Background: COL John Hartke is a Professor, United States Military Academy and Professor of Photonics in the Department
of Physics and Nuclear Engineering at the United States Military Academy. He is currently serving as the deputy head of the
department.
COL Hartke was commissioned in 1988 from the United States Military Academy into the Corps of Engineers and has served in a
variety of operational assignments that include service in the 2nd Armored Division and 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, 20th
Engineer Brigade during Operation Desert Storm, US Army Armor School and the 194th Separate Armored Brigade at Fort Knox, 2nd
Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea, and twice as a mentor to the National Military Academy of Afghanistan in Kabul,
Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom. He most recently served as the Deputy Commanding Officer of the 36th Engineer
Brigade and deployed to Liberia in support of Operation United Assistance to contain the spread of the Ebola virus. In
addition to his Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering Management from West Point, COL Hartke has a Master of Science Degree
in Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona. He is a graduate
of the Engineer Officer Basic Course, Armor Officer Advanced Course, and US Army Command and General Staff College.
At West Point COL Hartke served as an instructor and course director for the introductory physics courses from 1997 to 2000.
Returning to West Point in 2005 as an Academy Professor, he served as a Principal Investigator and Director of the Photonics
Research Center. He has been the program director for the introductory physics program and the physics major. He achieved the
academic rank of Professor of Photonics and was appointed as a Professor United States Military Academy and Deputy Head of the
Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering.
COL Hartke has mentored over 50 cadets conducting high energy laser related research resulting in over 35 conference
presentations and several journal articles. He is involved DoD high energy laser research and development serving as the
chairman for the Advanced Concepts Technical Area Working Group for the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office. He has also
served as the conference chair for the Directed Energy Professional Society’s Employment Conference of the DEPS Systems
Symposium.
Candidate's Statement: My goal as a member of the DEPS board of directors is to assist in finding ways to increase
the outreach and participation of academia and the military in DEPS activities in order to further the development of directed
energy technologies. My experiences as an educator, end user of directed energy, and with the HEL-JTO will inform a unique
perspective that should help the DE community through DEPS. DEPS has had a very positive impact on my students and I would
like to share the benefits DEPS offers to other students around the country.
Jeff Maloney
Background: Jeff Maloney has been supporting HEL weapon system development since 2001 when
he joined Brashear, now L3. He has been the Program Manager for L3 of several HEL systems, including:
ABL, HELTD, LaWS, and LWBD. He now oversees all HEL system development at L3 and works closely with
the government and commercial partners to continue the advancement of HEL systems toward a fielded
system for soldier protection. While at L3, Jeff has also managed several large telescope projects,
specialty optics programs, and oversaw the design and installation of the worlds largest MRF optical
polishing machine. Prior to joining L3, Jeff worked in advanced development projects for BWX
Technologies. These projects included: Superconducting Super Collider, Tokamak Fusion Reactor,
AVLIS Uranium Enrichment process development, Naval Nuclear Reactor fabrication, and he ran the
production line for the Virginia Class Submarine Steam Generator. Jeff attained the rank of Captain
in the Army and served in Germany and Desert Storm.
Candidate's Statement: I am running for re-election to the Board of Directors for DEPS. During my first tenure,
I held the position of VP for one year and President for two years. During that time, the board revamped the Bylaws,
established additional scholarship and educational outreach projects, updated our internal financial reporting, and has been
working on collaborative relationships with other high technology organizations such as ITEA and AIAA. I’ve been working in
the Directed Energy industry for over 17 years and believe we have great potential to support and protect our war fighters.
As a prior Army officer, I wish that I had a system that could protect me from incoming RAM or the watchful eyes of a UAS.
With the continuing growing threats to both CONUS and deployed troops, the efforts that DEPS is sponsoring to inform decision
makers and to support the collaboration between military, industry, and academia are growing in importance in aiding this
technology deployment. I look forward to continuing to work with the other board members to convert our ideas and your
recommendations into realities that will keep DEPS at the forefront of Directed Energy education, collaboration, and
transition.
Sean Ross
Background: Dr. Ross, A CREOL graduate, has been a part of the DE community since 1994 and
has worked in nonlinear optics, fiber pumped solid state devices, thin disk laser, and high energy
laser weapon systems and is perhaps best known for his work in laser beam quality metrics. His 2006
Journal of Directed Energy paper, co-authored with Dr. Pete Latham, was seminal in raising awareness
of the need for mission traceable metrics and has influenced multiple directed energy programs. His
Laser Beam Quality short course has been well received and is a regular feature of DEPS conferences.
