Daniel Erwin is Professor of Astronautics and Chair of the Astronautical  Engineering Department at the University of Southern California (USC).   He earned his B.S. from Caltech (applied physics) in 1981 and his Ph.D.  from USC (electrical engineering) in 1986.  He joined the USC faculty in  1986 and has spent his career there except for short intervals when he  worked at California Scientific Software, Sierra Online, and Aerospace  Corporation.  His primary areas of research have been rarefied gas  dynamics, laser flow diagnostics, and electric propulsion.  More  recently he has worked in autonomous vehicles, astrodynamics and space  science.  Erwin is a co-founder of the USC Astronautical Engineering  program and of USC's Rocket Propulsion Laboratory.