I live in Ijamsville, MD, with my wife Karen and daughters Leah and Emma. My hometown is Murphysboro, IL, and my parents still live there on this farm.

I work for Space Systems/Loral, a California-based manufacturer of communication satellites.  I'm involved with testing most of SS/L's satellites in-orbit after they are launched.

I used to work for IOT Systems, LLC.  The company specialized in the In-Orbit Testing of communication satellites.   Most of the employees were former employees of COMSAT Laboratories in Clarksburg, MD.  After COMSAT was acquired by Lockheed Martin in 2000, it became part of LMGT, which was then subsequently closed down in 2001.

In 1998 I graduated from Georgia Tech with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. My research work at Georgia Tech involved the NASA ACTS (Advanced Communications Technology Satellite) program. My research group, headed by Dr. Paul Steffes, participated in the Propagation Program sponsored by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The NASA grant was used to build a Ka-band VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal). This terminal is currently located on the roof of the Van Leer Building at Georgia Tech. The purpose of the project was to characterize the effects of Ka-band atmospheric propagation on a wideband spread-spectrum signal. In particular, I measured the effects of scintillation in this frequency band, which could have an impact on digitally modulated signals. The measurements show the effects of varying local weather conditions on the received signal scintillation noise. My doctoral thesis is entitled "Effects of Atmospheric Scintillation in Ka-Band Satellite Communications". An abstract is available online, or the complete document can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format by clicking here. I received an M.S. degree from Syracuse University in 1992, and a B.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 1989; both in Electrical Engineering. I used to work for General Electric Ocean and Radar Systems in Syracuse, NY, which became part of Martin Marietta, and which is now part of Lockheed Martin.

While at Georgia Tech, I did work for the SETI Institute; updating a database of known satellite and deep space objects to assist in the search for intelligent signals from beyond the solar system. I have also been involved with SETI observations for Project Phoenix at the Woodbury Research Facility.

This page was last updated on 08/16/10.