Dr. Ross chaired the planning committee of the Solid State and Diode Laser Technology Review
(SSDLTR - now part of the AHPL) from 2000 to 2011 and has served as conference technical chair and
session chair many times while in that capacity.
Dr. Ross is employed at the Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate and led the team
constructing an environmental test facility that will emulate platform environment while allowing full power operation of
laser systems, subsystems and components. Currently, he is on assignment at the Pentagon as the Air Force Directed Energy
Program Element Monitor.
Candidate's Statement:This is an exciting time to be in the field of Directed Energy. The demand signal from
the user community is stronger
than it has been in the past 20 years. Each of the services has a major technical demonstration in the works. As the DE
community moves from the laboratory to the field, the Directed Energy Professional Society must continue to adapt to meet
the needs of this new stage of development. There will be an increased emphasis on engineering and transition issues and
we will interact with other organizations on topics we have not had to consider before - air, land and sea vehicle societies;
thermal, electrical and mechanical engineering societies; tactical and military societies. DEPS has already begun this
process with a joint AIAA-DEPS working group on air platform concerns and our Test and Evaluation conference will become even
more important than it has been. I have spent the past decade of my professional career focusing on electrical, thermal and
platform interactions with DE systems which has given me a technical basis to understand these transition and prototyping
issues. I am now on assignment at the Pentagon as the Air Force Directed Energy Program Element Monitor and will have
frequent opportunity to influence decision makers over the next several years. I would be honored to continue serving on the
board of directors and work to ensure that your professional society continues to be the premier organization for exchanging
information about and advocating research, development and application of Directed Energy as we move from the laboratory
to the field.
Harold Schall
Background: Dr. Harold Schall is Chief Engineer for Laser & Electro-optical Systems for The Boeing Company and
a Boeing Senior Technical Fellow with over thirty years of experience in HEL system technology development and integration
and test. He served as chief engineer for integration and test for the Airborne Laser (ABL) program through all phases of
ABL’s test program, from initial system ground tests through ABL’s flight test program, including ABL’s successful missile
shootdown in 2010. Harold was a member of ABL’s technical advisory group, providing guidance to ABL’s program office and
the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and was co-recipient of MDA’s Technology Pioneer Award for contributions to the development
and integration of ABL’s critical technologies. Harold provides technical leadership of Boeing’s tactical HEL programs
including the Compact Laser Weapon System and High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator and currently serves as Boeing’s chief
engineer for AFRL’s R&D for Advanced Space Superiority Technology and Engineering (RASTER) program.
Dr. Schall was selected as a DEPS Fellow in 2008 and has served on the DEPS board of scientific and engineering advisors
and board of directors. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow and has been a member of Defense Science Board and Air Force Science
Advisory Board study panels.
Candidate's Statement: Over the past decade many Directed Energy (DE) technologies have progressed from the
laboratory to successful system demonstrations. Over this period, DEPS has served the DE community well by fostering
communication and advocating research and development to facilitate these developments. With the successful demonstration
of many critical DE technologies, which have the potential for significant benefit to national defense, I believe the DE
community needs to focus more attention on engineering DE systems for deployment. Over the next decade we need to transition
from successful system demonstrations to fielded DE systems that realize DE’s full potential. To facilitate this transition,
I believe DEPS should place more emphasize on the operational aspects of DE system development. Additional workshops, short
courses, and symposia focused on the technical and policy issues related to DE system deployment, analogous to those offered
by AIAA and IEEE for more mature aerospace and engineering disciplines, will allow DEPS to better address the future needs of
the DE community. As a current DEPS board member I have worked with the other members of the board to increase emphasize
in this area, and if elected for another term will expand on these efforts.
David Stoudt
Background: Dr. David Stoudt is a leader within Booz Allen Hamilton’s Directed Energy Innovation Team working with
clients across the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Communities to support the development and fielding of directed
energy (DE) capabilities, and increasing senior leadership awareness of DE weapons through activities such as the Directed
Energy Summit. He serves as Booz Allen’s Engineering Fellow for Directed Energy and is a Senior Executive Advisor to firm
leadership, including Executive Vice President, Trey Obering, Lt.Gen. USAF (ret.). He provides scientific and business
strategy and leadership to help promote and move DE capabilities from the laboratory and into the hands of the warfighters.
