STEPS, Editor-in-Chief

Chief Scientist, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

Dr. Robert Hummel serves as the Chief Scientist of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in the Science and Technology Policy Division and is a member of the Center for Revolutionary Scientific Thought. He is the author of the Potomac Institute book, Alternative Futures for Corrosion and Degradation Research and is also serving customers in DARPA and OSD. He is the principal author of the Institute’s forthcoming book on machine intelligence. Prior to joining the Potomac Institute, he served as a program manager at DARPA for nearly nine years, managing and initiating projects in information exploitation, computer science, and sensor design. Prior to joining DARPA, he was a tenured faculty member at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in the Computer Science Department, where he did research in computer vision and artificial intelligence. Dr. Hummel earned his PhD in mathematics from the University of Minnesota, and he holds a B.A., also in mathematics, from the University of Chicago.

Member, Board of Directors,
Business Executives for National Security (BENS)

Mr. Frank Finelli is a Senior Advisor to The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm, having retired from the firm in March 2024 after over 25 years, culminating in his role as a Partner and Managing Director focusing on investments in the defense and aerospace sector.  He led numerous acquisitions and developed Carlyle’s cross-portfolio purchasing and functional value creation initiatives. Previously, Mr. Finelli served as a legislative assistant for then-Senator Dan Coats (R-IN), member of the Armed Services Committee and Select Committee on Intelligence. Before retiring as an Army Lieutenant Colonel, Mr. Finelli served as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the first Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) in 1997.  He also worked for the Vice Chairman in restructuring the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), where he also coordinated reviews of communications and intelligence programs. A Field Artillery Master Gunner, Mr. Finelli served in the 82d Airborne, 1st Armored, and 3rd Infantry Divisions. Mr. Finelli is a distinguished graduate of the US Military Academy. He holds a Master of Sciences in Finance and Operations Research from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Military Arts in Strategy from US Army Command and General Staff College. Mr. Finelli also serves as a Director for Army Emergency Relief (AER) and Business Executives for National Security (BENS), as well as the MIT Sloan School Executive Board, and is on the Advisory Board for the Reagan Foundation’s Economic Security Forum. His military awards include the Defense Superior Service Award, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf cluster, the Honor Cross of the German Armed Forces in Silver, the Ranger Tab, and Master Parachutist badge.

CTO of OODA LLC

Bob Gourley is an experienced enterprise CTO with extensive past performance in optimizing technology in support of global businesses. Bob is the former CTO for the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is the CTO of OODA LLC where he leads engagements focused on improving the security and functionality of enterprise IT.  At OODAloop.com he leads analysis into Quantum Computing, Quantum Security, Cybersecurity and operational intelligence. 

Professor, University of Maryland

Dr. William Regli is a professor in the computer science department at the University of Maryland. He is a computer scientist who has focused his career on interdisciplinary and use-inspired problems spanning engineering, artificial intelligence and computational modeling and graphics. Dr. Regli’s interests include computational tools to exploit the properties of advanced materials, additive manufacturing systems and enabling new paradigms for design and production.  His research has spawned two start-up technology companies (one focused on mobile communications for public safety, the other on information management in edge networks) and resulted in five foundational US Patents in the area of 3D CAD search.

From 2014 to 2017 Regli served on the leadership team of DARPA, as Deputy Director and then Acting Director of the Defense Sciences Office (DSO).  During his tenure, DSO initiated programs in areas as diverse as artificial intelligence, design and manufacturing, social science, applied mathematics, physical sciences and advanced sensing technologies.  Regli’s other government service includes as a Scientific Adviser to the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the areas of information technology and manufacturing and as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). 

Regli was the founding Executive Director of the University of Maryland’s University-Affiliated Research Center, the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS).  During the 2023-24 academic year, Regli served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), as a Senior Advisor for AI Risk for the National AI Initiatives Office.

Dr. Regli holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland at College Park and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Saint Joseph’s University. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); an elected senior member of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI); and a Fellow of the Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Senior Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

Tim Welter conceived and led the Potomac Institute’s Global Competition Project (GCP). Having worked in the private sector, the military, and on Capitol Hill, Tim Welter brings valuable experience in national security and defense policy to the Institute. After serving on active duty in the Air Force for several years, he worked on Capitol Hill as Legislative Director for two different Members of Congress and later as a Professional Staff Member with the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Upon leaving the Hill, Tim worked with the foreign and defense policy research team at the American Enterprise Institute. He later completed a research fellowship at the National War College during which he finished his PhD dissertation in Political Science with the University of Missouri, writing about the political nature of defense policy in Congress. A US Air Force Academy graduate, Tim holds Master’s degrees in political science, national security strategy, and management. Just prior to joining the Institute, Tim served at the Pentagon where he helped stand up an organization dedicated to future force design and the development of capabilities and concepts required to meet emerging national security challenges.

Senior Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

Gerold Yonas, PhD has had a long and distinguished scientific and managerial career. He worked as a staff scientist at JPL from 1962 to 1967 and was Manager of Electron Beam Research at Phys Intl from 1967 to 1972. He worked at the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) from 1972 to 2009 where he initiated the pulsed power fusion program, served as vice president of Systems, Science and Technology, and later became SNL’s principal scientist. He also served from 1984 to 1986 as the acting deputy director and chief scientist of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). 

He joined the University of New Mexico’s (UNM’s) Mind Research Network in 2009 as the director of neurosystems engineering. There he dedicated himself to develop this new field, linking advances in neuroscience with systems engineering through interdisciplinary teams that focused on the development of solutions to complex system problems. 

He has also served on several defense boards and is a Senior Fellow at the Potomac institute for Policy Studies. He has also taught in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UNM, and has published extensively in the fields of intense particle beams, inertial confinement fusion, strategic defense technologies, technology transfer, and “wicked engineering.” He has authored the mostly-fictional novels “The Dragon’s CLAW” and “The Dragon’s Brain,” and the non-fiction book “Death Rays and Delusions” (with Jill Gibson). Dr. Yonas received his PhD in engineering science and physics at the California Institute of Technology and bachelor’s degree at Cornell University.