Staff Bios

Mr. Harry N. Swenson, VAMS Project Manager

Mr. Harry N. Swenson became the Project Manager for the VAMS Project and the Chief of the Aviation Systems Technology Office in November 2002. Mr. Swenson joined the NASA Ames Research Center in 1982 as a research engineer working on advanced helicopter guidance, navigation, and control automation systems. He led several interagency projects with the FAA, Army, and Air Force researching issues associated with the Microwave Landing System, terrain following radar systems, forward looking infrared imaging systems integrated with heads-up and helmet mounted display systems. In the early nineties, Mr. Swenson transitioned his career to the research of Air Traffic Management (ATM) issues. He led the development of an air traffic management automation tool known as the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), which he moved from a laboratory prototype into a fully operational traffic flow management tool at the Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center, serving one of the world's busiest airports. Based on this success, the TMA became one of the key elements of the FAA's Free Flight modernization program and is being deployed throughout the United States. In 1998, Mr. Swenson became the Chief of the Aviation Operation Systems Development Branch, which develops, validates, and tests all Center/TRACON Automation System related software. His branch also ran several air traffic management laboratories both at Ames Research Center and the North Texas Research Station in Dallas Fort Worth FAA and Airline facilities. Mr. Swenson has authored 18 technical papers in the area of automation research and holds a B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and a M.S. degree from Stanford University in Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has been awarded numerous honors from NASA, including the Software of the Year Award along with the Administrator's Award for Turning Goals into Reality in 1998, and the Exceptional Service Medal in 2002.

Mr. Leighton Quon, VAMS Deputy Project Manager

Mr. Leighton Quon was appointed the VAMS Deputy Project Manager in September 2003. Mr. Quon has over 19 years of experience in engineering development, software development, software modeling, simulation, consulting, and project management supporting the aviation, aerospace, and Department of Defense industries. Mr. Quon began his engineering career with Lockheed Martin in engineering development and air vehicle modeling and simulation. He subsequently supported NASA research and development as a Northrop Grumman IT simulation engineer and lead many modeling and simulation efforts for advanced vehicle designs. Prior to being appointed as the VAMS Deputy Project Manager, Mr. Quon was a consultant with Leigh Fisher Associates, consultants to airport management, and later selected to manage a Northrop Grumman IT contractor group developing and maintaining the air traffic simulation environment for some of the existing NASA Ames and FAA research projects. He received an M.S. in Transportation Engineering and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Robert K. Fong, System-Level Integrated Concepts (SLIC) Sub-Project Manager

Since 2001, Mr. Robert Fong has led the concept development effort for the VAMS Project. Mr. Fong began working at NASA Ames Research Center in 1989 as a wind tunnel test engineer, where he directed multi-disciplinary teams (aerodynamic research, instrumentation, software, operations, mechanical design) to safely and efficiently conduct and complete more than 12 major wind tunnel tests. These tests were of complex, full-scale, fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft in the 40-by-80 and 80-by-120 Wind Tunnels of the National Full-scale Aerodynamics Complex. Mr. Fong has received the following awards associated with the tests he has led: The American Helicopter Society's Shroer's Award for Outstanding Rotorcraft Research, the 2000 NASA Group Achievement Award, and the NASA 2001 Turning Goals Into Reality Award. Mr. Robert Fong received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo in 1988, and received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1994 while employed at NASA.

Ms. Sandy Lozito, Chief Blending Architect and System Evaluation and Assessment (SEA) Sub-Project Manager (Acting)

Ms. Sandy Lozito was appointed the VAMS Chief Blending Architect (CBA) in June 2005. As the VAMS CBA, Ms. Lozito leads the blending, synthesizing, and integrating efforts of the VAMS concept elements into the VAMS Blended Gate-to-Gate Operational Concept. Ms. Lozito has worked as a researcher in aeronautical human factors at NASA Ames Research Center for 18 years. She has conducted numerous studies in the real-time simulation environment in a variety of research areas, and has also participated in validation activities for fast-time models. Ms. Lozito's areas of interest include controller-pilot data link communications, surface operations, flight deck procedures and operations, and crew resource management. She is also an active member of Action Plan Five of the FAA/Eurocontrol Organization, and is a member of several RTCA government/industry working groups. Ms. Lozito holds a B.S. degree in psychology and a M.A. degree in experimental psychology from San Jose State University.

Mr. Michael B. Downs, Systems Engineer, Project Risk Management

Mr. Michael B. Downs is a member of the VAMS systems engineering team, hired through Raytheon ITSS. He provides cost and schedule information for the VAMS Project, as well as serving as the project risk manager. Since 1989, Mr. Downs has been supporting NASA Ames Research Center in air traffic control research, project management, human factors research, complex systems and integration, distributed information management and communications, and flight deck controls and automation. Human factors research that he has supported includes: Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) for ground taxi, CDTI for navigation displays, automated self separation technologies, closely spaced parallel approaches, Distributed Air-Ground (DAG) Traffic Management, and the National Airspace Firefighting and Safety Initiative (NAFSI). Mr. Downs received his B.S. from University of Arizona in Electronic Engineering.

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