Khanh Dai Pham | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |
Nationality | American |
Education |
|
Occupation | Aerospace engineer |
Known for | Optimal statistical control theory; game-theoretic operations research for space domain awareness, space control autonomy, protected satellite communications; cognitive satellite radios; positioning, navigation, and timing |
Awards | 37 U.S. Patents |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Statistical Control Paradigms for Structural Vibration Suppression (2004) |
Doctoral advisor | Michael K. Sain [1] |
Website | www |
Khanh Dai Pham is a Vietnamese-born American aerospace engineer. He is noted for his work [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] in statistical optimal control theory, game-theoretic operations research of military satellite communications, space control autonomy, and space domain awareness and the government leadership in innovation ecosystem and coalition of government agencies, small business and industry. He is a Fellow of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), [7] the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), [8] the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), [8] the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), [9] [10] the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), [11] the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS), and the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). He is not only a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), [12] [13] [14] the American Astronautical Society (AAS), [15] and the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA) [16] but also an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN).
At the Air Force Research Laboratory/Space Vehicles Directorate, [17] Pham's research, development and acquisition activities have involved in game-theoretic operations research [18] with potential space domain awareness, space control, [19] military satellite communications, [20] satellite navigation applications. [21] As an adjunct research professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of New Mexico, he investigates on a range of topics on stochastic control and satellite communications. [22] He has brought the broader services in stimulating small business innovation, meeting the Air Force and DoD R&D needs, broadening participation in innovation and entrepreneurship, and boosting commercialization derived from Air Force and DoD R&D. [23] Pham's published works span in more than 300 books, book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings, including the technical areas of space domain awareness, space control, [24] cognitive satellite radios, resilient satellite navigation, dynamic sensor resource allocation, [24] and game-theoretic operations research. [25] [26] [27]
Pham was born in Saigon, Vietnam, to Pham Viet Son and Bang Kim Linh. His grandfathers were Pham Van Son (the historian, war journalist, and military officer) [28] [29] and Bang Ba Lan (the poet, photographer, literature teacher, journalist, and artist). [30] [31] His parents who were Majors in the Republic of Vietnam, served in the U.S.-backed South Vietnam government during the Vietnam War and became prisoners of war from 1975 to 1982. Under the joint U.S.-Vietnam Humanitarian Resettlement Program and Orderly Departure Program Category of Humanitarian Operations, [32] he and his family came to the U.S. in the early 1990s. At the time, he was a second-year college student in electrical and electronics engineering of at the Ho Chi Minh University of Technology and Education [33] in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He attended Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, graduating three years after arriving in U.S. While at Lincoln High School, he attended the Southeast Community College-Lincoln campus, where he earned a degree of Associate of Applied Science with the highest distinction in electronic systems technology. [34]
In the late 1990s, Pham went on to earn Bachelor (magna cum laude) and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from University of Nebraska, and in 2004 he received a Doctor of Philosophy [35] in electrical engineering from University of Notre Dame under the support of the four-year Arthur Schmidt Presidential Fellowship - making contributions to fundamental understanding of performance uncertainty quantification and management in stochastic dynamical systems.
Pham began his professional career at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in 2004 as an aerospace engineer after undertaking a one-year research associate position at University of Notre Dame. His more than 17 years of service includes a variety of positions and assignments, ranging from basic science researcher, technical lead, project manager, contracting officer technical representative, and government lab advisor across Advanced Spacecraft Mechanisms, Dynamics & Control and Decision Support Systems programs within the Advanced Spacecraft Components Technology branch, honing his subject matter expertise in modeling and simulation, estimation, multi-asset autonomy, and multi-level data sensor fusion. He brought systems-theoretic science and control engineering principles, together with teamwork and interdisciplinary to develop technical solutions in solving warfighter engineering problems, various areas of specific focus for increased activities in space control [19] and space domain awareness.
