Conference Banquet and Plenary Speakers

Tuesday Plenary Speaker   (8:00am-9:00am)
	Dr. Theodore Bially     Director, DARPA/IXO      IXO - the Information Exploitation Office. Dr. Theodore Bially was appointed Director of DARPA.s Information Exploitation Office (IXO) in August 2003. He was affiliated with the MIT Lincoln Laboratory from 1967 through 1984, performing research, development, engineering, technical management and administration of DoD-sponsored R&D programs in the areas of digital signal processing, high speed and distributed signal processor design, communications networks, speech analysis and synthesis, image processing and radar systems. He spent the period 1972-1976 at Lincoln Laboratory's ballistic missile reentry measurements site at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, working on problems of radar acquisition, tracking and real-time target discrimination. Dr. Bially was appointed Associate Head of the Data Systems Division and member of the Lincoln Laboratory Steering Committee in 1979. From early 1984 through late 1985 he served as Vice President - Engineering at Lifeline Systems, Inc., a small manufacturer of medical electronics equipment. He joined Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation (now Titan.s Aerospace Electronics Division) at its inception in 1985. Prior to joining DARPA Dr. Bially served as Director of Technology Resources for Titan Corporation and Chief Technical Officer of Titan.s Aerospace Electronics Division. Dr. Bially received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the City College of New York in 1961 and his MEE and Ph.D.(EE) degrees from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1962 and 1967, respectively. IXO's emphasis is on detecting, identifying, tracking, targeting and engaging enemy ground targets - the target engagement chain - across a wide range of battlefield environments and on verifying that our actions have achieved the desired results. We invest in innovative new sensors, processing algorithms for target recognition and tracking, and in advanced decision aids and command and control techniques. We are laying the technology foundation for future joint operations involving multiple, heterogeneous platforms, sensors and weapons, many of which will be unmanned. Our programs are aimed at lifting the fog of war for our own troops and our allies, while at the same time creating a more lethal battlefield environment for our adversaries. Let us define what we mean by the fog of war ... why it exists and how to lift it, and also what it will take to make future battlefields more lethal for our enemies.
Wednesday Plenary Speaker  (8:00am-9:00am)
	Dr. Wilson Felder     Director of Technology Development, FAA Dr. Wilson N. Felder currently serves as the Director for Technology Development in the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) Office of Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance. This team is charged with the execution of advanced technology research and development programs, including the Capstone initiative in Alaska, the SF-21 Ohio River Valley program, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) standards, advanced air traffic control satellite exploration with Boeing under Data and Communications, and a number of safety technology initiatives under the Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP). Between 2001 and 2003, Dr. Felder served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Terminal Business Service, FAA. In this capacity, he was a key participant in a program to restructure the agency with the goal of introducing business-like management practices to its air traffic operations. He served as a member of the Air Traffic Organization design team, and as a senior internal consultant to the Terminal Business Service during the establishment of the first business unit for the newly redesigned FAA. Prior to joining the FAA, Dr. Felder was employed by TRW, Inc., where he retired after 23 years of service as Vice President, Aviation Services. At TRW, he led the company's engineering services business with the FAA and the aviation community, a unit that generated $90M in revenue annually, for which he was substantially responsible for developing. Between 1990 and 1998, he managed a variety of engineering services projects, before being named to the Aviation Services assignment. Earlier, he led an engineering department and served as a senior staff engineer. He was an active leader in the employee charity organization, the academic fellowship program, and the management-training program. He received awards for Affirmative Action Program excellence, and his support to the Small Business Development program. Dr. Felder has been active in the aviation community through leadership positions in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Government Electronics Industries Association, and the Air Traffic Control Association. He was a member of the FAA Administrator's Research, Engineering, and Development Advisory Committee. He is a graduate of the TRW Business Leader Program, the George Washington University School of Business Executive Development program, and MIT's Seminar XXI. He was a member of the FAA's Advanced Automation System Recovery Team, and received the Air Traffic Systems Development Director's Award in recognition for his service to the Agency during this time. Dr. Felder served for 24 years as an active and reserve Naval Officer, retiring from the active reserve with the rank of Commander (Special Duty, Intelligence), after having served as the Intelligence Officer for the Carrier Group 4 reserve unit, and as Executive Officer of Naval Air Station Keflavik RU 0166. Dr. Felder graduated from the University of Virginia in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology. He later earned his Masters of Science degree in 1973, and his Doctorate in 1978 from that same institution, with a concentration in Environmental Science.
