Speakers

Dr. Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo is the Deputy Director of the Space Development Agency, where he supports the Director in the daily management of the organization and the execution of the development, fielding, and operation of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, delivering essential space-based capabilities to the joint warfighter in support of terrestrial missions.

Prior to joining SDA, Dr. Sandhoo served as Vice President and Chief Architect at Quantum Space and as Director for Emerging Technologies at Northrop Grumman. His previous government experience includes serving as Deputy Director at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (known as IARPA) and holding the Heinlein Chair in Astronautics at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Earlier in his career, he led the Spacecraft Engineering Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and served as Acting Director of the Naval Center of Space Technology, where he provided executive direction and technical leadership in conducting research, development, and deployment of space systems with advanced technologies. He was also a flight controller at NASA's Johnson Space Center and was a research and development engineer at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory.

A veteran of more than 36 years of military service in the active and reserve compents of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, Dr. Sandhoo last served as the National Reconaissance Office liaison to the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine and as a senior scientist at the Defense Innovation Unit. Dr. Sandhoo holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Space Systems, a D.Sc. in Aeronautics, Astronautics, and Propulsion from George Washington University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. He is a 2016-2017 Fellow of the MIT Seminar XXI.