Dr. Douglas J. Buettner is the Deputy Chief Scientist of the Acquisition Innovation Research Center (AIRC)—a multiuniversity applied research center led by the Stevens Institute of Technology. Doug has over 30 years of industry experience in the engineering of aerospace and softwareintensive systems for the Department of Defense (DOD) and NASA. He recently joined AIRC after a 20-year career with The Aerospace Corporation. At Aerospace, he was the flight software systems director in their Space-Based Surveillance Division, forming a new department that oversaw the software acquisition for multiple spacecraft payloads, the space vehicle bus, and ground-test simulators in support of a Space Systems Command (SMC) ACAT I program. His recent experience includes software cost and schedule analysis with software and systems engineering advising to the ACAT I Sentinel Program Office and supporting research into generative AI and other innovation conceptions for the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE).

Dr. Buettner is an adjunct professor in the University of Utah’s Mechanical Engineering Department, teaching space mission engineering. In the past, he also taught softwareintensive space systems engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering as well as space systems engineering at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Dr. Buettner spent time in the Pentagon working in the Acquisition Policy Analysis Center (APAC), performing analytical studies directly for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics (OUSD(AT&L)).

Dr. Buettner’s doctoral research at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering examined issues with DOD software-acquisition strategies, providing insights into approaches for optimizing the cost and schedule for software-intensive system acquisitions. This research is documented in Acquisition Games and Software Defects: Dynamics of the Software Developer’s Dilemma.

Dr. Buettner was a consultant for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), building JPL’s initial aerogel fabrication facility. His hardware automation, flight integration, and terminal ballistics investigations supported planning and concept verification, ultimately leading to the selection of STARDUST as NASA’s fourth Discovery mission. Later, he was the principal investigator supporting STARDUST’s aerogel fabrication team. The laboratory also produced aerogel for the Mars Sojourner rover insulation, numerous space shuttle flights, and the Mir space station to capture micrometeoroids and characterize space orbital debris.

In the area of Unidentified Aerospace (or Anomalous) Phenomena (UAP) research, Dr. Buettner is on the board of directors for the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU) (explorescu.org). He is a co-founder and the chief technologist for SIGHTER.io, an innovative iPhone application for crowd-sourcing triangulating the location from the observation of UAPs in support their identification. He also owns property ~1.7 miles from Skinwalker Ranch that he is cleaning up for doing his own research and is the primary author of the paper: Enhancing Space Situational Awareness to Mitigate Risk: A Case Study in The Misidentification of Starlink Satellites as UAP In Commercial Aviation. Notably, he recently joined Mr. Ben Hansen’s (the host of the TV Show UFO Witness), team of experts to do scientific analysis on UAP sightings, most notably he is analyzing for the recent News Nation story regarding the Police officer captures video of suspected UFO in Connecticut that went viral with over 2 million hits on YouTube and TicTok.

Dr. Buettner has B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics, with a minor in atmospheric science from Oregon State University, and his Ph.D. from USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering is in astronautical engineering. He is a Sr. Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)