NASEC 2014 Speakers
Keynote Address (Monday, Nov 3rd, 1330, in 102 Rickover Hall)
RADM Matthew L. Klunder is the Chief of Naval Research. As the CNR, ADM Klunder provides leadership for maintaining Navy's capabilities in all Science and Technology fields, which include the three themes of this conference: Robot-Human Interaction, Remote Sensing, and Automation and Intelligent Systems. Klunder received his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s degree in Aerodynamics and Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee, and a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the National War College.
Klunder has flown more than 45 different aircraft and accumulated 21 world-flying records. His awards include the Legion of Merit (four Awards), Defense Meritorious Service Medal (two Awards), Meritorious Service Medal (two Awards), Joint Commendation Medal (two Awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four Awards) and various unit and campaign awards.
Speaker - Forrestal Lecture (Monday, Nov 3rd, at 1930, in Alumni Hall)
Dr. Ray O. Johnson is Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Lockheed Martin. In this role, he guides the Corporation’s technology vision, and provides strategic leadership in the areas of technology, engineering, production, supply chain operations, and program management, which include more than 72,000 employees across approximately 4,000 programs worldwide.
Before joining Lockheed Martin, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Modern Technology Solutions, Inc., of Alexandria, Virginia. Prior to that, he held a variety of increasingly responsible executive positions with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), including Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Advanced Concepts Business Unit. He also served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 20 years.
Dr. Johnson is a member of the Advisory Board of the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Board of Visitors for the A. James Clark School of Engineering and the School of Computing, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland, the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and the Governing Board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative.
He is a Full Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), as well as a Fellow of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Dr. Johnson earned his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Oklahoma State University and his Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.
For further information about Lockheed-Martin please visit the website here.
Keynote Presentations
Monday, Nov 3rd, at 0900, in 102 Rickover Hall
Dr. Gill A. Pratt joined Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a program manager in the Defense Sciences Office (DSO) in January 2010. He presently manages the Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM), Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3), Nano Air Vehicle (NAV), Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS), System of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) and DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) programs.
Dr. Pratt’s primary interest is in the field of robotics. Specific areas include the development of declarative design methods that enhance the symbiosis between designer and design tool, rapid fabrication methods, interfaces that enhance human/machine collaboration, mechanisms and control methods for enhanced mobility and manipulation, and innovative actuators. He also has a strong interest in the application of neuroscience techniques to robot perception and control.
Dr. Pratt holds a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the field of neurophysiology. He was an associate professor and director of the Leg Lab at MIT. Subsequently, he became a professor at Franklin W. Olin College, and before joining DARPA, was Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Research. Dr. Pratt holds several patents in series elastic actuation, computer architecture, and adaptive control.
For further information about DARPA please visit the website here.
Tuesday, Nov 4th, at 1045, in 102 Rickover Hall
Dr. Pramod P. Khargonekar was appointed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to serve as Assistant Director for the Directorate of Engineering (ENG) in March 2013. In this position, Khargonekar leads the ENG Directorate with an annual budget of more than $800 million. The ENG Directorate invests in frontier engineering research and education, cultivates an innovation ecosystem, and develops the next-generation of engineers.
Khargonekar received B. Tech. Degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, in 1977, and M.S. degree in mathematics and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida in 1980 and 1981, respectively. He has held faculty positions at the University of Florida, University of Minnesota, and The University of Michigan. He was Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 1997 to 2001 and also held the position of Claude E. Shannon Professor of Engineering Science at The University of Michigan. From 2001 to 2009, he was Dean of the College of Engineering and is currently Eckis Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida. He also served briefly as Deputy Director of Technology at ARPA-E, U. S. Department of Energy in 2012-13.
For further information about the National Science Foundation please visit the website here.
Monday, Nov 3rd, at 1500, in Rickover 102
Since 2010 Dr. George R. Lucas, Jr has been the Professor of Ethics and Public Policy at the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School. During the period 2009-2013, Lucas occupied the Distinguished Chair in Ethics at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the U. S. Naval Academy, where he was earlier Professor and Deputy Department Chair in the department of Leadership, Ethics & Law. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values at Notre Dame University, and a Visiting Professor and Research Fellow at Ecoles de Saint-Cyr Coetquidan, the French Military Academy. He is the co-founder and Director of the Consortium on Emerging Technologies, Military Operations, and National Security (CETMONS), and President of the International Society for Military Ethics (ISME). Lucas received his B. S. in Physics, Summa cum Laude in 1971 from the College of William and Mary, and a Ph. D. in Philosophy in 1978 from Northwestern University. He has written numerous articles and book chapters on military robotics and cyber security. For further information about Prof. Lucas please visit his website here.
Subject Matter Expert Presentations
Sunday, Nov 2nd, in 102 Rickover Hall, Beginning at 1420
Robotic Cooperation, Remote Sensing, and Telepresence
Dr. Robin R. Murphy received a B.M.E. in mechanical engineering, a M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science in 1980, 1989, and 1992, respectively, from Georgia Tech, where she was a Rockwell International Doctoral Fellow. She is the Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M and directs the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue and an IEEE Fellow. Her research interests are artificial intelligence, human-robot interaction, and heterogeneous teams of robots and she has over 100 publications including the best selling textbook, Introduction to AI Robotics (MIT Press 2000). She is a founder of the fields of rescue robots and human-robot interaction. In 2008, she was awarded the Al Aube Outstanding Contributor award by the AUVSI Foundation, for her insertion of ground, air, and sea robots for urban search and rescue (US&R) at 11 disasters, including the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster, Hurricanes Katrina and Charley, and the Crandall Canyon Utah mine collapse. Since arriving at Texas A&M in 2008, she has been leading an initiative in emergency informatics, which stems in part from witnessing valuable data from robots not reaching the right decision maker. Dr. Murphy is active in the community, having served on the IEEE Robotics and Automation executive committees, numerous National Academies and defense boards, including the Defense Science Board.
For further information on Prof. Murphy's activities, please visit her website here.
Automation and Intelligent Systems
Dr. Michael L. Littman is a Professor of Computer Science at Brown University, from which he received his Ph. D. in 1996. His research areas are Intelligent agents, Artificial Intelligence, Educational Technology and Machine Learning, among other related areas in computer science and mathematics. Prof. Littman, with two other colleagues, has spearheaded the Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative (see hcri.brown.edu) where the center is "dedicated to robotics as a means to tackle the problems the world faces today."
Prof. Littman joined the Computer Science Department at Brown in 2012 after spending ten years at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He has advised numerous Ph. D. theses of students at Rutgers and at Brown in subjects as varied as Planning under Uncertainty and Reinforcement Learning. Prof. Littman a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).
Prof. Littman is an avid entertainer and lyricist. Please visit website cs.brown.edu/~mlittman to get a glimpse of his teaching and research activities as well as for many examples of his other unique talents.
Robot-Human Interaction and Social Robotics
Professor Manuela Veloso is the Herbert A. Simon University Professor in the Computer Science Department at the Carnegie Mellon University. In a 2012 article in WIRED Prof. Veloso describes her goals for robots as follows: "detect the state of the world, generate a plan to achieve goals, and actually execute planned actions -- just like humans do."
Prof. Veloso received her Licenciatura in Electrical Engineering and an M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Tecnico, in Lisbon, Portugal. She also received an M.A. in Computer Science from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.
Prof. Veloso has received numerous awards. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Prof. Veloso received the 2009 ACM/SIGART Autonomous Agents Research Award. She is also the Past President of AAAI and of RoboCup. For detailed information, please visit her website here (www.cs.cmu.edu/~mmv).
