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Dr. David Stoudt, is a Senior Executive Advisor and Engineering Fellow for Directed Energy at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., where he is responsible for providing clients with leadership and guidance on the science and business of advancing directed energy capabilities for American warfighters. Dr. Stoudt is also President of the Directed Energy Professional Society. With a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Old Dominion University, in electrical engineering, Dr. Stoudt spent 32 years serving in the Department of Navy, 12 of them as the Navy’s first distinguished engineer for directed energy, an executive position where he was responsible for establishing and staffing world-class directed energy programs and facilities at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWCDD). From 2008 through 2012, Dr. Stoudt was the first Naval Sea Systems Command technical authority warrant for directed energy and electric weapon systems, including high-energy lasers (HEL), the electromagnetic rail gun, and high-power microwave (HPM) weapon systems. At the Naval Surface Warfare Center, he established and technically directed a number of high-power microwave and high-energy laser technology programs, including airborne electronic attack, counter-improvised explosive devices, and the beginning of the Navy’s laser weapon system, currently deployed on the Austin-class amphibious transport dock ship, the U.S.S. Ponce. Dr. Stoudt established several prototype weapon development initiatives aimed at mitigating the impact of IEDs during Operation Iraqi Freedom and these resulting prototypes represented the first ever successful tactical employment of directed energy weapons. As the senior director for capabilities and concepts in the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy for Policy from 2011 to 2015, Dr. Stoudt initiated and served as the executive secretary for the directed energy steering group, which was chartered by the undersecretary of the Navy to develop the Department of Navy vision, strategy, and roadmap for directed energy weapons. Dr. Stoudt also established and served as the executive secretary for both the Navy non-acoustic anti-submarine warfare steering group and the naval space board, chartered by the undersecretary of the Navy and the secretary of the Navy, respectively. Among his many honors, Dr. Stoudt has received multiple Meritorious Civilian Service Awards, the Navy Distinguished and Superior Civilian Service Awards, and the Naval Sea Systems Command Scientist of the Year Award. 

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