Prior to joining Booz Allen, he served in the Department of the Navy (DON) for 32 years, the last 12 of which he held an
executive position as the Navy’s first Distinguished Engineer for Directed Energy [ST position]. Dr. Stoudt was inducted as a
Fellow of the Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) in November 2005, and served on the DEPS Board of Scientific and
Engineering Advisors (BSEA) from 2009 to 2011. He has a proven track record of providing sound results-driven technical and
strategic leadership that led to the establishment of world-class DE programs, personnel, and facilities at the Naval Surface
Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Virginia (NSWCDD). From 2008 through 2012, he was also designated the first NAVSEA Technical
Authority Warrant for Directed Energy and Electric Weapon Systems, which included high-energy laser (HEL) weapon systems, the
Electromagnetic Rail Gun, high-power microwave (HPM) weapon systems, and the electromagnetic launch of weapons. While at NSWCDD,
he established and technically directed many HPM and HEL technology efforts, including; HPM programs to develop airborne
electronic attack capabilities, HPM and HEL lethality efforts, the development of HPM countermeasures to protect U.S.
forces and infrastructures, and the early stages of the Navy’s Laser Weapon System (LaWS) that was operationally deployed on
the USS Ponce for roughly three years. He served as Chair for the HEL-JTO HEL Lethality Technical Area Working Group in
2002-2003, chaired the first annual DEPS High Energy Laser Lethality Conference, September 2003, and served as the U.S.
Chair of the DEPS UK/US Directed Energy Symposium, Swindon, UK, October 2012. He established and technically directed several
HPM-based counter-Improvised Explosive Device (IED) weapons development efforts to support Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) to
help mitigate the impact of IEDs on our deployed forces. These prototypes represented the first ever successful tactical
employment of directed-energy weapons.From 2011 to 2015, he was the Senior Director, Capabilities and Concepts in the Office of
the Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy for Policy, where he assessed naval programs, technology development and warfighting
concepts, and analyzed their implications for future naval capabilities. While in the Pentagon, he worked with the DASD
(Space Policy) to update/rewrite the DODI 3100.11 “Illumination of Objects in Space by Lasers,” which is now much more
supportive of the operational deployment of HEL weapons. As the Senior Director, he initiated and served as the Executive
Secretary for the Naval Directed Energy Steering Group, which was chartered by the Under Secretary of the Navy to develop the
DON Vision, Strategy, and Roadmap for Naval directed-energy weapons. These efforts contributed significantly to the high-level
Navy interest, attention, and funding for the operational fielding of directed-energy capabilities in the Naval forces today.
Among other honors, he was awarded the Navy Distinguished, Superior, and multiple Meritorious Civilian Service Awards, as well
as the Naval Sea Systems Command Scientist of the Year Award. He received a B.S. (Summa Cum Laude), M.S., and Doctor of
Philosophy, all in Electrical Engineering, from Old Dominion University. He served from 1978 to 1984 in the U.S. Navy as an
Electronics Technician First Class, and was submarine qualified on the USS Finback (SSN 670) where he served as a Nuclear
Reactor Operator and Navy Scuba Diver.
Candidate's Statement:I have served my entire professional career with a focus on providing enhanced warfighting
capabilities to the military men and women of our great nation. I have been fortunate enough to be affiliated with our DE
community during that entire time. Ever since its founding in 1999, DEPS has had an important, positive impact in fostering
collaboration in DE programs across the services, increasing awareness between various programs and stakeholders, investing in
the education of young scientists and engineers, and significantly elevating awareness of effective DE solutions across
government and in Congress. While DEPS’s impact and influence is truly impressive, this is not the time to rest on our
accomplishments. We are in the “red zone” as a community. We have overcome obstacles, pushed the state-of-the-art on countless
technologies, and demonstrated and fielded prototype operational DE systems. We have garnered the attention of the warfighters,
the acquisition community, and many around the world. This is the time to stiffen our resolve, protect our technical integrity,
accomplish seemingly insurmountable tasks, and deliver DE weapons to our warfighters. As a member of your Board of Directors,
I will do everything in my power to: support our individual and collective efforts; recognize your major accomplishments;
maintain DEPS as the premier DE association in the country; work to make the Directed Energy Summit and DE2DC even more
impactful; increase the attention on HPM and HEL lethality efforts; elevate the importance and attention on DE education;
and focus attention on the need to develop a suitable industrial base that is able to support the rising demand for DE weapons.
It is an honor and a privilege to be counted among your numbers for nearly 30 years.