He contributed to the analysis capability on satellite defense control. The Air Force Materiel Command Commander (General Bruce Carlson) [36] recognized Pham with the Air Force Outstanding Scientist – Junior Civilian Award. [37] His efforts helped US Space Force develop satellite pursuit-evasion approaches to assess space command & control autonomy. For these research achievements, he received the Air Force Civilian Achievement Medal. [38] [ circular reference ]
Pham's basic science and knowledge discovery published with Springer Verlag, entitled "Linear-Quadratic Controls in Risk-Averse Decision Making: Performance-Measure Statistics and Control Decision Optimization," ISBN 978-1-4614-5078-8 [39] and "Resilient Controls for Ordering Uncertain Prospects: Change and Response," Springer Optimization and Its Applications, [40] Vol. 98, ISBN 978-3-319-08704-7. [41] Ideas of his independent studies helped pioneer higher-order statistics of performance measures from stochastic control of linear-quadratic dynamical systems in performance variation corrections from performance risk preferences. The techniques and methods Pham developed are becoming standards and used by many high-fidelity modeling/simulation tools for space object localization and trajectory monitoring applications. As demands for high performance engineering systems continue to increase, his Springer seminal monographs helped quantifying and managing performance uncertainty – how much performance guarantees and resiliency can be designed in complex and adaptable aerospace platforms.
He was selected by the U.S. DoD as the DoD Laboratory Scientist of the Quarter, third quarter 2019, [42] [43] acknowledging his work in some core focus research areas of autonomous radio sensing, precision multi-user access, and cognitive radio resource management. The results have been delivering innovation and new technology to industry and Air Force programs by finding ways for new space communications technologies to better withstand contested radio environments. [44] Allowing these space communication technologies to be resilient in extreme radio conditions enables more of the space-layer elements for joint all-domain command and control; ambient connectivity; and position, navigation, and timing to the warfighter. All of these may translate into closer standoff proximity operations in warfighting contested environments. [45]
He next was a student at the Air War College (AWC) via the Distance Learning program, where he graduated with critical thinking about complex national security issues. While studying there, Pham discovered he has a deep interest in systems-based analysis of emerging real-world security problems that challenge American national security objectives. His contributions to problem solving in national security for Special Operations Command were best exemplified through the capstone study with the key approaches derived from complex adaptive systems science that were proposed as a potential foundation of integrating US instruments of power and foreign policy towards China’s energy security and strategic presence in Central Asia.
Pham was also noteworthy for his leadership in modeling and simulation technologies for the U.S. Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory. He led a multidisciplinary team that created defense innovations in missile defense, space control, space situational awareness, and protected military satellite communications, and training to support training and applied research in DoD STEM efforts. The National Center for Simulation (NCS) selected him as one of three honorees for induction to the NCS Modeling and Simulation (M&S) Hall of Fame Class of 2023. The ceremony was Oct. 12, 2023, at the Orange County Convention Center, South Concourse – the home of the NCS Modeling and Simulation Hall of Fame where inductees are on permanent display. [46] [47]
Since 2004, Pham's government services have continued to expand from gaining technical knowledge to leading diverse teams of technical professionals across multiple theaters that include forethoughts, cultural differences and multidisciplinary teamwork. He has brought more Asian American Pacific Islander people in Federal services who may have never considered Federal jobs. Working for the AFRL has allowed him to lead, plan, drive strategy, and move from an engineer, to a scientist, and an eventual leadership role. [48] [49]
Pham has served as a research adviser for the National Academies’ Associate Research Programs. [50] In this capacity, he initiates various DoD relevant research opportunities on military space capability concepts for the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship [51] [52] for American Society of Engineering Education. He has served on various panels across evaluation committees for National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship [53] and Young Investigator Research Program [54] of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Among his pedagogical achievements, Pham - an adjunct research professor [55] for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico and a member of the Advisory Board for the Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics at the California State University at Fullerton, [56] has served on multiple dissertation and thesis committees. In these roles, he has advised and mentored numerous science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-focused graduate students. [57] He works closely with government and academic partners to promote the value of the National Science Foundation and DoD National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship program [53] as a critical component of DoD workforce development. As the recipient of both 2018 Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE [58] ) - Leadership of the Year (Government Category) Award and 2019 SASE - Professional Achievements Award, [59] [60] [61] he has not only demonstrated technical leadership to make innovation happened, but also has led by examples with the community leadership and support the Asian American Pacific Islander community with a path forward where most see obstacles.
