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Corporate | Engineering Team

Paul Bartlett , VP, Engineering

Paul Bartlett joined Atair Aerospace in 2009 as VP of Engineering. Mr. Bartlett has worked in ground, air and space robotics for over 10 years. He applies this experience and his generalist technical background overseeing Atair's engineering team and providing systems engineering and design input.

Mr. Bartlett earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Fluid Mechanics & Aerospace at Cornell University. He then worked at Honeybee Robotics for seven years on design and development for NASA, DOD and other customers. Projects there included providing hardware for the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix Mars Lander. For the Mars Exploration Rover mission, he was part of the mission operations team at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the rovers' first year on Mars. Later, Mr. Bartlett performed research and design work on robotic ground vehicles for two years at Carnegie Mellon University's Field Robotics Center, earning an MS in Robotics and writing a thesis on vehicle suspension design.

Prior to joining Atair he served as an independent consultant for NASA and multiple product design firms. At points along his career, he performed weightless testing on the KC-135 "Vomit Comet," discovered a radio pulsar and co-designed a robotic art installation for the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Mark Borgerson, Embedded Software and Hardware Engineer

Mark Borgerson is the owner and operator of Oceanographic Embedded Systems, a small company that manufactures a line of peripheral cards for the Persistor CF-2 microcontroller and provides microcomputer consulting services.

Mr. Borgerson has a BSc. in Chemistry from UC, Davis, and a MSc. in chemical oceanography from Oregon State University. He is a Vietnam era veteran who served in the US Navy for five years as a signal intelligence specialist. After receiving his MSc. Degree, Mark worked as a research assistant for several years before leaving the university and becoming a partner in a company that opened one of the area's first computer stores. Since that time, he has worked as a consultant and full-time microcomputer programmer and has taught computer science for three years at Oregon State University. He is also the author of "A Basic Programmer's Guide to Pascal" published by John Wiley and Sons.

Before founding OES in 1998, Mr. Borgerson served for 5 years as the senior engineer at WETLabs, Inc., a manufacturer of optical oceanographic instruments in Philomath, Oregon. During his tenure, he designed the electronics and wrote the firmware for a number of very successful oceanographic instruments. Mark also served as a senior engineer at Sea Tech, Inc., a pioneer company in the field of optical oceanographic instrumentation. During his employment, he designed a number of specialized instruments as part of a team working on DOD-sponsored SBIR and other research grants.

Since founding OES, Mr. Borgerson has designed, produced and marketed seven unique peripheral cards for the Persistor CF-2. He has also written custom data acquisition software for the CF-2 for a number of research institutions both in the USA and overseas.

Anthony Calise, Ph.D., Senior Scientist

Prior to joining Atair Aerospace, Dr. Calise was a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Drexel University for 8 years. He also worked for 10 years in industry for the Raytheon Missile Systems Division and Dynamics Research Corporation, where he was involved with analysis and design of inertial navigation systems, optimal missile guidance and aircraft flight path optimization. Since leaving industry he has worked continuously as a consultant for 19 years. He is the author of over 150 technical reports and papers. He was the recipient of the USAF Systems Command Technical Achievement Award, and the AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award. He is a fellow of the AIAA and former Associate Editor for the Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics and for the IEEE Control Systems Magazine. The subject areas that Dr. Calise has published include Optimal Control Theory, Aircraft Flight Control, Optimal Guidance of Aerospace Vehicles, Adaptive Control using Neural Networks, Robust Linear Control and Control of Flexible Structures. In the area of adaptive control, Dr. Calise has developed a novel combination for employing neural network-based control in combination with feedback linearization. Applications include flight control of fighter aircraft, helicopters and missile autopilot design. In addition to being an Atair Aerospace employee, Dr. Calise continues teaching as a part-time Professor at the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Geo Homsy, Ph.D., Senior Hardware and Software Engineer

Geo Homsy has a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.  He is a computer scientist and software architect with deep understanding of physics, biology, and robotics.  He has made original contributions in theoretical chemistry, biological computation, secure networks, spread-spectrum data storage, and physiological modeling and simulation. Mr. Homsy has been focusing most recently on electromechanical, optical, and embedded systems architecture.  Mr. Homsy also works on physical modeling, optimization, and ergonomics.

Ganter Ludwig, VP, Project Manager

Mr. Ludwig joined Atair in 2002 and is currently Atair's Vice President of Project Management. He is a major contributor of the company's general business and manages the day-to-day operational aspects of numerous projects and team members. Mr. Ludwig works closely with key technical resources in software and hardware development, product testing, documentation, and others. Since 2007, Mr. Ludwig has been the Project Manager of Atair's family of Onyx precision airdrop systems. Mr. Ludwig attended Brown University.

Alexander MacKenzie, Embedded Systems Engineer

Alexander MacKenzie is a graduate of the Boston University Digital Signal Processing and Communications department, where he obtained his Masters' Degree. During his studies he has worked under grant from the National Science Foundation as well as Boston University. Prior to joining Atair Aerospace, he has worked with New York Hospital's medical imaging group in MRI related research, and Raytheon International as a market research intern. His research interests include auditory signal processing as well as information theory.

Philip McManus, FAA Master Rigger

Philip McManus served in the United States Marine Corps prior to joining Atair in May 2007. Mr. McManus served two tours in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, conducting mass airborne re-supply missions during the initial stages of OIF I with 1st Air Delivery Platoon. During OIF III, Mr. McManus served as a machine gunner, platoon parachute Rigger, and insert officer in a Reconnaissance platoon with 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (15th MEUSOC). Mr. McManus graduated cum laude from the State University of New York, College at Oneonta in May 2007, earning a BS in less than 2 years. Mr. McManus is directly involved with development, testing, and production of Atair's soft goods. Mr. McManus earned his FAA Senior Rigger certificate in 2007, and completed FAA Master Rigger certification in 2008.

Dennis Walsh, VP, Production

Dennis Walsh joined Atair Aerospace to manage all parachute and parachute system rigging functions, and Atair's soft goods manufacturing facility.  Mr. Walsh is a retired United States Marine Corps First Sergeant with over 21 years of experience as a military parachute rigger.  Highlights of Mr. Walsh's military career include Military Freefall Jumpmaster qualification, Vector Military Tandem Master qualification for personnel and equipment, service as a member of First Force Reconnaissance Company during the Persian Gulf War, participation in the initial night landing during Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, and participation in the initial assault and first six months of Operation Iraqi Freedom combat operations in Iraq.  Following the 1999 crash of a CH-46E Sea Knight Helicopter in the Pacific Ocean which killed five Force Recon Marines, Mr. Walsh developed the initial design for the USMC Full Spectrum Battle Equipment-Amphibious Assault Vest-Quick Release (FSBE-AAV-QR) jettison system used for emergency egress of personnel in water.  The FSBE-AAV-QR system was fielded by the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center.  Mr. Walsh earned a FAA Senior Rigger certificate in 1998, and completed FAA Master Rigger certification in 2006.  Mr. Walsh graduated summa cum laude, with a BS in Criminal Justice Administration from Park University.

Angela Yuan, Mechanical Design Engineer

Angela Yuan is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley where she obtained her Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Solid Mechanics. During her undergraduate career, she was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to study metal fatigue characteristics at the Czech Institute for Plasma Physics. Prior to joining Atair, she worked at Mercedes Benz as an environmental engineering intern. Angela’s other interests include physical computing and robotics.