transport Association (ULTRA) and a member of the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Society for Environmental and Economic Development (NJ SEED) where he chairs the Transportation Committee. Ray was appointed to the New Jersey Public Use Airports Task Force and is a Trustee of the Alliance for Quiet Electric Aviation (AQEA). He recently joined the advisory board of Transcend Air, a VTOL manufacturer. He is the Founder and President Low Altitude Operational Solutions an advanced air mobility deployment consulting firm and and Airde Elevated Thinking LLC an aviation systems engineering and training company.

Chuck is a registered architect with 47 years’ experience and is a Senior Director of Architecture with PS&S Architecture and Engineering, headquartered in Warren NJ. He has been with PS&S for more than six years. Currently, he serves as Lead for the company’s UAM Task Force, which stood up in 2019. In his role, he researches UAM topics related to Vertiport and infrastructure design, advises on all aviation-related matters for the firm, and has served as speaker and panelist at a variety of Air Mobility venues. The PS&S UAM Task Force has developed associations with several eVTOL manufacturers, operators, and other industry experts, including Rex Alexander of Five Alpha, among others. He advises to the NASA Transformative Vertical Flight program for Infrastructure, and has served as panelist for VFS Infrastructure Workshops and Varon Vehicles’ Skyscraper Think Tanks. He is a licensed commercial pilot, flight instructor, and enlisted Carrier Navy veteran; he has flown numerous general aviation aircraft and six military aircraft as a civilian pilot, including the Bell AH-1S Cobra helicopter from the Navy’s Test Pilot School. Currently, he serves as informal advisor to Atlantic City International Airport principals, including National Aviation Research Technical Park, Smart Aviation and Airport Partnership, National Institute of Aerospace, the Atlantic County Economic Alliance, and with specialists at the FAA’s Hughes Technical Center. PS&S is pleased to have participated in this Workshop as a Gold Sponsor.

Dronamics, based in Bulgaria and London and planning U.S. entry in 2022, aims to enable same-day long-distance shipping by operating