AFRL Biographies Mr. Steven Drager AFRL/RIT Mr. Steven Drager is the Advanced Computing Architecture Core Technical Competency lead as well as the technical advisor for the Computing Architectures Branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate. Mr. Drager has worked more than 20 years at AFRL beginning in reliability physics, then the development and standardization of the analog and mixed-signal extensions to the VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL-AMS) and has spent the last 10 years leading research efforts in high performance embedded computing architectures, quantum computing architectures and algorithms, and software-intensive systems. Mr. Robert Ehret AFRL/RYT Mr. Rob Ehret received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1986 from The Ohio State University and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management in 1991 from the University of Dayton. Mr. Ehret has worked for AFRL for 23 years. He served his first 10 years in the electronic warfare division, avionics directorate, working electronic warfare modeling, simulation and analysis programs. He moved to the information directorate serving 10 years, the last 7 years as branch chief of the collaborative simulation technology branch, information systems division. Mr. Ehret is currently deputy division chief of the Autonomic Trusted Sensing for Persistent Intelligence Division, Sensors Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory. Mr. Dan Fayette AFRL/RIS Mr. Daniel F. Fayette is the Command and Control (C2) Core Technology Competency (CTC) lead assigned to the Information Systems Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate, Air and Space C2 Systems Engineering Branch (AFRL/RISA) Rome Research Site, Rome. N.Y. Mr. Fayette s responsibilities in addition to being C2 CTC lead include leading the Space C2 focus area, leading the Synchronized Operations Capability Concept associated with the AFRL Focus Long Term Challenge Anticipatory C2I activity, and interacting with strategic partners and stakeholders to deliver net enabled C2 capabilities to evolving and future warfighting systems. Mr. Fayette has 33 years of experience at AFRL accomplishing a varitey of assignments throughout his career. Mr. Fayette received a MS Electrical Engineering degree from Syracuse University in 1985 and his BS Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Detroit in 1980.
Mr. John Grieco AFRL/RIE Mr. John Grieco is the Lead of the Information Exploitation Core Technical Competency (CTC),, Information Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, NY. He is responsible for the technical activities of the Sensor Data Exploitation and Communications Exploitation Branches. These activities include the formulation of fundamental research and advanced development programs in the signals, imagery, video, signatures, and steganographic areas. As the Air Force lead for all signals Military Intelligence Programs he is responsible for cross service interaction and programs with peers in the DoD. Mr. Grieco began his professional career in 1987 in Rome at the Rome Air Development Center as a student intern in the Speech Processing Group. In 1990 as a speech processing researcher Mr. Grieco conducted research and program management in real-time signal processing, speaker identification, language identification, audio channel normalization, and speech system confidence metrics. In 1998 he became the audio processing group lead, directing all audio and speech processing research, to include functioning as the US Panel Delegate to the NATO Research Technology Organization - Information Systems Technology (RTO-IST) panel on Speech and Language Technology. In this role he represented the US government, US industry, and US university research to the NATO research community. The Information Exploitation focus area was created in the 2003, and since this time Mr. Grieco has functioned as the first and only lead as it evolved in a CTC. He has published numerous papers, and has supported the DoD intelligence technical community for many years. Mr. Franklin E. Hoke AFRL/RIB Mr. Franklin E. Hoke Jr. is in charge of the Office of Research and Technology Applications in the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) where he leads the Directorate Technology Transfer program. Mr. Hoke has led the T2 activities at AFRL/RI since July 2000. In the last two years, he was also the Director of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center Northeast Region, a sixteen state area, responsible for transferring technologies from the Rome Research Site to law enforcement and corrections practioners at the local level as well as the identification of requirements and technology needs within the National Institute of Justice. He currently is also the Deputy Director of the Information Institute, a virtual collaborative research environment concentrating on Information Science and Technology with over 60 academic institution members. Mr. Hoke is active in the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) for Technology Transfer as well as the Northeast Region of the National Federal Laboratory Consortium, where he was recently named the NE FLC Representative of the Year. Prior to becoming the ORTA for AFRL/RI, Mr. Hoke was an active duty officer in the U.S. Air Force, as the Deputy Chief of Plans and Program Division, Rome Laboratory and the Deputy Commander of the 416 th Support Group, Griffiss AFB, NY. He retired with 28 years of active duty. He was commissioned in 1972 upon graduation from the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY. He holds Masters degrees in System Management from the University of Southern California and the Air Force Institute of Technology.
