Paul Eremenko

Last updated

Paul Eremenko
Paul Eremenko.jpg
Born
Pavlo Oleksandrovych Eremenko

1979 (age 4445)
Nationality American
EducationB.S. (aeronautics and astronautics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
M.S. (aeronautics), California Institute of Technology.
J.D. (law), Georgetown University.
Occupation(s)Aerospace, Technology
Years active2001–present
Known forFounding CEO of Airbus Silicon Valley Innovation Center
Project Ara at Google
DARPA
Adaptive Vehicle Make
Fractionated Spacecraft
Value-driven design
100 Year Starship
TitleFormer Chief Technology Officer of United Technologies Corporation

Paul Eremenko (born 1979, born Pavlo Oleksandrovych Eremenko) [a] is a Ukrainian American innovator and technology executive. He was formerly the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of United Technologies Corporation. Earlier, he served as the CTO of Airbus, [1] and former CEO of Airbus Silicon Valley innovation center. [2] [3] He is a former Google executive and head of Google's Project Ara, an effort to create an open, modular smartphone platform. [4] [5] [6] Eremenko was named one of the Top-10 Tech Leaders of 2015 in FORTUNE Magazine. [7] Eremenko has also come out as a strong proponent of artificial intelligence and autonomy research. [8] Eremenko has cited his desire to build a starship as the motivation underpinning his career. [9]

Contents

Early life

Paul was born in the family of Ukrainian mathematician Alexandre Eremenko in Lviv. When he was 13, his parents emigrated to the United States together with him.

Education

Eremenko earned a bachelor's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, [10] a Master's in Aeronautics from Caltech, and a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center. [11] He trained as a pilot at Aretz Airport near Purdue University. [9]

Career

Universal Hydrogen

On 23 September 2020, Eremenko announced Universal Hydrogen, a new business venture in aviation conversion systems for hydrogen fuel cells. [12]

United Technologies Corporation

On 30 November 2017, Eremenko was named Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, effective 1 January 2018. [13] Eremenko will provide strategic leadership for the company's research, engineering and development activities in the global aerospace and building systems industries. He will also oversee the United Technologies Research Center. [13] On 18 September 2019, he decided to leave UTC to pursue new opportunities. [14]

Airbus Group

On 29 May 2015, Eremenko was named the founding CEO of Airbus Group Silicon Valley technology and business innovation center. In this capacity, he was responsible for establishing Airbus's Silicon Valley presence. [3] Eremenko became Airbus Group CTO in July 2016 and left Airbus on 31 December 2017 citing pressures on his work-family life balance. [15]

Google

At Google, Eremenko created and headed Project Ara, which seeks to democratize the mobile phone hardware ecosystem and to make the mobile internet accessible to the next five billion people. [6] The project is also developing a production 3D printer to enable aesthetic customization of the modules that form the device. [16] [17] The ATAP division at Google aims to replicate the innovation model of the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) in the private sector. [5]

Motorola

Before moving to Google, Eremenko was Vice President of Advanced Technology at Motorola [17] where he started Project Ara prior to Google's sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, while retaining the project. [4] [5]

DARPA

Eremenko served as the Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Tactical Technology Office at DARPA, the office responsible for the agency's drones, robotics, X-planes, and satellite programs. [18] [19] While at DARPA, Eremenko developed and managed several projects, including an effort to revolutionize design and manufacture of complex military systems (such as vehicles and aircraft) called Adaptive Vehicle Make, [20] [21] [22] [23] the System F6 fractionated spacecraft program, [11] [24] and the 100 Year Starship. [25] Eremenko was also responsible for a crowd-sourced military vehicle effort called XC2V which was said to revolutionize auto manufacturing. [23]

At DARPA, Eremenko developed two education-themed efforts: DARPA's MENTOR program focused on building a manufacturing workforce, [22] and InSPIRE which made the SPHERES robotic platform on the International Space Station accessible to high school students. [26]

Booz Allen Hamilton

Eremenko started his career as an associate in the defense business segment of Booz Allen Hamilton, consulting in particular for DARPA, which he later joined.

