2015

BOARD OF
DIRECTORS

President - Ben Edwards

Ben Edwards has been in the “space” portion of the aerospace industry since June 2008, prior to that he spent 20 years supporting the “aero” portion of the industry as a meteorologist in the Air Force.  Among other degrees Ben has a Bachelor’s of Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and a M.S. in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University.

Ben was the TGCC INCOSE Program Chair in 2011, a member of the Program Committee in 2012 and was again the Programs Chair in 2013.

Currently, Ben is supporting the parachute system for NASA’s Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle as part of Johnson Space Center’s JETS contract.

Vice President - Tony Williams (ESEP)

Tony Williams is the Chief Engineer, Systems Engineering and Integration, at Jacobs Engineering developing flight systems for the International Space Station (ISS).  He’s also serves as the Project Manager for the ISS Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), a complex safety-critical jetpack that provides final self-rescue opportunity for a stranded astronaut who has drifted from the ISS. Prior assignments include serving as a Lecturer at the University of Houston where he taught a Master’s level Systems Engineering series, and as a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton where his roles ranged froim launch mission assurance studies to development of exploitation tools for multi- and hyper-spectral imagery to modeling of satellite constellation replacement needs.  He has served as Colonel in the Air Force Reserve (1988-2008) including active duty tour as Chief, Space Command and Control Division and Commander, Space Operations Squadron at Air Force Space Command in 2005.  Tony is a Certified INCOSE Expert Systems Engineering Professional and a PMI Certified Project Management Professional.  Within INCOSE, Tony previously served on the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter Board from 2010-2012.   

Treasurer - Jeff Hahn

Jeff received Bachelor of Science degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri - Rolla. During his time with Jacobs Engineering at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), he has served in various project engineering, systems engineering, and project management roles on small and large development and flight projects ranging from a $20k to $20M/year. Those project have included the International Space Station Crew Health Care System, Max Launch Abort System, Capsule Parachute Assembly System, and Emergency Mask System. Jeff also served as the project manager for commercialization and outreach efforts and worked to create partnerships between the Engineering Directorate, commercial companies, and Jacobs. Prior to coming to JSC, he served as a test engineer in the Unitary Tunnel and Mach 4 Blowdown Facilities in the Hypersonic Airbreathing Propulsion Branch at Langley Research Center.

Jeff currently serves as the section manager for the Crew and EVA Projects in the project development group.

Secretary - Rafael Munoz

Rafael Munoz received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez and M.S. degrees in Computer Systems Design and Systems Engineering from the University of Houston – Clear Lake.

Rafael has over twenty five years experience in the development of embedded real-time systems, from requirements analysis to system architecture, system design, detailed hardware and software design, integration, validation and verification.  Twenty years working avionics in the aerospace industry.  Five years experience in the telecommunications industry.

Rafael is currently the Verification Lead in support of the Avionics, Power, and Software Office of the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Program.

Rafael is active in professional and other non-profit organizations in the area.  He has been the INCOSE TGCC Secretary for two years. He also supports the AIAA Houston Chapter as the Scholarship Chair and is a member of the United Way Bay Area Advisory Committee.

Communications - Robbie McAfoos

Director and Program Manager, Mission and Program Integration Contract (MAPI)

Web Master - Robert Crain (CSEP)

Mr. Crain is a Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP), a United States Navy Submariner veteran qualified in SSN and SSBN submarines and has over 30 years of Systems Engineering experience with 25 of those years working four major NASA programs (SpaceLab, The International Space Station (ISS), Constellation, and currently Exploration). During his tenure he has performed various functions including Systems Engineering, Project Management, Command and Data Handling (C&DH) Engineering, Integration Engineering, Requirements Management, Enterprise Architect, and Model Based Systems Engineering development. He was nominated for the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Stellar Award for MBSE methodology development.  Mr. Crain was awarded a NASA Silver Snoopy Award for his efforts related to the development of the ISS Flight Emulator, which was used to test ISS Elements on the Ground prior to Flight. Additionally, he has instructed courses in AC/DC and Digital Electronic Theory.  He is currently a Staff Engineer for MEI Technologies, Inc.