Advisory and Honorary Board Members

Advisory Board

Members in alphabetical order:

Michael Brett is the outgoing Chair of SGAC. He lives in Canberra, Australia where he works as a consulting systems engineer on a range of projects including the HIFiRE hypersonics research program and Antarctic Broadband satellite program. He has a degree in Aerospace Avionics Engineering from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia and is currently studying an Executive Masters of Business in Project Management also at QUT. Michael was a delegate at SGS 2002 in Houston, Sponsorship Manager for SGC 2005 in Fukuoka, moderated a group at SGC 2009 in Deajeon, and was SGAC’s Treasurer for four years. He has been actively involved in the Australian space community for many years assisting the Australian Youth Aerospace Association, Royal Aeronautical Society, Aerospace Futures conference and National Space Society.

Norbert Frischauf is a future Studies Systems Engineer for  Spacetec.  He studied Technical Physics at the Technical University in Vienna (Austria). Following his specialisation on high energy physics, he moved to CERN in Geneva (Switzerland) to work on two particle detectors in the DELPHI Experiment of the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP). After having spent some years at CERN, his professional career led him to the European Science and Technology Centre (ESTEC) of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Noordwijk (Netherlands), where we worked as future studies systems engineer and expert for emerging technologies. From 1999 to 2006, Norbert was engaged with consultancy work for Booz Allen Hamilton, mostly focusing on aerospace, telecoms and hi-tech. After a professional detour into management with the start-up QASAR in Vienna, Norbert returned to the Netherlands in the beginning of 2009, where he worked for three years as a scientific officer at the EC JRC-IE in the action for “Hydrogen Safety in Storage and Transport”, being responsible for scientific aspects of high pressure hydrogen storage activities and further technical developments. Beside these scientific activities, Norbert is a leading member in various associations (like the OEWF) and is active as science communicator, making science documentaries for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation and writing popular science articles in various magazines. In addition, Norbert is a keen acrobatic pilot and a high sea skipper, enjoys skiing and ballroom dancing.auf

Yasushi Horikawa is a technical counselor of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Tokyo, Japan. He earned his PhD from Tokyo University in Electrical Engineering. He worked for many years in the field of spacecraft design. He contributed to the successful implementation of Japanese meteorological satellite programs and Earth observation programs, as well as the development of the International Space Station program. Dr. Horikawa also contributed to the implementation of the Japanese International Space Station program as the Program Manager. Subsequently, Dr. Horikawa was responsible for all satellite application programs as an Executive Director of JAXA. This included the operation of satellites for many diverse uses including Earth observation, global positioning, communications and broadcasting. Today, he continues as an advisor for Japanese satellite application development and utilization programmes. Additionally, Dr. Horikawa is a professor at Tokai University and is the president of the Japanese Society of Cost Estimate and Analysis since 2011.  In June 2012, Dr. Horikawa will begin a two year term as the Chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS).

Agnieszka Lukaszczyk is the former SGAC Chairperson. From 2006 until 2009 she held the Executive Officer position at SGAC. She is also the Brussels Office Director for Secure World Foundation. A Polish/American national, Agnieszka is based in Vienna working on the European space policy and United Nations (UN) civil space activities covering the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and working closely with the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (OOSA). In addition, during the period of September 2006 to June 2008, Agnieszka worked at the European Space Policy Institute. Agnieszka also serves as the the Vice President - Operations for the World Space Week. She holds a Masters degree from the American University School of International Service in International Politics and a Bachelor degree in Political Science form the University of Tennessee. She also studied at the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Brussels, Belgium; the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland and the World Trade Institute in Berne, Switzerland. She gained professional experience at the Political Section of the Polish Embassy in Washington DC, American Electronics Association in Brussels, European Department of the Polish Senate in Warsaw and the Warsaw Business Journal.