Controversies

Since Eremenko was responsible for DARPA's drone and robotics programs, he was asked in the 2013 Nova documentary Rise of the Drones whether he was concerned about the dangers of artificial intelligence, he replied "if you were to ask ... whether the Rise of the Machines-type scenario is a real concern ... my response would be, 'We should be so lucky.' In fact, if we could get little slivers of that kind of adaptive and cognitive capability into systems, that would be a very significant breakthrough, from where we stand today." [8]

The 100 Year Starship, which Eremenko headed at DARPA, was named by U.S. Senator Tom Coburn as one of the 100 most wasteful government spending projects. Coburn specifically cited a 100 Year Starship workshop that included one session, entitled "Did Jesus die for Klingons too?" that debated the implications for Christian philosophy should life be found on other planets. [27]

Other work

Eremenko was one of the creators and early proponents of a systems engineering strategy for creating more flexible and adaptable products known as value-driven design. [11]

Personal life

Eremenko is the son of the Ukrainian-American mathematician Alexandre Eremenko and the great grandson of a Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Eremenko’s brother Semion. [9] Paul Eremenko was one of the most senior aerospace industry executives who is openly gay. [28]

Notes

  1. Ukrainian: Павло Олександрович Єременко, romanized: Pavlo Oleksandrovych Yeremenko

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DARPA</span> Technology research and development agency of the U.S. Department of Defense

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the agency was created on February 7, 1958, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik 1 in 1957. By collaborating with academia, industry, and government partners, DARPA formulates and executes research and development projects to expand the frontiers of technology and science, often beyond immediate U.S. military requirements. The name of the organization first changed from its founding name, ARPA, to DARPA, in March 1972, changing back to ARPA in February 1993, then reverted to DARPA in March 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola</span> American telecommunications company (1928–2011)

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded in 1928 as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin. The company changed its name to Motorola in 1947. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, Motorola was split into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, on January 4, 2011. The reorganization was structured with Motorola Solutions legally succeeding Motorola, Inc., and Motorola Mobility being spun off.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peiter Zatko</span> American computer security expert

Peiter C. Zatko, better known as Mudge, is an American network security expert, open source programmer, writer, and hacker. He is currently the chief information officer of DARPA. He was the most prominent member of the high-profile hacker think tank the L0pht as well as the computer and culture hacking cooperative the Cult of the Dead Cow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola Solutions</span> American data communications and telecommunications equipment provider

Motorola Solutions, Inc. is an American technology, communications, and security company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is the legal successor of Motorola, Inc., following the spinoff of the mobile phone division into Motorola Mobility in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola Mobility</span> American consumer electronics company

Motorola Mobility LLC, marketing as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android. Headquartered at Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Illinois, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese technology company Lenovo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing A160 Hummingbird</span> Unmanned aerial vehicle by Boeing

The Boeing A160 Hummingbird is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) helicopter. Its design incorporates many new technologies never before used in helicopters, allowing for greater endurance and altitude than any helicopter currently in operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unmanned underwater vehicle</span> Submersible vehicles that can operate underwater without a human occupant

Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), also known as uncrewed underwater vehicles and underwater drones, are submersible vehicles that can operate underwater without a human occupant. These vehicles may be divided into two categories: remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROUVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). ROUVs are remotely controlled by a human operator. AUVs are automated and operate independently of direct human input.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Padmasree Warrior</span> Indian-American chemical engineer and business executive

Padmasree Warrior is an Indian-American businesswoman and technology executive. She is known for her leadership roles in technology firms like Cisco where she served as the CTO for seven years, and at Motorola where she was the CTO for five years. She also served as the CEO of Nio USA, an electric car maker. Currently, she is the founder and CEO of Fable, a curated reading platform focused on mental wellness. She also serves on the board of directors of Microsoft and Spotify.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fractionated spacecraft</span>

A fractionated spacecraft is a satellite architecture where the functional capabilities of a conventional monolithic spacecraft are distributed across multiple modules which interact through wireless links. Unlike other aggregations of spacecraft, such as constellations and clusters, the modules of a fractionated spacecraft are largely heterogeneous and perform distinct functions corresponding, for instance, to the various subsystem elements of a traditional satellite.

