Dr. Steve Butler serves as the Senior Advisor for Advanced Development in the Force Projection Sector at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Dr. Butler advises the Director in strategic planning, execution, and performance of approximately $100M in annual funding in programs addressing integrated strike, air dominance, and electronic attack. As the nation’s largest University Affiliated Research Center, APL performs research and development on behalf of the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, National Aeronautics Space Administration, and other federal agencies. The Laboratory has more than 5,000 staff members who are making critical contributions to a wide variety of nationally and globally significant technical and scientific challenges. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Butler served as the Top Civilian (Executive Director) of Air Force Materiel Command (led technical workforce of 69,000 civilians) where he served in many broad assignments within the military departments with assignments ranging from developing precision guided weapons to senior advisory roles in the Air Force and Office of the Secretary of Defense. He served as the Deputy Program Director for the F-22 and as the Technical Director for most of the Air Force's munitions inventory. He served as the chief engineer of numerous major aerospace systems stemming from his expertise in radar, image process, GPS, and systems engineering. He began his career as a scientist and flight test engineer known for hands-on expertise in electro-optical and radar systems. He also served on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board where he led science and technology quality reviews of the Air Force Research Laboratory and conducted large and influential studies on advanced weapons, autonomy, advanced air surveillance, and Test & Evaluation. Dr. Butler is an active member of the U.S. science and technology community and has published papers in the fields of electrical and aerospace engineering. He holds an adjunct faculty position at the University of Florida where he teaches Radar and Systems Engineering. He is published in the area of image processing and is a Fellow of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers. Dr. Butler has lectured extensively in the areas of radar, directed energy, systems engineering, infrared physics, and image processing. He has been recognized for sustained contributions by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Air Force, and is a recipient of the Defense Distinguished Civilian Service and Presidential Rank Awards. Dr. Butler earned his Bachelor of Science in Physics, Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida. He also has management and business training from the Defense Systems Management College, Federal Executive Institute, Rady School of Business, and the Center for Creative Leadership.