In addition, Pham is concerned with innovation-based business development and technology transfers. He has worked with 100 plus high tech small businesses and entrepreneurs that represents the growth and development of so many future leaders and engineers by means of America's Seed Fund [62] and the likes. His technical outreach has impacted multi-million dollars of DoD’s science and technology investments, managed 100s Small Business Innovative Research/Small Business Technology Transfer contracts, [63] and interacted with a number of small business and companies. His efforts throughout led to the fourth Annual Champion of Small Business and Technology Commercialization Award [64] that Pham received in 2018 from the Small Business Technology Council [65] for helping high tech small businesses contribute at higher levels. The AFRL - Space Vehicles Directorate utilized the SASE Achievement awards to recognize the overall impact of the technological, research, and business functions by Pham in 2023 to the DoD STEM community as a whole. [66]
Pham has been a leading advocate for the development of game-theoretic operations research in the fields of military science, technology, and engineering in space domain awareness, [67] [68] space control autonomy, [69] [70] and protected satellite communications since 2004. He has organized and chaired diverse conferences on sensors and systems for space applications. [71] [72] He was a distinguished guest lecturer at 2019 International Conference on Telecommunications [73] Hanoi, Vietnam, April 2019, IEEE Military Communication Conference [74] [75] Norfolk, VA, November 2019, and DoD Innovators Spotlight Series. [76] He speaks annually at various conferences (American Control Conference, IEEE Aerospace Conference, [77] IEEE Military Communications Conference, [78] etc.) invited talks and tutorials at American universities. Pham served as the Senior Editor of IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems for Intelligent Systems [79] [80] from 2015 to 2022 and Guest Editor for IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems Special Section on Industrial Information Integration in Space Applications between 2021 and 2022. [81]
Between 2005 and 2007, as a member of the Program Committee for Rocky Mountain Section of the American Astronautical Society on Guidance and Control Conference [82] in Breckenridge, Colorado, Pham authored and chaired the closed sessions on Control Techniques for Deployable & Large Structures. From 2011 to 2014, he served as the technical area chair of Human and Autonomous/Unmanned Systems for AIAA. In addition to his services as panelists, reviewers, published authors, session and track chairs, he was a member of AIAA Technical Committees of Survivability as well as Guidance, Navigation and Control from 2010 to 2017.
In 2017 and 2018, Pham made appearances and was interviewed for his outstanding achievements on "Voice of America", [83] [84] "The Pride of the Vietnamese" - the largest US international broadcasters celebrating Vietnamese Heritage around the world [85] and the Asian American Engineers of the Year. [86] [87] His professional achievements testify to the fact that the pursuit of fundamental knowledge lies at the heart of technological progress, [88] national security, and international leadership, and it exemplifies the importance of DoD’s cadre of career civilian scientists and engineers. [89] [90]
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct-energy based aerospace warfighting technologies, planning and executing the Air Force science and technology program, and providing warfighting capabilities to United States air, space, and cyberspace forces. It controls the entire Air Force science and technology research budget which was $2.4 billion in 2006.
Ivan Alexander Getting was an American physicist and electrical engineer, credited with the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS). He was the co-leader of the research group which developed the SCR-584, an automatic microwave tracking fire-control system, which enabled M9 Gun Director directed anti-aircraft guns to destroy a significant percentage of the German V-1 flying bombs launched against London late in the Second World War.
George Robert Carruthers was an African American inventor, physicist, engineer and space scientist. Carruthers perfected a compact and very powerful ultraviolet camera/spectrograph for NASA to use when it launched Apollo 16 in 1972. Carruthers was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2003, and in 2011 he was awarded the National Medal for Technology and Invention.
Jerome Pearson was an American engineer and space scientist best known for his work on space elevators, including a lunar space elevator. He was president of STAR, Inc., and has developed aircraft and spacecraft technology for the United States Air Force, DARPA, and NASA. He held several patents and was the author of nearly 100 publications in aircraft, spacecraft, electrodynamic tethers, SETI, and global climate control.
Alan Conrad Bovik is an American engineer, vision scientist, and educator. He is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin), where he holds the Cockrell Family Regents Endowed Chair in the Cockrell School of Engineering and is Director of the Laboratory for Image and Video Engineering (LIVE). He is a faculty member in the UT-Austin Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Machine Learning Laboratory, the Institute for Neuroscience, and the Wireless Networking and Communications Group.
