Title: 'Orbital Debris and Breaking Cognitive Biases'
Speaker: Dr. Darren McKnight
Time: 7pm, 21st of Jan 2016
Location: Building 54/Room 4011
The public lecture will be hosted as part of the stardust workshop in association with the Solent Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Darren McKnight is currently Technical Director for Integrity Applications, Inc. (IAI) based in Chantilly, Virginia. He leads teams to develop creative solutions across widely disparate domains: space systems, renewable energy, predictive awareness for infectious disease outbreaks, bioterrorism, orbital debris, the entertainment industry, and youth soccer training. Dr. McKnight released his latest book, Make Yourself Indispensable, in March 2015. This treatise leverages his years of serving as an innovation catalyst for a variety of government and commercial clients in a wide variety of technical domains. Darren is an active researcher in global sustainability problems that span outer space, quality of life, and workforce productivity.
Before coming to IAI, Darren served as Senior Vice President and Director of Science and Technology Strategy at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). His responsibilities included technical collaboration corporate-wide, strategic technology investments (including IR&D), and validating innovation methodologies. Dr. McKnight also served as Assistant Professor of Physics at the Air Force Academy from 1986-1990.
As a member of the International Academy of Astronautics’ Space Debris Committee, he has been active in position paper development, selection of symposia papers, and execution of the annual International Astronautical Congress.
Darren has served on the National Research Council’s Committee on NASA’s Orbital Debris and Micrometeoroid Program; Defense Science Board Summer Study on 21st Century Strategic Technology Vectors; and IBM’s Global Innovation Outlook (GIO) Team. He has coauthored five books ranging from space debris and spacecraft operations to soccer coaching and innovation. Darren has authored over 90 technical papers and presented them in 14 countries. He has appeared on tens of TV, radio, and newspaper interviews including with Discovery Channel, BBC, CBC, Space News, The Space Show, etc.
