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 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 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 Joint Directed Energy Transition Office. He has also served as the conference chair for the Directed Energy Professional Society’s Employment Conference of the DEPS Systems Symposium and symposium chair and host of the Directed Energy Professional Society’s 2020 Annual Symposium at West Point
Candidate's Statement: My goal as a member of the DEPS board of directors is to continue 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 DE-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 for almost 20 years. He is currently leading efforts to stand up a Beam Director production facility, developing a CBC based weapon system module, and guiding development of several Beam Directors. Over the 2 decades in this field, Jeff has lead several programs including: ABL, HELTD, and LaWS. Working closely with the government, primes, and 3rd tier vendors, Jeff is working to advance the state of the art while also preparing for transition to production. In addition to HEL weapons development, he has also managed several large telescope programs and lead the development and installation of the largest MRF polishing machine. Jeff has worked at II-VI Aerospace & Defense, L3Harris, BWX Technologies and was an officer in the US Army serving in Germany and the Gulf war.
Candidate's Statement: Hello fellow DEPS members. I am appreciative of the extra ordinary efforts that the DEPS staff has been accomplishing to continue to bring us valued information at levels above Dist. A during these trying times. As a 20 year veteran of the DE community, I truly value the DEPS objective of bringing the DE community together in forums in which we can learn and collaborate while also championing the growth of the DE objective through education, scholarships, outreach, and information exchange. During my first tenure on the BOD, we implemented fiscal changes in DEPS operations to set aside some funding in case of the unknown that could prevent DEPS from holding a conference in order to have funding to retain the staff during troubled times. This COVID 2019 showed us how right it was to prepare the organization to weather unforeseen risks. As a BOD member, I will continue to look for ways to secure the wellbeing of the organization while continuing to improve the support to the community.
Greg Quarles
Background:Dr. Gregory Quarles was hired as the CEO and Board member for Tucson-based Applied Energetics, Inc, in May 2019, a recognized leading company developing ultrashort-pulse lasers, frequency agile optical sources, and laser guided energy technology, all focused in the Directed Energy sector. He had previously served on the AE Scientific Advisory Board. Prior to joining Applied Energetics, Dr. Quarles served as the Chief Scientific Officer for The Optical Society since November of 2015. He is an experienced Chief Executive Officer, Board Member and renowned physicist with 25 years of experience driving cutting-edge laser, optics and photonics technology development and operations within optical materials and defense-related companies. Greg is a globally recognized leader for his strategic partnerships with the Department of Defense, the U.S. Congress, and his innovative work in the progression of optical materials research, specifically developing new laser devices for medical, military and industrial applications. He has also spent the past five years interacting with global leaders in the optics, photonics, and academic communities discussing policy and funding opportunities. Greg has been awarded five patents related to his research in solid-state lasers, has two pending, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed and conference publications.
Greg was a founder, COO and Managing Partner of EdgeLight Incorporated, a start-up enterprise pioneering wearable light therapy in Tucson, AZ. He has also managed his own consulting firm since 2013, as President and CEO of Opto-Electronics Management Network, specializing in the contributing direction to the lasers and materials industry, with his primary focus on the defense, aerospace, and the nanomaterials sectors. Prior to starting this consulting business, Greg served as the CEO at B.E. Meyers & Co., Inc., a pioneering company in the development and manufacturing of opto-electronic technology and related products used in defense and law enforcement applications. His previous experience includes serving on 8 Corporate and not-for-profit Boards, including the OSA Board of Directors, working at II-VI Incorporated for 18 years and the Director of RD, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory for 5 years where he was a part of the first team in the DOD to develop a diode-pumped IRCM platform. Greg has served the past 7 years on the Department of Commerce’s SITAC Committee (Sensors and Instrumentation Technology Advisory Committee) advising on export control revisions for the lasers and directed energy sectors. Dr. Quarles is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and holds a Ph.D. and MS in Physics, and a dual BS in Math and Physics. He has served as Assistant Editor for both Optical Engineering and the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics and is a Fellow of both the Optical Society and SPIE and a Senior Member of IEEE.
