Breakout - DoD I

Dr. Rajesh R. Naik, a member of the scientific and professional cadre of senior executives, is the Chief Scientist of the 711th Human Performance Wing of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He is the primary science and technology adviser to the wing commander. In this position he provides technical vision and strategy for the wing’s science and technology plans, coordinates with other Department of Defense organizations, academic and industrial partners.

Dr. Naik joined AFRL in 1999 as a visiting scientist and became a federal employee in 2004, where he was assigned the position of Biotechnology Group Leader. In 2007 he was appointed the technology adviser for biotechnology in the Nanostructure and Biological Materials Branch. Dr. Naik also served as the Chair for AFRL’s Bio-X Strategic Technology Team from 2008 to 2011. He is the lead for the Office of the Secretary of Defense Applied Research for the Advancement of S&T Priorities Program (FY17-19) on Synthetic Biology for Military Environments.

Scientifically, Dr. Naik has research interests in the areas of biomaterials, nanotechnology and biomimetics, with focus on biosensing, bioelectronics, nanostructured materials, and protein engineering. He has published over 210 peer-reviewed articles, several book chapters, and has 10 awarded patents. He is also active in numerous technical communities.

Dr. William P. Roach, a member of the Scientific and Professional Cadre of Senior Executives, is Chief Scientist, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, Virginia. Dr. Roach is the principal science and technology adviser to the Director in matters of formulation, planning, managing and integration of all Air Force basic research programs. The office has a staff of approximately 200 people and an annual working budget of nearly $500 million that supports more than 5,000 worldwide basic research projects critical to the defense of the U.S. The office selects, sponsors and manages research relevant to Air and Space Force needs in science and technology, and is the single manager for the entire Air and Space Force basic research programs.

Dr. Roach began his career as an enlisted member of the United States Air Force in 1971, serving with the 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing, the 388th TFW, the 90th Strategic Missile Wing and the 442nd TFW. He received a direct commission to the rank of captain in 1990 after receiving his Ph.D. in Physics and assigned to the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, Optical Radiation Bioeffects Division, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. Upon retirement from active duty with the Air Force in 2005, Dr. Roach joined the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Human Effectiveness Directorate, Special Operations and Projects Division as a Senior Research Physicist.

Dr. Paul M Delgado is a senior aeronautical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, specializing in Hypersonics, Thermal Ablation, and Planetary Reentry. He is also Vice Chair of the Albuquerque Chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Aviation (AIAA), member of the AIAA Weapon Systems Effectiveness Technical Committee, and moderator of the Computation Science Stack Exchange. Paul holds B.S. Degrees in Mathematics and Spanish from the University of New Mexico, M.S. Degrees in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science from the University of New Mexico and the University of Texas at El Paso (respectively). He is a former NSF Fellow and XSEDE Scholar from the University of Texas at El Paso, where he received a PhD in Computational Science. He has also worked at NASA Ames Research Center, Los Alamos National Laboratories, National Energy Technology Laboratories, Leidos, and Ball Aerospace. Paul also actively participates in STEM K-12 Outreach with Air Force Research Laboratories and Sandia National Laboratories, developing and teaching semester courses in spaceflight to underrepresented minority students at the elementary and middle school levels.

Dr. Adel Alaeddini is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Advanced Data Engineering Lab at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). I am also the Co-Director of Flexible Manufacturing and Lean Systems (FMLS) Lab, Core Member of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems (CAMLS), and Associate Member of the Center for Simulation, Visualization, and Real-Time Prediction (SiViRT) at UTSA. My research program builds upon developing advanced data analytics tools for solving complex problems in healthcare, defense, and manufacturing. My work is strongly data-driven, where mathematical models are paired with data and statistical/empirical methods to drive meaningful change in complex systems. I am very excited that the methodologies I developed have been extensively funded and widely utilized in a variety of applications. I am the recipient of Air Force - Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award, and IISE QCRE Division best paper award. I am also the finalist of the INFORMS Pierskalla competition, and the POMS most influential service operations paper competition. Currently, I serve as a member of the editorial board of the IISE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering, and the board of directors of QCRE division at IISE. I am also a professional member of INFORMS, IISE, and SIAM.