About Dr. Keys: Dr. Andrew S. Keys is a Senior Systems Engineer at Axient Corp
where he supports programs within the Missile Defense Agency. This past September, Dr. Keys retired from a 32 year career in federal service, with the last assignment being an Associate Professor with the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department of the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in Dayton, Ohio.
Prior to joining the AFIT faculty in February of 2019, Dr. Keys was employed for over 28 years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) where he served in multiple leadership and technology management positions. During 2018, Dr. Keys was the supervisory Chief of the Optics Branch. Prior to that assignment, since 2010, Dr, Keys was the Center Chief Technologist where he defined and implemented the space technology portfolio being developed by the Center's scientists and engineers for the purpose of fulfilling the Agency's mission of exploration and discovery. Earlier in his career with NASA, Dr. Keys managed multiple space technology development projects, including radiation-hardened electronics, space-based optical telescopes, optical sensors and detectors, instrumented re-entry vehicles, technologies supporting aerocapture orbital maneuvers, and spacecraft avionics technologies.
Dr. Keys earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Auburn University in 1988 and 1990, respectively, and earned his doctorate of philosophy in electrical engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2002. He has published more than a dozen papers and technical reports, is the recipient of numerous NASA awards, including an Outstanding Leadership Medal, and is the co-holder of two patents.
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Tracie Prater
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