Mr. Patrick Hurley Patrick Hurley is a Senior Computer Engineer at Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from SUNY Oswego and a Master of Science degree in Computer Information Science from SUNY College of Technology. Over the past 15 years, Mr Hurley has worked closely with DARPA on various aspects of cyber defense, especially focusing on survivability architectures, adaptive security, and advanced distributed systems technologies that lead to more agile and better managed systems. Mr. Hurley is currently the lead on two AFRL capability concepts focused on fighting through cyber attacks while maintaining mission essential function. He is a member of the IEEE and has over 20 technical publications. Kevin A. Kwiat Kevin A. Kwiat has been a civilian employee with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York for over 25 years. He received the BS in Computer Science and the BA in Mathematics from Utica College of Syracuse University, and the MS in Computer Engineering and the Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University. He holds 3 patents. In addition to his duties with the Air Force, he is an adjunct professor of Computer Science at the State University of New York at Utica/Rome, an adjunct instructor of Computer Engineering at Syracuse University, and a Research Associate Professor with the University at Buffalo. He completed assignments as an adjunct professor at Utica College of Syracuse University, a lecturer at Hamilton College, a visiting scientist at Cornell University, and as a visiting researcher while on sabbatical at the University of Edinburgh. His main research interest is dependable computer design.
Dr. Mark Linderman AFRL/RIS Dr. Mark Linderman is a Principal Researcher in Information Management Technologies in the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate where he leads the Information Management technology area. From 2000-2004, he was the Technical Lead of the AFRL Information Directorate Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) Program. The JBI program addresses a broad spectrum of information management challenges from access control, the role of metadata, dissemination, persistence and destruction of information. Dr. Linderman is active in the Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) that fosters collaboration of research, development and experimentation among the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. He chaired of the C3I Group Technical Panel on Information Management from its inception until 2009. Prior to joining the JBI project, Dr. Linderman was the Technical Advisor for the Advanced Computing Architectures Branch, and he was active in several projects involving the application of HPCs to signal processing challenges. Dr. Linderman made several contributions to the field of embedded High Performance Computing (HPC), including the demonstration of a highly efficient Space-Time Adaptive Processing implementation, embedded signal processor simulation, design and testing, and high performance computing. Dr. Linderman joined AFRL in 1994 after completing his M.Eng. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Cornell University. He holds a BSEE degree from the University of Delaware. Dr. John D. Matyjas Dr. John D. Matyjas received the A.S. degree in pre-engineering from Niagara University in 1996 and the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1998, 2000, and 2004, respectively. Currently, he is employed since 2004 by the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, NY, performing R&D in the information connectivity branch. His research interests are in the areas of wireless multiple-access communications and networking, statistical signal processing and optimization, and neural networks. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome. Dr. Matyjas is the recipient of the 2009 Mohawk Valley Engineering Executive Council "Engineer of the Year" Award and the 2009 Fred I. Diamond Basic Research Award for "best technical paper." As a co-author, he garnered the 2010 IEEE International Communications Conference (ICC) "Best Paper Award." He also was the recipient of the State University of New York at Buffalo Presidential Fellowship and the SUNY Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Assistants. He is a member of the IEEE Communications, Information Theory, Computational Intelligence, and Signal Processing Societies; chair of the IEEE Mohawk Valley Chapter Signal Processing Society; and a member of the Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu engineering honor societies. 4
Mr. Mark Pronobis AFRL/RIE Mr. Mark Pronobis (AFRL/RIEF) is the CTC lead Information Fusion and Understanding. Mr. Pronobis is responsible for research in Object ID and Tracking, Text Extraction, Situation Analysis (across Air, Space and Cyberspace) and the Anticipation of adversary threats and plausible future actions. Mr. Pronobis is a member of the IEEE. Mr. Pronobis earned a B.S in Electrical Engineering from the University of Detroit, a M.S. Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, and a M.S. in Engineering Management for the National Technological University. Mr. Scott S. Shyne Mr. Shyne received his B.S. and M.S. in computer science from SUNY Institute of Technology and currently serves as the AFRL Cyber Operations Core Technical Competency (CTC) lead. He has 21 years of Federal service working across the technical areas of automatic target recognition, software programmable radios, intelligent transportation systems, networking/communications, cross domain information sharing and cyber operations. His current research interests are in the areas of hypervisor technology, virtual machines, and maneuverability in cyberspace.