The 100 Year Starship project (100YSS) was a one-year joint U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) effort "to take the first step in the next era of space exploration—a journey between the stars". The study explored development of a viable and sustainable model for persistent, long-term, private-sector investment into the myriad of disciplines needed to make interstellar space travel practicable and feasible. The goal was to examine what it would take — organizationally, technically, sociologically and ethically — to develop the ability to send humans to another star within 100 years. The study culminated in a $500,000 grant awarded to a consortium under the lead of the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, which led to the creation of an independent organization inheriting the name 100 Year Starship from DARPA. Annual 100YSS symposia were organized from 2011 to 2015, and again in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regina E. Dugan</span>

Regina E. Dugan, is an American businesswoman, inventor, technology developer and government official. She was the first female director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where she served from July 2009 until March 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lenovo smartphones</span> Smartphones

Lenovo smartphones are marketed as the "LePhone" in mainland China and the "IdeaPhone" overseas are smartphones designed and manufactured by the Motorola Mobility, ZUK Mobile and Medion, divisions of Lenovo. On April 27, 2017, Lenovo announced that the ZUK brand would cease operations. In 2015, Lenovo subsumed its own smartphone division into the acquired Motorola brand.

The smartphone wars or smartphone patents licensing and litigation refers to commercial struggles among smartphone manufacturers including Sony Mobile, Google, Apple Inc., Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, Huawei, LG Electronics, ZTE and HTC, by patent litigation and other means. The conflict is part of the wider "patent wars" between technology and software corporations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phonebloks</span> Modular phone concept

Phonebloks is a modular smartphone concept created and designed by the Dutch designer Dave Hakkens in 2013, primarily to reduce electronic waste. While Phonebloks is not the first attempt at modular design in a phone, it is notable due to the extent of its modularity and the attention and support it has gained. By attaching individual third-party components to a main board, a user would create a personalized smartphone. These bloks can be replaced at will to replace a broken blok, to upgrade an existing blok, or to expand the functionality of the phone into a specific direction. Bloks would be available in Blokstore, "an app store for hardware", where users could buy new and used bloks as well as sell back their old ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Ara</span> Project for a modular smartphone by Google

Project Ara was a modular smartphone project under development by Google. The project was originally headed by the Advanced Technology and Projects team within Motorola Mobility while it was a Google subsidiary. Google retained the ATAP group when selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, and it was placed under the stewardship of the Android development staff; Ara was later split off as an independent operation. Google stated that Project Ara was being designed to be utilized by "6 billion people": 1 billion current smartphone users, and 5 billion feature phone users.

TransApps was a program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense. The goal of the program was to demonstrate rapid development and fielding of secure mobile apps on the battlefield. With its agile and user-centric approach, the DARPA program specifically addressed the limitations of the slow requirements-centric software development cycle followed by many Army programs of record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modular smartphone</span> Smartphone made of replaceable parts

A modular smartphone is a smartphone designed for users to upgrade or replace components and modules without the need for resoldering or repair services. The most important component is the main board, to which others such as cameras and batteries are attached. Components can be obtained from open-source hardware stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google ATAP</span> Skunkworks team and in-house technology incubator

Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group (ATAP) is a skunkworks team and in-house technology incubator, created by former DARPA director Regina Dugan. ATAP is similar to X, but works on projects, granting project leaders time—previously only two years—in which to move a project from concept to proven product. According to Dugan, the ideal ATAP project combines technology and science, requires a certain amount of novel research, and creates a marketable product. Historically, the ATAP team was born at Motorola Mobility and kept when Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo in 2014; for this reason, ATAP ideas have tended to involve mobile hardware technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iqbal Arshad</span> American engineer

Iqbal Arshad is an American engineer, inventor, speaker and technology executive. He has served as the senior vice president of engineering and global product development at Motorola Mobility, Google and Lenovo, and has been responsible for design and development of industry-leading smartphones, tablets smartwatches, wearables, silicon, and mobile computing technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Coleman</span>

Victoria Stavridou-Coleman is currently serving as the 37th Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force. She took her oath of office on April 6, 2021, administered by the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.