Peter Martinez has made significant contributions to the development of South Africa’s national space policy and to space-related activities in South Africa in general. He has been a member of the South African delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) for a number of years and is currently the Chairman of the COPUOS Scientific and Technical Subcommittee’s Working Group on the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities. Dr Martinez holds a Doctorate in astrophysics from the University of Cape Town. He is also an alumnus and occasional visiting faculty of the International Space University, Strasbourg. He is currently the Division Head for Space Science and Technology at the South African Astronomical Observatory, a facility of the National Research Foundation. He has authored, co-authored or edited over 190 publications and is an Associate Editor of the COSPAR journal Advances in Space Research.

Tanja Masson-Zwaan has specialised in the field of air and space law since 25 years. She currently teaches air and space law in the advanced Masters programme in air and space law of Leiden University (The Netherlands), supervises research of LLM and PhD students and carries out research activities for various clients. She is the President of the International Institute of Space Law, to which position she was re-elected for a second term in October 2010, and has published on a variety of topics over the years. She lectures on space law all over the world, advises the Dutch government, the EU and other national and international bodies on matters relating to space law, and attends the sessions of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space as an observer. Before returning to Leiden where she obtained her LLM in public international law, Tanja set up and taught graduate courses in air and space law at the National University of Singapore, worked as a consultant in France and the Netherlands for industrial and institutional clients, and served many years as Executive Secretary of the IISL, organising numerous conferences, symposia, meetings and the Manfred Lachs space law moot court competition. Tanja is a recipient of several awards (IISL Distinguished Service Award, 2001 and IAA Social Science Award, 2008), and is a member of various professional organisations such as the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA, full member), the Académie de l’air et de l’espace (ANAE, France), the International Law Association (ILA, including its Space Law Committee), and the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL, former Board member). Tanja is a Board member of the Space Generation Advisory Council in Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications (SGAC), Women in Aerospace-Europe (created in 2009), the Netherlands Space Society (NVR), and HE Space Operations.

Nicolas Peter works currently in the Director General’s Cabinet (H/DGC). He was previously in the Director General’s Office (DG) and has been a Research Fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) from 2006 to 2009 including a secondment during two years from ESA’s Director General Policy Office (DG-P). Mr Peter has been a Lockheed Martin Fellow for two years at the Space Policy Institute at the George Washington University (GWU). He has also been Teaching Associate for the International Space University’s Master programme and Faculty and Team Project Co-chair for the 2003 Summer Session Programme.
Mr Peter has published and presented over 100 reports, book chapters, articles in peer-reviewed journals, international conferences related to space activities, particularly on space policy issues and co-edited three books on space affairs. He has been invited to be Chair and Rapporteur for sessions dealing with space policy affairs held in the framework of international space conferences (e.g. IAC) on four continents. He has been also invited to take part in numerous working groups on a diversity of space related fields and serves currently as the Secretary of the IAF Space Security Committee.
Mr. Peter holds a Bachelor of Geography from the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France. He holds also his first Masters Degree in Space Systems and second Masters Degree in Space Technology Applications from the Louis Pasteur. Nicolas Peter is also a graduate from the International Space University’s Master in Space Studies programme with a specialisation in business, policy and law and holds a Master of International Science and Technology Policy with a focus on space policy from the GWU’s Elliott School of International Affairs (Washington D.C., USA). Mr. Peter also attended Executive Education courses on foresight, strategy and policy evaluation at ESSEC (France), HEC (France) and the Manchester Business School (UK).

Dumitru Prunariu is the current Chairman of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space for the period of June 2010-June 2012 and is an Associate Professor of Geopolitics at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania. He acted as a Diplomatic Engineer for industrial sector prior to enrolling in the Romanian Air Force Officers Training School in 1977. He was selected for spaceflight training in 1978 as a part of the Intercosmos Program. In May 1981, he completed an eight-day space mission on board Soyuz 40 and the Salyut 6 space laboratory, where he completed scientific experiments in the fields of astrophysics, space radiation, space technology, space medicine and biology. Since 1995, Dr. Prunariu has been the Vice-President of the International Institute for Risk, Security and Communication Management (EURISC) in Bucharest. He is the former President of the Romanian Space Agency and former Director of the Romanian Office for Science and Technology Union (ROST) in Brussels. He is also a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a member of the Romanian National COSPAR Committee, and a member of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE). He was elected in 2004 as the Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN COPUOS and has also served as a permanent representative of the Government of Romania and ASE to UN COPUOS. Dr. Prunariu obtained a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Politehnical University of Bucharest in 1976 and received a PhD from the Aviation Institute in Bucharest with research on flight dynamics.

