Ken Wisian / 2025 Symposium Chair
Ken Wisian, Ph.D., Major General, US Air Force (retired), is Associate State Geologist and Associate Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geoscience, The University of Texas at Austin. At the Bureau of Economic Geology, he leads a division of 50+ scientists and engineers working in many areas of applied geosciences including geothermal energy, carbon sequestration, water resources, the environment, seismicity, and mineral resource exploration and mapping.
Dr. Wisian is a geophysicist whose main research is in geothermal energy. Other research includes; planetary geology/space exploration, the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and international relations. Dr. Wisian teaches *Life in the Universe* and *Geothermal Systems*. He also holds appointments in the Center for Space Research and Geological Sciences Department at UT Austin, is a charter member of the Center for Planetary Systems Habitability at UT Austin and is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.
Previously, Dr. Wisian was a senior state executive responsible for disaster recovery, oil spill prevention and response, and coastal infrastructure and environmental protection for Texas. Militarily, General Wisian, a navigator/bombardier, flew bombers, transports and fighters, and commanded the 147th Reconnaissance Wing flying the MQ-1 Predator (drone). General Wisian is a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School and has more than 70 hours of medium and high-risk test flights as well as combat time in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia. His combat medals include the Bronze Star and Air Medal.
Laura Montgomery / Risk Management
Laura Montgomery specializes in advising clients on regulatory space law, commercial space transportation, and the Outer Space Treaties. She teaches space law at Catholic University’s law school, and has testified to both Space Subcommittees of the U.S. Congress on matters of regulation and international obligation.
Ms. Montgomery spent over two decades at the FAA’s Office of the Chief Counsel, where she worked on commercial space transportation. Highlights from her time there include representing the FAA at the United Nation’s space legal subcommittee and chairing an inter-agency working group on space property rights for the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.
She received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Also, she writes science fiction.
Carol Hendrickson / Scholarships
A Navy brat, Officer, and a world traveler, Carol has worked in education and nursing. She holds a Masters in Secondary Education Biology, a Masters in Nursing Education, and a PhD in Education. She taught sciences in private schools and was the Curator of Education at a zoo. She joined IRG and began to work with Doug to enter and help organize abstracts and volunteer at the symposia.
Carol has a great interest in promoting education. Building a foundation for future space travel is important for everyone to build the foundation for space travel and survival. Carol volunteered to oversee the scholarship committee and to promote IRG’s support of education. Carol also attends science fiction conventions such as LibertyCon, DragonCon, SciFy Fest, and others. She writes science fiction and camp curriculums in her spare time. She lives in Birmingham, AL.
Bart Leahy / Advisory Board
Doug Loss / IT
Doug is originally from central Pennsylvania; he has worked in the IT field, principally in network administration and security, for the past 30 years. He organized and ran an international internet organization called SEUL/edu, which fostered and promoted the development and use of Open Source software in schools around the world. He handed operation of that organization off when its focus became less IT and more education (this change in focus was intended and encouraged from the beginning), as he wasn’t an educator.
From 1977 until the early 2000s he attended and eventually organized The Asimov Seminar, a yearly, four-day-long retreat at a conference center in upstate New York. Isaac Asimov, the noted science fiction author, was the star of the Seminar and its main draw until his death in 1992. Each year the Seminar would explore a different topic, always with some (sometimes vague) connection to science fiction. The topics were always approached interactively, with the Seminar attendees assuming roles that would allow them to examine the questions associated with that year’s topic on a personal basis.
Doug currently lives in Maryville, TN with his wife Ruby. He’s been heard to say, “I live in the foothills of the Smokies; some days it’s all I can do just to decide to go to work.”
James M. C. Birchfield / Publicity
International Podcast Producer and Owner of Videos, Vocals, and Adventures, LLC, James Birchfield is a Master of his field in Content Creation for multimillion dollar companies. Staying up to date on the latest trends, and managing Production teams in many different industries. James brings his unique insights to the Interstellar Research Group with the mission of inspiring or supporting, the first interstellar travelers.
David Burke / Publications
David Burke is a Principal Scientist at Galois, Inc. He has over two decades of research experience focusing on human-machine teaming, trust modeling, hybrid AI techniques for reasoning under conditions of extreme uncertainty, and applied cognitive science. He has been the PI on numerous DARPA, AFRL, and DoD programs. In his spare time, he plays piano in a jazz ensemble.