People

People

Dr. Marcus Johnson

External Advisory Board Member

Biography

Dr. Marcus Johnson serves as Project Manager in the Aviation Systems Division at the NASA Ames Research Center where he has conducted research on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) since 2012. Marcus also serves as Adjunct Professor in the Aviation Department at Everglades University – Boca Raton Campus where he has been a member of the faculty since 2019. Marcus completed his Ph.D. and undergraduate studies from the Mechanical and Aerospace Department at University of Florida. He started his career working as an avionics intern for the Space Shuttle Program and has worked on applications such as: adaptive flight control for an F-18, flight control development for commercial aircraft (747-8 / 787), developmental aircraft (Boeing Phantom Eye, Vulture), and remotely piloted aircraft (X-48C) and detect and avoid (DAA) technology development for UAS (NASA Ikhana). Marcus lead the development of the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) Project which is a an automated cloud-based system designed to manage small UAS (55lbs or less) flights at low-altitude airspace (~400 ft and below). Marcus also led the formulation of the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) National Campaign which is spearheading the era of aviation by leading the development and testing of novel electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft within a UTM-like environment to carrying passengers and cargo. Marcus’ current research focuses on the automation of vertiport operations for UAM to accommodate high density eVTOL traffic in urban environments. Marcus also serves as a subject matter expert on UAS integration and DAA for UAS in numerous industry and government forums, including ISO, ASTM, RTCA, Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems (JARUS), UAS Science and Research Panel (SaRP). Marcus has spearheaded the development and expansion of UTM to support disaster response missions domestically and internationally, and DoD/DHS security operations.