Chair: Eric Wahl

Eric describes himself as a multi-disciplined engineer with a love of ongoing learning and many interests. Growing up in Philadelphia, Eric was kind of a nerdy kid, having fun particularly related to STEM. After obtaining a BSE from the University of Pennsylvania, he started as a software engineer in and around San Francisco. Deciding that he wanted to work with hardware as well as software, he went on to earn an MS in Aerospace Engineering from San Jose State University, and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Santa Clara University. (Eric likes hardware, but realizes that software runs almost everything these days, so he’s happy to have a background in both.) Having been involved with things like small rocket launch vehicle design, and avionics, his current position is at NASA Ames, where he’s working on federated traffic management systems for the upper Class E airspace, as well as a study related to Urban Air Mobility.

Vice Chair: Sarah Hussein

Dr. Sarah Hussein is a Propulsion Systems Engineer at Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, CA working on the design and development of propulsion solutions for Low Earth Orbit, geosynchronous, and deep space missions. Prior to her employment at Maxar, she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington where her studies focused on aerodynamics, propulsion, and aircraft design. Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, Dr. Hussein is enjoying the California sunshine on the west coast these days!

 

Treasurer: Watson Attai

Watson Attai is the current treasurer for the San Francisco section of AIAA and has been for many years. In this role, Watson oversees the budget and monitors the finances throughout the year.
Watson holds a B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from University of California, San Diego. As part of the NASA Ames Research Center’s Engineering Systems Division, Watson works in the area of CubeSats, a subset of Small Satellites in the form of 10cm cubes that have gained popularity over the last few decades. More specifically, Watson build and test spacecraft for different NASA missions.

Secretary: Sina Aboutorabi

Sina Aboutorabi has been with AIAA since 2011 and an AIAA-SF Section council member since 2022. He has served on the panel of judges for several AIAA Student Conferences. He has also been serving as a judge on many AIAA Scholarships and Graduate Awards reviewing panels. He is a senior member of the American Astronautical Society. He is currently a teaching faculty with the Department of Aviation and Technology at San Jose State University. He is also a lecturer with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at CSUN. He is an experienced electrical and astronautical engineer and particularly skilled in spacecraft and satellite communications systems. Education: a terminal graduate degree (semi-doctorate) referred to as “Engineer’s Degree” in Astronautical Engineering – deep space communications coding from the University of Southern California; M.S. in Astronautical Engineering – space and spacecraft systems from USC; M.S. in Electrical Engineering – communications systems from USC; B.S. in Electrical Engineering – Electronics.

 

Board of Directors

Diversity & Inclusion Director: Nick Cramer

Nick Cramer has been an AIAA as a student and a professional since 2015. Nick is a member of the AIAA Diversity Working Group and a project manager at NASA Ames Research Center. He also teaches a UAV design class at San Jose State University.

Programming Director: Thomas Lombaerts

Thomas Lombaerts has a B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. (2010) in Aerospace Engineering from Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands). Research interests in flight dynamics and advanced flight controls. Worked at Delft University, German Aerospace Center DLR, and currently at NASA Ames Research Center, Division of Intelligent Systems. AIAA Member since 2005, authored and co-authored more than 30 AIAA conference and journal papers. Reviewer for multiple AIAA journals; served as technical chairs for AIAA SciTech Conferences in the past few years. Member of the AIAA Intelligent Systems Technical Committee; AIAA-SF Programs Director; AIAA Associate Fellow. Looking forward to continuing contributing to the AIAA locally and professionally in the coming years.

College Outreach Director: Ramuhalli Krishna

Ramuhalli Krishna obtained an MS in Astrodynamics, Ph.D. in Guidance, Dynamics and Controls (1984). Over 40 years experience in Aerospace Engineering (ISRO, NASA and DOD). Currently retired and trying to give back to aerospace community whatever he can as a volunteer. Associate Fellow, AIAA.

 

 

Honors & Awards Director: Swati Saxena

Swati Saxena completed her B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur, India and her MS and PhD from Penn State University in 2012. She has worked at GE Global Research for 5 years as a Lead Research Scientist and Program Manager in the areas of Turbomachinery and Flow Physics. She currently works at Ansys Inc. as a Technical Manager. She is a lifetime senior member at AIAA and is active at the national level as the member of technical committees (Applied Aerodynamics Committee) and conferences. She has served as reviewer for several conferences and international journals. She has more than 20 publications and 2 patents. Presently, she is the honors & awards director for AIAA SF Section and plans to continue contributing to the local chapter.

 

Communications Director: Sheen Kao

Sheen is a Mechanical Engineer from Cal Poly, who now does Machine Learning at a startup called Koko. He is responsible for running AIAA-SF’s website and electronic newsletter.

 

Rick Kwan

Rick Kwan is a computer scientist (BS, USC, 1981) with additional grad and undergrad work in astrodynamics, computer science, and general engineering. He has worked in the aerospace, computer, and semiconductor industries; including in So Cal (SDC/Burroughs, Hughes Aircraft, JPL), Taiwan (Acer Labs), and Silicon Valley (Sun, NASA Ames, Pioneer Research, VMware, Intel, MIPS). Associate Fellow of AIAA; member of AIAA SF section council, section officer (chair, webmaster, newsletter editor); member of AIAA Computer Systems Technical Committee; author of Computer Systems annual reviews in Aerospace America.

 

Prasad Gogineni

Prasad Gogineni is a retired Aerospace Engineer from Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, after 38 years of working on various missile programs. Ex-council member, and former Chair, of the AIAA-SF section. Would like to volunteer his services for the benefit of the Bay Area aerospace community.