Honorary Board

SGAC’s Honorary Board is comprised of distinguished individuals who have been of great service to our organisation or who we have wished to recognise for their furtherance of goals similar to those of SGAC. The Honorary Board provides advice as appropriate to the experience of Honorary Board members.

Members in alphabetical order:

Barbara LB Adde has been a Policy & Strategic Communications (PSC) Manager for Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) since the position was created in March 2008. In this role, she is responsible for SCaN’s education and public outreach (EPO) program and policy and strategic communication with key stakeholders, such as other Federal departments and agencies, and international agencies and organizations. This includes serving as the Secretariat to the Interoperability Plenary (IOP) and the Interagency Operations Advisory Group (IOAG). Ms. Adde joined NASA in April 1997 as a political appointee, serving in the Office of Legislative Affairs. Her portfolio as Legislative Affairs Specialist included the International Space Station, Space Shuttle, microgravity research program, and external relations. She became a civil servant in 2001, supporting the Office of Space Operations’ policy and EPO activities until her move to SCaN in 2005. Prior to joining NASA, Ms. Adde served as Confidential Assistant to the Associate Director for Technology in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, from 1993 to 1996. Ms. Adde earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Delaware in 1981.

Ciro Arevalo is the Chairman of the Latin American and Caribean Regional Group of the International Astronautical Federation.  Prior to this post, he was the Chairman of COPUOS as well as the advisor on space matters to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has worked in the space sector for the past twenty years. He has law degree from Universite de Lausanne, Switzerland and postgraduate studies in international relations and international public law at the Universidad de los Andes. He is a member of Colombian Bar Association since 1985. Member of the Colombian delegation to various international entities including ITU, IAEA, UNTAT, ILO, CBTO etc. Dr. Arevalo Yepes was one of the main organizers of the Fourth Space Conference of the Americas held in Cartagena, Colombia in 2002, during which the Colombian Space Commission has originated. In addition to his diplomatic career, Dr. Arevalo Yepes has dedicated portion of his time to the academics. He was a Dean of the Post Graduate International Business Program at University of Bogotá, UJTL and a Founder and Director of the Centre of U.S. Studies, CEUS, Bogotá. He authored a number of papers and articles on Space related matters, Space and Society, and Space and Education.

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Ben Baseley-Walker is a Legal and Policy Advisor for the Secure World Foundation. A British national, Ben works on legal and policy issues related to space security. He has worked in the policy and legal field in a variety of settings and countries including Chile, Kenya, Ethiopia and the Netherlands. From 2006 to 2007 Ben lived in Kenya working for the United Nations and the Kenyan Government. He is also the former Co-Chair of the Vienna-based Space Generation Advisory Council. Ben is an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh and the Universiteit van Amsterdam from which he graduated with a M.A. degree in Politics and an LLM degree in International and European Law respectively. He is a graduate of the International Space University Space Studies Programme (2007, Beijing).

Yolanda Berenguer is currently the Space Education Programme Coordinator at the UNESCO. Yolanda is a specialist in international relations and Earth observations applications. She was former Chair of the CEOS Working Group on Education, Training and Capacity Building and is currently Co-Chair of the GEO Capacity Building Committee and Board Member of the World Space Week Association. Yolanda is UNESCO’s representative to COPUOS, UN Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities, IAF’s Space and Education Outreach Committee, APRSAF’s Working Group on Space Education and Awareness and Space Conference of the Americas’ Education Committee. Yolanda is UNESCO’s Focal Point for the International Year of Astronomy (2009) and follow-up actions.

James D. (Jim) Burke, a Caltech graduate and former US Naval Aviator, worked at the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1949 to his retirement in 2001. His main professional interest is the exploration and settlement on the Moon. Since 1989, he has been a faculty member of the International Space University. He and his wife, Caroline (Lin), were advisors at the founding conference of SGAC during UNISPACE III in Vienna and have participated in many Space Generation activities since then.

Caroline C. (Lin) Burke is a teacher of children's music and movement according to the principles of Carl Orff and Emile-Jaques Dalcroze. She has participated in summer sessions of the International Space University since 1989, founding ISU's English language assistance program and aiding in the cultural adjustment of students. Pursuing her interest in dance in partial gravity, she has flown three times in the Zero G Boeing 727. At both ISU and SGAC, she continues to advocate for the incorporation of arts in space future.

Chris De Cooker holds law degrees from the University of Amsterdam and of Columbia University. He was for nine years senior lecturer in international law at the University of Leyden in the Netherlands. He then joined the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1984, where he held a number of positions, mainly concerning internal institutional matters. His current position is that of Head of the International Relations Department. He is Head of the ESA delegation to COPUOS. He has authored a large number of publications, mostly in the field of International Administration. He has also been advising many regional and global international organisations. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

J.R. Edwards is Manager of Human Space Flight Programs in Lockheed Martin’s Washington Operations office.  In this position, J.R. is an interface with NASA Headquarters for Space Exploration programs and supports Lockheed Martin Government Affairs activities in promoting NASA Human Space Flight programs on Capitol Hill.  These programs include the Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, NASA’s flagship of the human exploration program.  J.R. is also responsible for Lockheed Martin’s Space Exploration Outreach & Advocacy Program and strategic planning activities, domestic and international.  He manages horizontal integration functions, ensuring that NASA activities that Lockheed Martin is supporting are well integrated from an organizational and technological perspective.  This includes current as well as future programs. J.R. began his career at the Indiana University School of Business and the I.U. Center on Philanthropy. He then helped launch the Philanthropic Advisors Services group at the Council on Foundations, a nonprofit membership association of 1800+ grant making foundations and corporations committed to promoting responsible and effective philanthropy.  Since joining Lockheed Martin Corporation, J.R. completed assignments in Corporate Government Financial Management, Space Operations, and Energy and Security Solutions before transferring to Space Systems Company in 2006. A lifetime member of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), J.R. represents Lockheed Martin on the AIAA Public Policy and Career and Workforce Development Committees and manages Lockheed Martin participation in industry conferences and symposia. He serves on the Board of the American Astronautical Society and has been active with the International Council on Systems Engineering and International Astronautical Federation, where he currently represents Lockheed Martin on the Workforce Development/Young Professionals Programme Committee. Recently, J.R. was selected to participate in Lockheed Martin’s Executive Development and Growth Enhancement (EDGE) Program. J.R. received his bachelor degree from Indiana University, where he attended as a Senator Richard G. Lugar Scholar, Herman B. Wells Scholar, and Ronald E. McNair Scholar.

Gernot Grömer was born in 1975 and obtained his masters degree in Astronomy at the Leopold-Franzens University in Innsbruck, Austria. He is an alumni of the Space Studies Programme of the International Space University (Houston, Texas) and was a teaching assistant of the same programme at the ISU Cleveland, Ohio campus. Mr Grömer has international academic experience having already conducted research in Italy, the US and Chile. His experience with outreach activities is considerable having already coordinated such activities for the European lunar mission, LunarSat; for the crewed Mars simulation expedition in Utah; for the 37th ESA Parabolic Flight Campaign as a flight crew member; and for the AustroMars and PolAres, as part of the Programme Management Group. Currently, he teaches and researches in the field of human Mars exploration at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

