Speakers

Dr. Gillian Bussey currently serves as the Deputy Chief Science Officer of the U.S. Space Force, advising on science and technology (S&T) issues since November 2024. Prior to this role, she provided analytical support on strategic competition with China to the Deputy Secretary of Defense within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (OSD CAPE). From 2022 to 2024, she served as Special Assistant to the U.S. Air Force Chief Scientist, advising on technical matters related to nuclear S&T; nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3); hypersonics; air platforms and propulsion; testing and evaluation; and quantum technologies.

From 2020 to mid-2022, Dr. Bussey was the inaugural Director of the Joint Hypersonics Transition Office (JHTO) within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (Advanced Capabilities). In this capacity, she led the Department of Defense’s integrated S&T strategy for hypersonics, engaged with international allies, established and oversaw the University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics (UCAH), and provided oversight of DoD hypersonics programs. She also launched the JHTO Systems Engineering Field Activity (SEFA) at NSWC Crane. In accordance with congressional direction, she established the office in April 2020 and managed a team of 14 staff members with a budget of up to $100 million.

From June 2018 to April 2020, she served as a special advisor to the Assistant Director for Hypersonics as a detailee from the CIA, providing guidance on hypersonic weapons, technologies, and missile defense. While acting Director for Aerospace Technologies from July 2019 to February 2020, she also oversaw DoD activities in air platforms and propulsion systems.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Bussey was assigned to the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG)’s Applied Hypersonics Branch near Brisbane, Australia, where she supported the joint U.S. Air Force–DSTG HIFiRE program and other hypersonics efforts (2015–2016). She served as the CIA’s lead analyst for hypersonic systems and technologies in the Weapons Counterproliferation Mission Center from 2011 to 2018, having first joined in 2007 as a technical analyst of hypersonic and air-launched weapons systems.

Dr. Bussey holds degrees in physics and political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2005), and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park (2009 and 2012). Her doctoral research focused on hypersonics. In 2022, she was named an inaugural member of the Early Career Distinguished Alumni Society by the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering.