Willem A.J. Anemaat

Willem A.J. Anemaat is president and co-founder of Design, Analysis and Research Corporation (DARcorporation), an aeronautical engineering and prototype development company. DARcorporation specializes in airplane design and engineering consulting services, wind and water tunnel testing and design and testing of wind energy devices. Anemaat is the software architect for the Advanced Aircraft Analysis (AAA) software, an airplane preliminary design and analysis tool. He has been actively involved with more than 400 airplane design projects and has run many subsonic wind tunnel tests for clients. Anemaat has more than 30 publications in the field of airplane design and analysis. He is the recipient of the SAE 2010 Forest R. McFarland Award, an AIAA Associate Fellow and an associate editor for the AIAA Journal of Aircraft. Anemaat is Vice-Chair of the AIAA Aircraft Design Technical Committee. Anemaat holds an M.S.A.E. degree from the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from The University of Kansas.

2025 Aerospace Short Course: Principles of Aerospace Engineering

Travis Dahna

Travis Dahna is the Principal member and Electrical Systems and Equipment DER for TD Aerospace, LLC, a professional aerospace engineering design and certification company based in Kansas. He started his career over 25 years ago as an avionics technician and troubleshooter in the United States Navy, where he served with distinction and was honorably discharged. As a Gulf War Veteran, Mr. Dahna joined the civilian aviation sector where he has worked on, designed, and certified a wide variety of new products and articles for the last 20 years. He has held positions as a senior electrical engineer for a large aircraft manufacturer and served as the Certification Coordinator for all the factory owned service/modification centers in the United States, providing all interface with the geographic FAA Aircraft Certification Offices for all standard certification STC projects. Following his time at the aircraft manufacturer, he assisted in the development of an STC ODA for a consulting company and held the position as the Principal Certification Engineer, while also training as an alternate ODA administrator.

He has been actively involved in several hundred certification projects, ranging from TC, STC, PMA, and Major Alterations. In addition to duties as a consultant DER (14 CFR Part 23 and 25), including major alterations, he holds positions as a unit member on several TC and STC Organization Designation Authorizations (ODA). Mr. Dahna's combination of practical experience, analytical knowledge, and in-depth certification experience brings a unique and viable approach to aircraft certification in an uncomplicated yet thorough manner.

2025 Aerospace Short Course: FAA Type Certification Plan Development

C. Bruce Stephens

C. Bruce Stephens is an HIRF/Lightning/EWIS ODA UM/AR at the Boeing Company and a consultant DER at his company, Stephens Aviation, with a wealth of experience in High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) and Lightning protection of Aircraft. Stephens retired from Hawker Beechcraft after 28 years of service. He has HIRF/Lightning experience on both Part 23 and Part 25 including composite aircraft. Stephens is working with the Boeing Team to develop EWIS requirements and means of compliance on several aircraft projects. Stephens is a Six-Sigma/Lean Master Black Belt consultant, developing implementation and training materials, and teaches at a number of universities, including Webster University and Southwestern College. He has an executive MBA and M.S. in Management from Friends University and a B.S. in Industrial Technology from Wichita State University.

2025 Aerospace Short Course: Electromagnetic Effects Aircraft Level Testing and FAA Requirements

Ray Taghavi

Dr. Ray Taghavi is "John E. and Winifred E. Sharp Professor" & Associate Chair of the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Kansas. He teaches and conducts research in jet propulsion, rocket propulsion, aircraft reciprocating engines, fluid mechanics, aircraft aerodynamics, and advanced experimental techniques. Before joining the KU Faculty in 1991, he was a research engineer at NASA John Glenn Research Center, conducting experimental research on supersonic jet noise reduction techniques, acoustic excitation of free shear layers, and stability and control of swirling flows. He is the co-inventor and patent holder for a "supersonic vortex generator" and a "Novel Air Data Sensor with Power Scavenge System" for subsonic aircraft. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA). Dr. Taghavi has been the recipient of the Abe M. Zarem Educator Award from AIAA, the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award from SAE, the John E. and Winifred E. Sharp Award from the KU School of Engineering (twice), Henry E. Gould Award from the KU School of Engineering, and is a four-time winner of the Aerospace Engineering Outstanding Educator Award from the graduating seniors of the department. Dr. Taghavi has received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1988.

2025 Aerospace Short Course: Propulsion Systems for UAVs and General Aviation Aircraft

Pierre Trudel

Pierre Trudel is a System Safety Engineer and ODA Unit Member currently working for Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). He brings 29 years of system safety, systems engineering, and reliability experience in several segments of our aerospace industry. He has worked system safety, reliability, and systems engineering on airplanes, rotorcrafts, and space vehicles. He has experience with commercial and military system safety, Development Assurance practices. He developed companywide processes to facilitate product development and compliance to commercial airworthiness standards and military requirements. He has worked system safety for both equipment suppliers and as an integrator for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

Pierre has worked system safety using several industry accepted processes including SAE ARP4761, SAE ARP4754, and MIL-STD-882 to satisfy safety requirements for Part 23 (small aircrafts), Part, 25 (Transport Category Aircraft) and MIL-HDBK-516 (Airworthiness Certification Criteria). His certification experience as an FAA representative spans the spectrum of TC, ATC, and STC projects on commercial projects such as the Hawker 4000, Hawker 800XP, Premier 1, Cessna CJ4, Citation Latitude, Citation Sovereign, Citation X, KC-46A (767 Tanker), and several other aircraft models and types. Pierre holds a Bachelor of Science in Space Sciences with minors in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology. 

2025 Aerospace Short Course: System Safety Assessment for Commercial Aircraft Certification

Tae Yoon

Tae Yoon is an Electrical Systems and Equipment FAA DER with authorization in Electrical Systems, HIRF/Lightning, and EWIS. Yoon has 24 years of experience in aircraft design, development, manufacturing, certification, and field service with prior work experience at Boeing, Honda Aircraft, Northrop Grumman, and Sikorsky Aircraft. Over his career, he gained experience in all phases of aircraft and systems development and certification projects, ranging from early concept design to development, certification, and post- certification field service engineering. In addition to his experience as an FAA Systems and Equipment DER and Technical Manager, Yoon has also worked in factory floor/laboratory settings as a design and MRB support engineer/lab test engineer early in his career. He has designed and managed requirements on Electrical Wiring Interconnect Systems, electrical power systems, lithium-ion battery systems, electrical bonding and grounding of systems in composite and aluminum airframe from an early concept stage, and developed, validated, and verified various aircraft systems and electromagnetic engineering requirements. As for Yoon's other endeavors, he works as a certification and engineering consultant in the electric aviation industry and teaches aircraft system safety (per ARP4761) and systems engineering (ARP4754) courses. He has a passion for teaching and mentoring young engineers in the aviation field. Yoon graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering on the dean's list. 

2025 Aerospace Short Course: Aircraft Lightning: Requirements, Component Testing, Aircraft Testing and Certification