Wednesday Banquet Speaker  (7:00pm-8:00pm)
	Honorable Curt Weldon     Congressman in the 7th Congressional District of Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon represents the Seventh Congressional District of Pennsylvania. Currently serving his tenth term, Congressman Weldon is the most senior Republican in the Pennsylvania Delegation. A Member of the House of Representatives since 1987, Weldon has taken leadership roles on a wide variety of issues, ranging from national security to the environment. A senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, Weldon served six years as the Chairman of the Military Research and Development Subcommittee, overseeing the development and testing of key military systems, weapons programs, and technologies that fulfill military needs. Weldon has used that position to become the leading House supporter of a national missile defense to protect America's families and communities. Weldon now serves as the Vice Chairman of the full Committee as well as Chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee. His role will ensure that our service men and women are adequately prepared for duty in the high-tech world of the 21st century. Weldon, a major in Russian Studies, has made improving relations with Russia one of his major efforts in the House. He has worked with Russian leaders on a variety of issues, including efforts to improve Russia's energy supply, correct environmental damage, and protect both nations from ballistic missile attack. Weldon is the co-founder of the Duma-Congress Study Group, the official parliamentary exchange between the two legislative bodies. This bilateral relationship coordinates legislative efforts in the Russian Duma and the Congress to foster a better working relationship between the two nations. Recently, Congressman Weldon created a comprehensive framework designed to improve the state of relations between the two countries. Titled "A New Time, A New Beginning," his proposal makes recommendations for cooperative efforts in eleven different areas ranging from defense and national security to space exploration and scientific research. As a member of the Science Committee, Weldon is one of the most outspoken advocates for the environment and protection of our oceans. Weldon's "Oceans Agenda" legislation passed the Congress in 1995, increasing funding for oceanographic research projects. Weldon is a champion of environmental concerns as the only House Republican on the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission which approves funding for our wildlife refuges and wetlands preservation. Congressman Weldon is a member of Global Legislators for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) where he serves as Honorary Chairman of the Oceans Protection Task Force; Weldon also serves as the honorary United States Vice President on the Advisory Committee on the Protection of the Sea (ACOPS). Prior to the terrorist attacks on America, Congressman Weldon was an outspoken advocate of bolstering defenses assisting first responders, and improving intelligence gathering capabilities. As Vice Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and founder of the Homeland Security Caucus, Congressman Weldon is a frequent keynote speaker at various defense and national security conferences across the country. He is a regular guest on national news and television programs, is the author of letters and opinion papers for various news sources, and teaches advanced courses at local colleges and universities.
Thursday Plenary Speaker  (8:00am-9:00am)
	Dr. Allen Waxman     Director, Multisensor Exploitation     BAE SYSTEMS     Advanced Information Technologies Allen M. Waxman heads the Multisensor Exploitation Directorate and is Chief Scientist (Boston area office) of the Fusion Technology & Systems Division of BAE SYSTEMS Advanced Information Technologies (formerly, Alphatech, Inc., which he joined in 2002). He directs research and technology development involving neural network models of vision, memory and learning, as applied to multisensor imagery exploitation, radar range profile fingerprinting and vehicle tracking, and information fusion and mining. During 2001 he established and directed the CNS Technology Laboratory in the Cognitive & Neural Systems Department of Boston University, where he had been an adjunct professor since 1990. From 1989-2001 he served as a Senior Staff Member of the Sensor Exploitation Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, directing research on target recognition, night vision and image fusion. Dr. Waxman received the B.S. degree in Physics from the City College of New York in 1973, and the Ph.D. degree in Astrophysics from the University of Chicago in 1978. He has conducted research at MIT, the University of Maryland, the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), the Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and Boston University. Dr. Waxman's research team has produced various fused night vision, and image fusion and exploitation systems demonstrated in the field with Army Special Forces, Air Force Special Operations Command, the Marines, and at the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. He holds three patents on image fusion, night vision, and adaptive image processing, and has authored over one-hundred publications. Dr. Waxman has organized invited day-sessions on the theme of Image & Info Fusion for the annual International Conference on Information Fusion (Fusion 2000-2004). He served ten years as an action editor for the journal Neural Networks.