Scientific Committee

John David Powell, is an American aerospace engineer and professor emeritus of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University. His research focused on control systems for aerospace vehicles, automotive engine control, and GPS-aided attitude determination, and the benefits of GPS navigation. He is best known as co-author of widely used textbooks on feedback control.

Powell earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He received an M.S. in 1966 and a Ph.D. in 1970, both in aeronautics and astronautics, from Stanford University.

Before academia, he worked in industry: from 1960 to 1961 as an engine design and testing engineer at Outboard Marine Corp.; 1961-1967 as an engineer at Lockheed in aerospace guidance and control; 1967-1968 at Analytical Mechanics Associates; and 1968-1970 at Systems Control, Inc., where he worked on parameter identification of aircraft models from flight data and automatic generation of approach paths for air traffic control.

Jacqueline joined ATI in June 2023 as our Chief Technology Officer, with responsibility for the ATI’s Technology Strategy to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of global aerospace and firmly on the path to a sustainable future.

Prior to joining the ATI, Jacqueline spent more than 25 years in the aerospace industry at Airbus. Most recently, she was the UK Chief Engineer for the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, with responsibility for the wings, landing gear and fuel system. Prior to this she was UK Chief Engineer for the A380 aircraft. Other senior technical positions held include leading the implementation of cutting-edge wing technologies and aerodynamic innovations for the fuel-efficient A330neo development, directing A380 and A350 landing gear engineering and heading up the Wing Design Authority organisation.

Jacqueline is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Royal Aeronautical Society. She is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the University of the West of England and gained an MSc in Aerospace Design from the University of Bristol, where she is Aegis Professor of Aerospace Technologies.

Johann-Dietrich born 18 July 1954) is a German civil engineer, university professor and former president of Technische Universität Darmstadt. He served as chairman of the executive board of the German Aerospace Center DLR from 1 March 2007 to 30 June 2015. On 1 July 2015, he succeeded Jean-Jacques Dordain as Director General of the European Space Agency.

Worner was born in Kassel. He studied civil engineering at Technische Universität Berlin and at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, now called Technische Universität Darmstadt. He visited Japan in 1982 as part of a research stay on the subject of earthquake safety. In 1985, he did his doctorate on component–building interactions during earthquakes.
Dr Johan-Dietrich Worner Until 1990, Wörner worked for the engineering office König und Heunisch in Frankfurt. In the same year, he was appointed professor for solid construction and head of the testing and research institute at TH Darmstadt. He founded his own engineering office Wörner und Partner in 1994. From 1992 to 1994, Wörner served as dean of the university's civil engineering department. Starting in 1993, he also held the office of technical director at the Gelsenkirchen institute for glass construction

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon holds an engineering degree from École Polytechnique (year group 1966) and a Ph.D. in mathematical sciences from University Paris 7 (1974). His field of predilection is differential geometry, particularly in its relations with partial differential equations and mathematical physics.

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon has focused his work on the Ricci curvature, both for its mathematical aspects and the role it plays in general relativity.

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon was President of the Société mathématique de France (1990-1992) and of the European Mathematical Society (1995-1998). He joined the CNRS Science Ethics Committee in 1999 and was its Chairman from 2007 to 2011. He was President of the European Research Council (ERC) from January 2014 to December 2019, then was its interim President from July 2020 to August 2021. In October 2021, he was elected Chairman of the University Council of Ludwig Maximilian Universität Munich.

Anousheh Ansari  born September 12, 1966 is an Iranian-American engineer, space tourist, and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and chairwoman of Prodea Systems, and her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and chief executive officer of Telecom Technologies, Inc. On September 18, 2006, she became the first Iranian person to be in outer space. Ansari was the fourth overall self-funded space tourist and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station. Her memoir My Dream of Stars, co-written with American engineer Homer Hickam, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2010.

She is also the chief executive officer of the XPRIZE Foundation, and the Ansari family is the title sponsor of the Ansari X Prize.

Born Anousheh Raissyan in Mashhad, Iran, she and her parents moved to Tehran shortly afterward. When Ansari was six years old, her parents divorced.  Ansari has a sister, Atousa Raissyan, who is five years younger.  At the age of six, Ansari would visit her grandparents and sleep overnight on the balcony, as there was no air conditioning. Ansari would gaze at the night sky and was very curious about space. In Tehran, at the age of seven, Ansari attended a French Catholic school called Jeanne d’Arc. Half of the day was taught in Farsi while the other half was taught in French. She witnessed the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and recalls memories of "hearing gun shots, screaming, people being killed, and explosions". From then on until the Iran–Iraq War, Ansari would have to take shelter in the basement of her apartment building, where she was the eldest of the children taking shelter. She would narrate stories to them, offering them comfort, which distracted them from the noise of bombs being dropped outside. Ansari immigrated to the United States in 1984 as a teenager, and attended a high school in Northern Virginia, Lake Braddock.  Apart from her native Persian, she is fluent in English and French and acquired a working knowledge of Russian for her spaceflight experience.