John S. Nafziger has been an Adjunct Professor in the Robotics Engineering Program at WPI since 2014. Previously, he was an Associate Professor in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he developed the curriculum for the Robotics Program and served as the director of the Robotics and Mechatronics Laboratory.  John is currently a Senior Program Manager and Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA.  Previously, he was a VP of Engineering at Hydroid, Inc, the manufacturer of REMUS autonomous underwater vehicles.  Previously, John was a Member of the Technical Staff in the Vision Technologies Division at the Sarnoff Corporation in Princeton, NJ, where his group won a Technical Emmy Award for work in video image quality.  John obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University, an MS from Virginia Tech, and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania.  His most recent research focuses on autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance of small unmanned aerial systems for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.  John is an active pilot, aerobatics competitor and airplane builder, who also enjoys hiking and cycling.