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Configuration Management and Performance Verification of Explosives-Detection Systems (1998)

Chapter: Appendix G: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members." National Research Council. 1998. Configuration Management and Performance Verification of Explosives-Detection Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6245.
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Appendix G Biographical Sketches of Panel Members

Harry Martz (chair) is the leader of the nondestructive evaluation research and development thrust area for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL). He received a B.S. degree in 1979 from Siena College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in 1986 from Florida State University. For six years, he led the computed tomography project at LLNL, applying computed tomography and x-ray and proton radiography to material characterization and gamma-ray gauge techniques to treaty verification activities. His current projects include the use of nonintrusive x-ray and gamma-ray computed tomography techniques as three-dimensional imaging tools to understand material properties and analyze radioactive waste forms. He has applied these techniques to the inspection of automobile and aircraft parts, reactor fuel tubes, high explosives, shape charges, and waste-dram contents. The research and development in his group includes the design and construction of scanners and preprocessing, image reconstruction, and analysis algorithms. Dr. Martz is a member of the National Research Council Committee on Commercial Aviation Security and was a member of the Panel on Airport Passenger Screening.

Kate Alvarado is a Lead Assessor at DNV (Det Norske Veritas) Certification, Inc., performing quality-assurance systems audits based on the requirements of ISO 9001 and ISO 9002. She received a B.S. in management science in 1979 and a B.S. in industrial engineering in 1983, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has extensive experience in surveys and auditing in the aerospace industry, including machine shop parts, electronic assemblies, chemical processes, heat treatments, composites, welds, and brazes. Ms. Alvarado has ten years of experience as a quality engineer for several manufacturing companies. In this capacity, she coordinated statistical process control efforts and trained industrial line supervisors and operators in basic statistical process control techniques. She has an extensive background in supplier systems in several industries, ranging from commercial glass manufacturing to commercial and military aircraft manufacturing.

John Baer is the president of International Management & Engineering Consultants (IMEC). He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from City College of New York, an M.S. in chemical and industrial engineering from Iowa State University, and an M.B.A. from Temple University. He is a practicing and registered professional engineer with an international clientele and consulting experience in the fields of manufacturing technology and engineering management. Mr. Baer is a recognized expert in the functioning of the U.S. defense industrial base and its operations in support of the U.S. Department of Defense. While at the Army Materiel Command headquarters, he supported the development and implementation of computer-aided manufacturing and process planning techniques at Army, Navy, and Air Force arsenals. He has served as a consultant or advisor for incorporating various aspects of MIL-Q-9858A, military standards for configuration management planning, and Just in Time & Total Quality Management into several different industries and institutions. In addition, Mr. Baer has managed programs in manufacturing methods and technology, human factors engineering, and explosives-detection systems.

Susan Dart is president of Dart Technology Strategies, a computer software configuration-management consulting firm in Newport Beach, California. Previously, she was vice president of process technology for Continuous Software Corporation in Irvine, California, where she was responsible for software process improvement and product development and support. Ms. Dart received a B.S. in computer science from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, and an M.S. in software engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Ms. Dart has spent 19 years in the computer industry, including seven years at the Software Engineering Institute, conducting research, development, and the implementation of software tools—particularly in the configuration management and software development environments. She also has experience developing telecommunications applications and has participated in

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members." National Research Council. 1998. Configuration Management and Performance Verification of Explosives-Detection Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6245.
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international standardization efforts for communications protocols and real-time programming.

Robert Gagne of the Food and Drag Administration (FDA) develops methods to assess the efficiency of radiologic imaging equipment with emphasis on x-ray fluoroscopy, mammography, and computed tomography. Dr. Gagne received a B.S. in physics from the University of New Hampshire and an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Georgetown University. He has provided technical support to FDA programs in premarket and postmarket decisions pertaining to medical devices, including the use of various measures of diagnostic efficacy. Dr. Gagne developed a set of protocols currently in use nationwide for the testing of computed tomography equipment by FDA personnel. As an FDA regulatory officer, he developed test methods and calculation techniques for field testing a wide variety of x-ray equipment. In addition, Dr. Gagne has taught undergraduate courses in physics and performed academic research in low-energy nuclear physics.

Donald Lebell is a management and engineering consultant with a broad technical background and extensive experience in industry, academia, and government. Dr. Lebell received a B.S. in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. He specializes in instrumentation and control-systems design, analysis, and simulation; product-market-technology evaluations; strategy and organizational planning; and environmental trends. Dr. Lebell has been a consultant to more than 400 organizations, private and public, large and small, both domestic and international, in Latin America, Japan, the Middle East, and Europe. His consulting experience includes critiquing the design, proposals, and program plan for promoting a developer's pilotless airborne vehicle system; critiquing a fingerprint-matching product for industrial and commercial security markets; and evaluating the progress, benefits, and pitfalls in implementing a "Total Quality Management" program. Dr. Lebell has also been an expert witness and analyst on litigation involving industrial accidents, patents and trade secrets, products liability, and business interruption losses. In academia, he has served as the university research coordinator and as an adjunct professor of management at the University of Southern California as well as an adjunct professor in the graduate schools of engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and the University of Maryland.

Attain Pfoh, of General Electric Company, has five years of experience managing research and engineering efforts in support of the manufacture of government-regulated, computed-tomography medical imaging equipment. He received a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in nuclear physics from the University of Heidelberg and a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the Max Planck Institute. He has experience in research and development and system design of diagnostic medical imaging devices. Dr. Pfoh has been issued five patents and has several others pending approval. He is a member of the Elfun Society and has been an adjunct faculty member of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Anthony Shumskas, of BDM Engineering Services, has 24 years of experience in systems analysis, configuration management, design, development, integration, project and risk management, test and evaluation, requirements definition, acquisition planning and oversight, and standardization activities for software-intensive systems. Mr. Shumskas received a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Arizona. He has eight years of experience managing multiple large-scale development programs for the U.S. Department of Defense. Mr. Shumskas is an expert on both product and process quality assessments and metrics. He has authored several management plans for implementing and assessing software product metrics. His expertise in software testing and evaluation supported major decisions on the Department of Defense Software Master Plan and Software Technology Strategy. He also has experience in configuration management. Mr. Shumskas has participated in design and production readiness reviews, taught configuration management, and provided oversight of contractor engineering, manufacturing, and test activities.

Michael Story has conducted research on the design, manufacturing, and operation of commercial mass spectrometers for 30 years at ThermoQuest Corporation (formally Finnigan Instruments). He received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Story is a member of the current National Research Council Committee on Commercial Aviation Security, was a member of the previous Committee on Commercial Aviation Security (1988-1993), and chaired the Panel on Test Protocol and Performance Criteria.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members." National Research Council. 1998. Configuration Management and Performance Verification of Explosives-Detection Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6245.
×
Page 67
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members." National Research Council. 1998. Configuration Management and Performance Verification of Explosives-Detection Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6245.
×
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This report assesses the configuration-management and performance-verification options for the development and regulation of commercially available Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) and other systems designed for detection of explosives. In particular, the panel authoring this report (1) assessed the advantages and disadvantages of methods used for configuration management and performance verification relative to the FAA's needs for explosives-detection equipment regulation, (2) outlined a "quality management program" that the FAA can follow that includes configuration management and performance verification and that will encourage commercial development and improvement of explosives-detection equipment while ensuring that such systems are manufactured to meet FAA certification requirements, and (3) outlined a performance-verification strategy that the FAA can follow to ensure that EDSs continue to perform at certification specifications in the airport environment.

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