Johannes Ortner studied Electrical Engineering and Technical Physics at the University of Technology of Vienna and in 1960 obtained his Ph.D. in Meteorology and Geophysics at the University of Vienna. While working as a physicist at the Geophysical Observatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at Kiruna, Sweden, he was charged with preparing and performing the first Swedish sounding rocket experiments to measure the energy spectra of electrons causing the northern lights (aurora borealis), which were successfully launched in August 1962. Among his many professional positions, Mr. Ortner worked for the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) in Paris, France, was Assistant Director for Scientific Projects at the European Space Laboratory (ESLAB) in Noordwijk, Netherlands, and was Assistant Director for Program Planning in Paris. In 1974, Johannes Ortner was appointed as Managing Director of the Austrian Space Agency (ASA) in Vienna and directed this agency until his retirement in 1998. In this function, he prepared Austria for full membership at the European Space Agency (ESA), which was obtained in 1987. Mr Ortner has also a respectable history with international institutions dealing with outer space, as he was President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), Vice-President of Eurisy (Paris), Member of the Board of Trustees of the International Space University, ISU (Strasbourg), Member of the Board of Trustees of the International Space Science Institute, ISSI (Bern) and Member of several committees of the International Astronautical Federation, IAF (Paris). Additionally, Johannes Ortner was the Director of the annual European Summer School on Space Research in Alpbach, Tyrol, for more than twenty years.

Kai-Uwe Schrogl is the Director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna, Austria, since 1 September 2007. Prior to this appointment, he was the Head of the Corporate Development and External Relations Department of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Previously, he worked with the German Ministry for Post and Telecommunications and the German Space Agency (DARA). He has been a delegate to numerous international forums having recently served as the chairman of various European and global committees (ESA International Relations Committee and two UNCOPUOS plenary working groups). Dr. Schrogl’s prestige is internationally recognized by many high level governmental institutions, like the European Parliament and the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was called several times to present his professional assessment. Kai-Uwe Schrogl has written or co-edited 12 books and more than 130 articles, reports and papers in the fields of space policy and law, as well as telecommunications policy. He is editor in chief of the “Yearbook on Space Policy” and the book series “Studies in Space Policy” both published by ESPI at SpringerWienNewYork. Additionally, he sits on editorial boards of various international journals in the field of space policy and law (Acta Astronautica, Space Policy, Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht, Studies in Space Law/Nijhoff). Kai-Uwe Schrogl is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law, Member of the International Academy of Astronautics and the Russian Academy for Cosmonautics. He holds a doctorate degree in political science and lectures international relations at Tübingen University, Germany (as an Honorary Professor), as well as at the International Space University (where he serves as Adjunct Faculty) and the European Centre for Space Law’s Summer Courses.

Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides is a leader and pioneer in the space community. With degrees in biology from Caltech and Stanford, she has travelled with NASA to Haughton Crater in the Canadian Arctic to study plants in extreme environments, lectured at the International Space University and travelled two miles deep to the bottom of the ocean with Avatar director James Cameron to be in his 3D IMAX documentary Aliens of the Deep. She currently serves as a Flight Director for ZERO-G, the weightless parabolic flight company. Loretta is also the Executive Director of Yuri's Night, an annual worldwide celebration of space observation around April 12th in over 200 cities in over 50 countries. Loretta and her husband George co-created Yuri's Night in 2001. Loretta is passionate about training the next generation of space leaders.

Jim Zimmerman is President of International Space Services, Inc. – a space policy firm in McLean, Virginia – which he founded in 1997. He also serves as Past President of the International Astronautical Federation, President of which he was from 2004 till 2008. Jim has more than 35 years of international space and science program and international cooperation experience. He is particularly familiar with space program and policy developments in the United States and in Europe where he served as NASA’s European Representative for twelve years. Jim is a Fellow in the American Astronautical Society and an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics where he also served as Vice President - International. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Beloit College and a Master of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, both in the USA. He also studied at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and at universities in Finland, Austria and Italy. Zimmerman was twice awarded NASA's Exceptional Service Medal, European Space Agency's International Space Station Award and the German Space Agency's International Cooperation Award, as well as the American Astronautical Society’s Award for the Advancement of International Cooperation.