Dr. Roger Myers is an aerospace consultant with over 30 years of experience and served as President of the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) from 2020-2022. From 1996 to 2016 he held executive positions at Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Redmond Operations, the world’s leading supplier of spacecraft propulsion systems, focusing on technology development and strategic planning for next-generation in-space missions and architectures, propulsion, power and integrated systems. Prior to joining Aerojet Rocketdyne in 1996, he worked at NASA’s Glenn Research leading research and development of advanced propulsion technologies. He has led dozens of development and space flight programs and published over 100 papers on electric, chemical and nuclear propulsion technology and in-space transportation architectures. Additionally, Dr. Myers served as Chair of the Washington State Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation and President of the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society (ERPS) until 2020. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), was elected to the WSAS in 2012, won the AIAA Wyld Propulsion Award in 2014, was elected to the Board of Trustees for the Seattle Museum of Flight in 2015 and won the ERPS Stuhlinger Medal in 2017. He has served on several committees for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022, He was named the PNW AIAA Industry Engineer of the Year in 2023. Dr. Myers holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering, summa cum laude, from the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University.

Dr. Richard Wahls is NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership (SFNP) Mission Integration Manager for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. He is responsible for long-range strategic technical planning and coordination of projects supporting the mission across NASA programs and with industry, academia, and national/international government agencies. Dr. Wahls has been with NASA for 32 years serving in increasingly broad and influential leadership positions in national aeronautics programs, most recently as the senior technical and strategy advisor to the Director of NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles and Fundamental Aeronautics Programs at NASA Headquarters. Previously, Dr. Wahls served as Assistant Head of the Configuration Aerodynamics Branch at NASA Langley Research Center where his career began as a researcher. His personal research emphasized high Reynolds number aerodynamics/scale effects utilizing the unique capabilities of the U.S. National Transonic Facility, and the study of innovative aerodynamic technologies and aircraft configurations. He is the author or co-author of 80 technical publications and has given invited presentations around the world. Dr. Wahls is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Aeronautical Society, and earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Anna Oldani is an Aviation Energy Program Manager at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Environment and Energy, where she leads numerous Sustainable Aviation programs, both with academia through the Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT) Center of Excellence and with industry under the Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise (CLEEN) Program. Her work focuses on Sustainable Aviation Fuel development and deployment, along with alternative aviation energy technologies, to make near-term progress while ensuring long-term aviation sustainability. She supports interagency coordination with USDA and DOE through the SAF Grand Challenge. Alongside her colleagues, she is advancing the new Fueling Aviation’s Sustainable Transition through Sustainable Aviation Fuels (FAST-SAF) and Low Emission Aviation Technologies (FAST-Tech) Grant Program. She is passionate about working across government, academia and industry to achieve significant environmental goals for aviation. Dr. Oldani received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois where she focused on fuel characterization and alternative jet fuel integration.

Dr. Joshua Heyne facilitates the development of sustainable aviation fuels by aligning novel technologies for commercialization, utilizing new low-volume experimental methods, and researching compositional needs for 100% SAF. Previously, Heyne was the integrator and coordinator of the National Jet Fuels Combustion Program (NJFCP) from 2014 to 2020, aiming to streamline the evaluation and qualification process of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In addition, he contributes to national and international media and has published 1 book, 4 chapters, >40 archival peer-reviewed, and over 40 conference publications. He holds four degrees from three institutions, including a Ph.D. from Princeton University in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2014. In April 2022, he joined WSU Tri-Cities.

Scott Cary has more than 25 years of experience leading planning, finance, design, acquisition and construction teams for Port, Airport and Department of Defense infrastructure and facilities efforts, worldwide. For the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Mr Cary aligns port and airport programs lab-wide, integrating the unique expertise of a Department of Energy National Laboratory with aviation and maritime needs. He has a specific focus currently championing the Sustainable Aviation initiative which is assisting industry in accelerating adoption of new technologies worldwide across an array of energy carriers including Sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen, and electricity. Clients currently include multiple large hub airports, the FAA, NASA, USAF, USSF, and industry collaboration across the Advance Air Mobility spectrum. Mr. Cary is the principal investigator for FAA analysis exploring infrastructure deployment needs for both electric and hydrogen based propulsion systems. He is a former USAF officer, a licensed professional engineer and LEED accredited professional.

Dr. Jonathan Gladin is a Senior Research Engineer at the Aerospace Systems Design Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D degree in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech. He has worked as a research engineer at ASDL since 2015 and is the division chief for the propulsion and energy group. His work is heavily focused in the area of advanced propulsion systems design and analysis, with a focus on advanced cycles, electrified aircraft, propulsion airframe integration, zero emissions/hydrogen aircraft, and sustainable aviation. He has been involved with many NASA funded projects related to the conceptual design of various advanced concepts including two recently funded university initiatives to research zero emission aircraft concepts with alternative fuels.

Melinda Pagliarello is Managing Director, Environmental Affairs at ACI-NA. In this role, she has primary responsibility for ACI-NA’s activities in aviation environmental matters and sustainability. She monitors and reports on international and federal agency actions, programs, requirements, research and regulations affecting environmental matters for airports and aviation at North American airports.

Specific areas of focus within Melinda’s portfolio include airport noise; air and water quality, including PFAS issues at airports; airport sustainability initiatives; and the range of environmental regulations, policies, and procedures that affect airports in the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Michael Wolcott, Regents Professor, has been a member of the WSU faculty since 1996 conducting research in the field of biobased materials, chemicals, and fuels. Wolcott currently serves as the Director of ASCENT, the FAA Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuel and the Environment. He was formerly Project Co-Director for NARA – Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance, a USDA AFRI Sustainable Biofuels CAP project, which most notably flew the first cellulosic biofuel flight cross-country with partners Gevo and Alaska Airlines. Until recently, Wolcott served as the WSU’s Associate Vice President for Research where he managed the strategic relationship between WSU and the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) building research alliances and graduate student education opportunities.

Dr. Florian Allroggen is the Executive Director Aerospace Climate & Sustainability in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium (MCSC). He co-leads the MIT Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment and the Transportation pathway within MCSC. His research brings together Transport Economics, Environmental Economics, and related research questions in Energy Economics. In his recent work, he focuses on understanding the transition of transportation towards sustainable solutions. He develops and applies methods for techno-economic and lifecycle assessments, policy analyses, cost-benefit analysis, energy potential assessments, and market response modeling.

IEEE Fellow, electricity industry visionary, and leader, Dr. Mani Vadari delivers strategic services to a global set of utilities, vendors, and service providers seeking deep subject matter expertise in setting the business and technical direction to develop the next-generation electric/energy system. As a Business Architect, Dr. Vadari has been delivering solutions focusing on Transmission/Distribution/ generation operations, Energy markets, and Smart Grid for over 35 years. In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor at Washington State University and an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington. He has published two popular books, “Smart Grid Redefined: Transformation of the Electric Utility” and “Electric System Operations – Evolving to the Modern Grid, 2ndEdition”, in addition to over a hundred industry papers, articles, and blogs. His books are serving as textbooks at several universities in the US and around the world.