Bio
Lt Col McGrath has served over 17 years in the Air & Space Forces—he commissioned from the United States Air Force Academy in 2007 with a B.S.degree in Astronautical Engineering. From there he was assigned to the Air Force Research Labs, Rocket Propulsion Directorate, where he led the development of new solid rocket motor and liquid rocket engine technologies. He was also able to obtain his MS degree in Aerospace Engineering from CalPoly during this assignment. Next, he went to the Launch Systems Directorate at the USAF’s Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles, CA where he led several space launch modernization programs covering Atlas, Delta and Falcon 9 launch vehicles. After this, he was selected by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to attend the Naval Postgraduate School where he received his PhD in Astronautical Engineering. Following this, he was assigned to the NRO where he was a program manager for several new geospatial intelligence satellite systems that are currently in orbit. Next, he was selected to lead operational testing of several space systems including GPS, SATCOM, and several Electronic Warfare systems at Peterson Space Force Base.
Education
Bachelor of Science, Astronautical Engineering, United States Air Force Academy, CO
Master of Science, Aerospace Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, CA
Doctor of Philosophy, Astronautical Engineering, Naval Postgraduate School, CA
Professional Experience
Space Vehicle System Analyst, Air Force Research Laboratories, Edwards AFB, CA (July 2007 – January 2011)
Chief, Propulsion & Structures Branch, Space & Missiles Systems Center, LAAFB, CA (January 2011 – September 2013)
Astronautical Engineering PhD Student, Naval Postgraduate School, CA (September 2013 – October 2016)
Chief, Acquisition Management Division, National Reconnaissance Office, Chantilly, VA (October 2016 – September 2021)
Chief, Space & Cyber Test Operations Division, Peterson SFB, CO (September 2021 – June 2023)
Math Instructor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, USAF Academy, CO (June 2023 – Present)
Honors & Awards
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Air Force Commendation Medal
Joint Service Achievement Medal (3)
Air Force Achievement Medal
2010 Directorate Technology Transfer Award
2017 National Reconnaissance Office Team of the Year
2017 Director of National Intelligence National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Award
2017 NRO Field Grade Officer of the Quarter
2018 Intelligence Community Acquisition Program of the Year
2021 NRO Field Grade Officer of the Quarter
Research and Scholarly Interests
Research and scholarly interests include: Astronautical Engineering, Optimal Control, Genetic Algorithms, Evolution Strategies, Parallel Computing, and optimization as it applies to engineering problems.
Publications
1.) C. McGrath, M. Karpenko, and R. J. Proulx, “Distributed computation for near real-time footprint generation,” in Proceedings of The 2015 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Vail, CO, 2015.
2.) C. McGrath, M. Karpenko, and R. J. Proulx, “Parallel genetic algorithms for optimal control,” in Proceedings of The 2016 AAS/AIAA Spaceflight Mechanics Conference, Napa, CA, 2016.
3.) C. McGrath, M. Karpenko, R. J. Proulx, and I. M. Ross, “Unscented evolution strategies for solving trajectory optimization problems,” in Proceedings of The 2016 AAS/AIAA Spaceflight Mechanics Conference, Napa, CA, 2016.
4.) C. McGrath, M. Karpenko, R. J. Proulx, and I. M. Ross, “An Unscented Natural Evolution Strategy for Solving Trajectory Optimization Problems,” in Proceedings of The 2016 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Long Beach, CA, 2016.
5.) C. McGrath. “Unscented Sampling Techniques for Evolutionary Computation with Applications to Astrodynamic Optimization” Dissertation, 2016, Naval Postgraduate School