References

  1. "Airbus Confirms Departure of Paul Eremenko, Appoints Marc Fontaine Acting Chief Technology Officer". Airbus. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  2. New CTO of Airbus Group
  3. 1 2 "Airbus Home". 11 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 McCracken, Harry (26 February 2014). "Project Ara: Inside Google's Bold Gambit to Make Smartphones Modular". TIME Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Helft, Miguel (14 August 2014). "Google goes DARPA". FORTUNE. Archived from the original on 1 October 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  6. 1 2 Bohn, Dieter (15 April 2014). "Building blocks: how Project Ara is reinventing the smartphone". The Verge. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  7. "Microsoft CEO bests the rest in tech leadership, says researcher". Fortune. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  8. 1 2 Yost, Peter (23 January 2013). "Rise of the Drones". YouTube. PBS Nova. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 Daniels, Pres. Mitch (15 October 2014). "Purdue Presidential Lecture Series - Paul Eremenko". YouTube . Archived from the original on 31 August 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  10. "Aero/astro confers awards on 26". MIT News. 6 June 2001. Archived from the original on 17 August 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 Brown, Owen; Eremenko, Paul (November 2009). "Acquiring Space Systems in an Uncertain Future: The Introduction of Value-Centric Acquisition" (PDF). High Frontier. 6 (1): 43. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  12. Alcock, Charles. "Conversion Plan Set To Promote Early Switch to Hydrogen Fuel". Aviation International News. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  13. 1 2 "Paul Eremenko Joins United Technologies Corporation as Chief Technology Officer". United Technologies. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  14. "UTC technology chief Paul Eremenko steps down". Reuters. 18 September 2019. Archived from the original on 19 September 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  15. "Airbus technology head Eremenko to leave for UTC -report". REUTERS. 30 November 2017. Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  16. Halleck, Thomas (25 November 2013). "Phonebloks: Motorola Partners With 3D Systems For Modular Smartphone Future In 'Project Ara'". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  17. 1 2 Talbot, David (7 April 2014). "Why Google's Modular Smartphone Might Actually Succeed". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  18. Strohm, Chris (15 April 2013). "Google's Motorola Mobility Taps U.S. Defense Agency for Talent". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  19. Aguirre, Lauren (17 January 2013). "How Dumb Are Drones?". PBS Nova. Archived from the original on 27 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  20. "How DARPA Aims to Revolutionize Defense Manufacturing". Armed with Science. 14 September 2010. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  21. Kenyon, Henry (17 September 2010). "DARPA wants to blow up military design process, start over". Defense Systems. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  22. 1 2 Gallagher, Sean (6 December 2011). "DARPA's factory of the future looks like open source development". Ars Technica. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  23. 1 2 Belfiore, Michael (26 January 2012). "Adaptive Vehicle Make: DARPA's Plan to Revolutionize Auto Manufacturing". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  24. Montalbano, Elizabeth (16 November 2011). "DARPA Wants Wireless Network For Satellite Clusters". Information Week. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  25. Page, Lewis (3 November 2010). "DARPA, NASA team on '100-Year Starship' project". The Register. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  26. Buck, Joshua; Jones, Johanna. "NASA, DARPA Seek Satellite Research Proposals For Space Station". NASA. Archived from the original on 7 August 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  27. Kennedy, Sean (December 2012). "Defense Waste: The Final Frontier". Citizens Against Government Waste. Archived from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  28. Hsiao, Jensen (6 July 2015). "Google Director of Engineering Offers Insight Into Aerospace Tech & Trends in the Hardware Industry". Founder Institute Spotlight. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.