Siva Subrahmanyam Banda is an Indian-American aerospace engineer. He was Director of the Control Science Center of Excellence and Chief Scientist for the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the United States Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He has taught at Wright State University, the University of Dayton, and the Air Force Institute of Technology.
Ray O. Johnson is an American business executive. He is currently the chief executive officer of Technology Innovation Institute based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Before this, he served as the Lockheed Martin Corporation's chief technology officer and corporate senior vice president for engineering, technology, and operations.
The Harold Brown Award is the highest award given by the United States Air Force to a scientist or engineer who applies scientific research to solve a problem critical to the needs of the Air Force.
Paul F. McManamon is an American scientist who is best known for his work in optics and photonics, as well as sensors, countermeasures, and directed energy.
Mona Jarrahi is an Iranian Engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. She investigates novel materials, terahertz/millimeter-wave electronics and optoelectronics, microwave photonics, imaging and spectroscopy systems.
Muyinatu "Bisi" A. Lediju Bell is a researcher and faculty member. She is the John C. Malone Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University. She is also the director of the Photoacoustic and Ultrasonic Systems Engineering Laboratory.
Moriba Kemessia Jah CorrFRSE is an American space scientist and aerospace engineer who describes himself as a "space environmentalist", specializing in orbit determination and prediction, especially as related to space situational awareness and space traffic monitoring. He is currently an associate professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin. Jah previously worked as a spacecraft navigator at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was a navigator for the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Exploration Rover, and his last mission was the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. He is a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety and, the Royal Astronomical Society. Jah was also selected into the 10th anniversary class of TED Fellows and was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2022. He also was selected into the AIAA class of Fellows and Honorary Fellows in the year of the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11. The AIAA "confers the distinction of Fellow upon individuals in recognition of their notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences or technology of aeronautics and astronautics."
Shouleh Nikzad is an Iranian-American electronic engineer and research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She leads the Advanced Detector Arrays, Systems, and Nanoscience Group. Her research considers ultraviolet and low-energy particle detectors, nanostructure devices and novel spectrometers. Nikzad is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the National Academy of Inventors and SPIE.
Sandra Gail Biedron is an American physicist who serves as the Director of Knowledge Transfer for the Center for Bright Beams as well as professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Mexico, where in 2021 she mentors nine graduate students and two post-doctoral researchers. Her research includes developing, controlling, operating, and using laser and particle accelerator systems. She is also Chief Scientist of Element Aero, a consulting and R&D company incorporated in 2002. She was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2013.
Douglas Henry Werner is an American scientist and engineer. He holds the John L. and Genevieve H. McCain Chair Professorship in the Penn State Department of Electrical Engineering and is the director of the Penn State University Computational Electromagnetics and Antennas Research Laboratory. Werner holds 20 patents and has over 1090 publications. He is the author/co-author of 8 books. According to Google Scholar, his h-index is 79 with more than 26,600 citations. He is internationally recognized for his expertise in electromagnetics, antenna design, optical metamaterials and metamaterial-enabled devices as well as for the development/application of inverse-design techniques.
Lois Diane Harper Walsh is a retired researcher for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Originally a materials scientist, she became branch chief for advanced computing at the AFRL Rome Laboratory.
Thomas George Thundat is an Indian-American scientist. He is currently the SUNY Distinguished Professor and a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University at Buffalo. Thundat conducts research in the field of nanosensors and microcantilevers.
Michael Theodore Eismann is an American scientist and researcher working at the Air Force Research Laboratory. He is a former editor of Optical Engineering and a member of the NATO Sensors and Electronics Technology panel. In 2023, Eismann was elevated to fellow membership of the IEEE.
Yolanda D. Jones King is a retired American laser scientist and defense engineer who worked for many years in the Air Force Research Laboratory. She is a Fellow of the AIAA, a regent of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the wife of Gary King, the former attorney general of New Mexico.
Ivett A. Leyva is a Mexican-born American aerospace engineer whose research involves the aerodynamics of hypersonic flight and the use of injectors to modify the airflow around hypersonic aircraft. She is College of Engineering Excellence Professor and head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University.
{{cite book}}
: |website=
ignored (help)