Benjamin Sears Email & Phone Number

Mr. Sears has 25 years of an extensive and diverse background in applied system engineering, avionics, and aviation. This includes research development, experimentation and operations of manned, unmanned aircraft and vehicles to include avionics procurement and sustainment in training systems. Mr. Sears has led and written award-winning proposals, up to and including a combined $1.2M. While successfully managing those programs as the PM – for on time and on budget completion. Mr. Sears has performed BD with State and US Government officials winning NSF funding. Mr. Sears has performed duties as a Certified Flight Instructor and an Advanced Ground Instructor. His total flight time on manned aircraft is 540 hours flying in a robust mix of aircraft; DH-C2 Beaver, Extra 300, Piper Seminole, Cessna 150, 152, 172SP, 172R, &182RG. As a civilian military contractor, he flew the MQ-5B Hunter UAS for two years in Iraq, one year in Afghanistan, and one year in the United States. The mixed flight time of as a MQ-5B Aircraft Commander, Aircraft Operator, Payload Operator, Mission Coordinator, and Crew Chief, totals over 1,200 hours. He also worked on the LEMV experimental UAS project. At Sinclair college he assisted in developing and successfully winning NSF funding for a Data Analytics certificate ($584,000) and UAS Entrepreneurship ($546,207). Under these grants, he assisted in RFPs, DACOM, grant reporting, and other administrative tasks and created content for the new courses. The addition of a custom-built UAS trainer is another relevant experience. He used the RFP process and specific engineering requests to develop a robust aircraft to survive the arduous training environment. This aircraft pulled from many different engineering principles and used a phased approach to its development. Another major accomplishment is the successful implementation of the UAS Baccalaureate degree. Proposals were created for approval by the State of Ohio and the Higher Learning Commission. Mr. Sears has extensive UAS experience and has follwn or worked with the following aircraft: LEMV, MQ-5b Hunter UAS, Elistair Orion 2, EbeeX, Sentera PHX, Altavian Nova Block 3, Parrot - (Anafi, Anafi Therma, Anafi USA, Beebop 2), 3DR – (Iris+, Solo), Merlin TNK (Merlin Aerospace and Sinclair Partnership)Birdseyeview - Firefly 6, Sky Hero – Little Spyder, Modal M500, FPV Whoops, Other Recreational AircraftAt SwRI, Mr. Sears is managing work at the Dayton Engineering Advanced Projects (DEAP) Lab involving neuromorphic, cognitive artificial intelligence, UAS, and software development.

Listed skills include Uav, Aerospace, Aviation, Aircraft, and 28 others.