Candidate's Statement: I am honored to have been a part of this Directed Energy community for nearly my entire career. My PhD research was funded by a fellowship by what was then the Air Force Weapons Lab in Albuquerque, and my involvement has continued to my position today, some 30 years later. My DEPS engagement has included being actively involved as a committee member for the DEPS and SSDLTR meetings for over a decade. I have witnessed the emergence and deployment of solid-state DE laser platforms exceeding 100 kW and have been involved in the development and delivery of component level technologies which have included high-damage threshold optics, thin disk gain media, and ceramic laser hosts previously while at II-VI Incorporated. Part of my experience has included leading BE Meyers to production hardening and delivering high volume optical disrupter and dazzler technology for the Marines and Army programs of record. And now at Applied Energetics we are developing the next disruptive directed energy system utilizing ultrashort pulse optical systems. I am asking for your support as a Board member because I understand that offering a directed energy solution is often just one step of the process. I see an opportunity to incorporate greater outreach to improve the testing and acceptance of a multilayered set of technologies for threat intercept. This starts with increasing the visibility of Directed Energy opportunities to students that can possibly hold clearances during graduate school and post-graduation. Filling this pipeline with qualified scientists and engineers is necessary to continue to make strides to keep the US in a leadership position in global DE systems. Secondly, I can assist DEPS in expanding prominence and teaming opportunities with other parallel and complimentary societies, such as MSS, OSA, LIA and SPIE to increase visibility to future members and contributors to DEPS. Finally, I support a dedicated effort of public policy and advocacy for continuing the double-digit year over year growth in federal budget for all aspects of Directed Energy platforms from the basic R&D level to the program of record and acquisition line items. Continuing education for both the defense department leadership to the congressional appropriators is imperative for sustaining this growth and acceptance of DE platforms as a necessity for national security. My experience, insights and relationships across a wide-range of research, developmental, operational, strategic, and advocacy teams will enable me to be an effective board member for DEPS and allow me to facilitate implementation of solutions for our members.
Dave Stoudt
Background:Dr. David Stoudt serves as Booz Allen Hamilton’s Senior Executive Advisor and Engineering Fellow for Directed Energy and provides technical leadership and guidance to a directed-energy (DE) team of over 50 professionals working with clients across the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Communities to support the development and fielding of directed energy capabilities. In addition to focusing on technical support for DE programs, Dr. Stoudt leads activities to increase senior leadership awareness of directed energy weapons including chairing the Booz Allen Directed Energy Summit, hosting and participating in highly-topical DE-related webinars, and contributing to journals and publications on DE topics. Dr. Stoudt is also leading Booz Allen’s Digital Engineering and Model-Based Systems Engineering activities in support of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. In 2018, Dr. Stoudt was elected to the Board of Directors of the Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) and was selected by the Board to be its President. Prior to joining Booz Allen Hamilton, 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 DEPS in November 2005 and served on the DEPS Board of Scientific and Engineering Advisors (BSEA) from 2009 to 2011. Dr. Stoudt led to the establishment of world-class directed-energy 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 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, technically directed, and deployed with several HPM-based counter-Improvised Explosive Device (IED) weapons 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 (E6) 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: My fellow DEPS members, it has been my honor and privilege to serve as a member of the DEPS Board of Directors over the past three years and to have been selected by the Board to be the Board President. With this candidate statement, I respectfully seek your support to serve for a second three-year term to continue supporting DEPS, the DE community, and our warfighters. My entire professional career has embodied 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 directed energy community for more than 30 years. Ever since it was founded in 1999, DEPS has had an amazing and positive impact on the community from fostering collaboration in directed energy programs across the services, increasing awareness between various programs and stakeholders, investing in the education of young scientists and engineers, to generally elevating our prestige and influence across industry, government, and in Congress. While the impact and influence of DEPS has been truly impressive, this is not the time to rest on our accomplishments. We have overcome obstacles, pushed the state-of-the-art on countless technologies, and demonstrated and fielded prototype operational directed energy 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 directed energy weapons to our warfighters.
As a member of your Board of Directors, I will continue to do everything in my power to: support your efforts, recognize your amazing accomplishments, maintain DEPS as the premier directed energy association in the country, work to make DE2DC even more impactful, increase the attention on HPM and HEL lethality efforts, elevate the importance and attention on directed energy education, and focus attention on the need to develop a suitable industrial base that is able to support the rising demand for DE weapons. During the last three years, which obviously include the global pandemic, the DEPS staff and its Board have taken significant measures to ensure the continued viability of your professional society. We have managed to fully fund the society’s sustainment funds to ensure our viability during times of economic downturns, increased our collaboration with other professional societies and worked to increase active duty military membership, secured a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to mitigate impacts to our DEPS staff resulting from reduced society revenue during the pandemic, and transitioned the Systems Symposium into a fully virtual event. To my knowledge, the November Systems Symposium was the first large-scale international Distribution D conference in the country, and we will continue to serve our members virtually until we can regain some sense of normalcy in the future. We will also continue to monitor developments in both policy and technology as it applies to future DEPS events. It is an honor and a privilege to have served as your Board President for the last three years, and I look forward to the opportunity to continue service on your Board for a second three-year term.
