• GNC Engineer at The Spaceship Company, Virgin Galactic
• MS, National Test Pilot School, flight Test Engineer Professional Course
• BS, Aerospace Engineering, Aeronautics
• Private pilot, glider and multi engine aircraft

Currently a 1st year college student in India, Tapaswini is research oriented with a keen interest in Space Science and Astronomy. She’s developed several projects in subjects including Aeronautics, Astrobiology, and Space Exploration. Such as Elpis: Lead a team to successfully design a Space Settlement that paves the way for exploration; Kirithra Orbis: Individually designed a Spacecraft that supports Research and Space Tourism; Designed an instrument to convert sound energy into electricity; Hiber-Bot: A spaceship built to help astronauts hibernate and travel further into space; AEGIS: Designed a radiation resistant shield to protect astronauts from radiation in space. (Hackathon, 2020)

• 2 x Received Honorable Mention from NASA for Space Settlement Projects (2015 & 2017)
• Speech aired at the Humans to Mars Summit, 2020 held by Explore Mars.
• Recommended as a Model Data Science Student, 2020.
• Essay published in Diamonds Mirror under Award Winning Essays category.
• World Record holder in Dance in High Range Book of World Records, USA.
• Placed in the top 5% of participants (based on performance) in the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition, 2020.
• 2 x Article Published in AIAA Newsletter, 2020. Completed Air Race Classic Virtual

Melissa Montgomery was a corporate attorney and university instructor for many years before focusing her career on contract management and entering the aerospace industry over ten years ago. Originally focusing on the airplane production segment, she moved into space 2 years ago landing at The Center for Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. where she is the Director of Contracts and Compliance. Melissa spends her spare time traveling and practicing yoga.

Marilyn is an avid aviation and aerospace enthusiast and on most weekends, can be found at an airport. She has had the great fortune of flying in open-cockpit biplanes for over 15 years as weekend playmates. She has also made the cross-country trek from Los Angeles to Oshkosh for the annual EAA AirVenture Oskhosh, in a variety of airplanes including a YMF-5 Super Waco biplane, a Great Lakes biplane, TBM 750 & 800, and a Pilatus PC-12. And she has co-piloted the only two-place British Supermarine Spitfire Mk.9 in the U.S.

With over twenty years in aviation, both professionally and personally, Marilyn’s background includes a wide variety of successes at producing never-been-done-before events such as:

• The first XPRIZE Air & Space Expo at Holloman Air Force Base with both “fire & fly” activities – rocket launches, lunar lander vehicle competitions and air show performances.
• The very first over-the-water airshow at the Huntington Beach Pier with a myriad of military and civilian performances including Bob Hoover, Wayne Handley, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and more.
• Record-breaking air shows in Hawaii, with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels Jet Performance Team, which attracted more than 250,000 spectators.

Her professional career has piloted her into holding such positions as Senior Director of Operations for the X PRIZE, Director of Programs for the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, Executive Producer for the Pierfest Sea and Air Show, and Marketing Director for U.S. Naval Air Station Barbers Point, HI.

Throughout her career, she has had the great fortune to work closely with many distinguished aviators including Bob Hoover, Donald Douglas Jr., Airshow Performers – Sean D. Tucker, and Wayne Handley, the Tuskegee Airmen, the WASPS, members of the original Flying Tigers, and a myriad of Astronauts including Buzz Aldrin and Gene Cernan.

Additionally, Marilyn brings nearly two decades of experience in the planning and implementation of large and small-scale corporate events. Her commitment to excellence has led to her personal success in a variety of industries including aviation, space exploration, government, advertising, economic development, and higher education.

Marilyn worked for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, and was responsible for overseeing the LAEDC’s key events including the annual Eddy Awards, which during her tenure, honored such organizations as SpaceX and Los Angeles World Airport.

Currently Marilyn holds the position of Director of Events at California State University, Dominguez Hills. In this role, she oversees a department that manages in excess of 60 annual events including the annual South Bay Economic Forecast that she shaped and is attended by more than 200 leading industry professionals. She is also involved in creating a documentary on the Dominguez Hills 1910 Air Meet.

Marilyn has served on Boards for the American Marketing Association, the Association of Western States Aviation Museums, and for the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and currently participates as Treasurer on the board for the LA-LV AIAA Section.

I received my bachelors of arts in Applied Mathematics & Psychology from Queens College of the City University of New York. As an undergraduate, I conducted U.S. Human Rights Network (USHRN) research on U.S. immigration for the 2015 Report under the supervision of Salimah K. Hankins, the deputy director of the USHRN. This past summer, I conducted research on the field of Graph Theory in Mathematics with The Recruitment and Mentoring in Mathematics Program (RAMMP), contributing to the publication of Line Graphs and Edge-Centrality Measures. This past fall, I interned with the Dynamics and Controls branch at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC), assisting with sensor and system integration, mass property testing and flight research of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems. This summer, I supported the DreamUp to Space Virtual Mission as an assessor, evaluating and selecting experiments to be launched and conducted on the International Space Station (ISS). I am currently working as a teaching assistant for the Department of Mathematics at Queens College. I offer extra in classroom support and office hours for first semester calculus.

Albion H. Bowers had a 37 year career with NASA at the Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, CA. Al retired as the Chief Scientist of NASA Armstrong. Prior to that Al was the Associate Director for Research, the Director for Aeronautics Projects, the Special Assistant to the Associate Administrator of Aeronautics (in Washington DC), Deputy Director of Research and Engineering, and the Chief of Aerodynamics.

Prior to these positions, Mr Bowers was an aerospace engineer on approximately 24 different aerospace projects. He was chief engineer for seven aircraft and project manager of one research aircraft. He has approximately 30 peer reviewed publications. He is also the discoverer of how birds are able to turn and maneuver without use of vertical tails (as aircraft do) and holds two patents on this technology. Bowers mentored approximately 200 student interns, grads and undergrads in his years at NASA. Many of these young people are in their careers working at NASA now. Bowers holds the NASA Exceptional Service Medal (2006) and the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (2014), was selected by his peers as “Mentor of the Year” four times, and selected by iLead schools for their “Vision in Education” award (2018).

Mr Bowers’ specialty is in fluid and flight mechanics and systems engineering, and he holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aeronautical Engineering, plus additional coursework towards a PhD, from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Al has been married to his wife Leanne for 38 years, and they have two sons. Al & Leanne are about to become grandparents for the first time. He was a member of the Boy Scouts for nearly 30 years (as a Scout and an adult leader). Al is a teaching elder at his church. Al was a long time member of the Hang Glider association, the Soaring Society, and has run the western workshop for Soaring for over 20 years. He lives in Lancaster, CA.

Websites

• https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/about/biographies/management/bowers.html
• https://ileadaerospace.org/spaceflight/nasas-al-bowers-on-being-that-guy/
• https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/programs_projects/PRANDTL/index.html