With a background in mechanical and aerospace engineering, Dr. Pye has expertise in issues pertaining to rapid prototyping, product design, instrumentation, fluid mechanics, structural analysis, and mil-standard testing. Dr. Pye has been the program manager for numerous rapid development efforts focused on adapting and integrating a range of high technology commercial components to the unique operational environment of the military customer. Programs he has led range from the MARCbot IED inspection robot that is currently deployed in Iraq, to the RDISS networked surveillance system. He has worked within the U.S. Army soldier system community as the test and evaluation lead during the development of the Land Warrior future soldier program, and as the lead engineer during the first phase of Objective Force Warrior.
Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Pye held a research position in the Aerospace Fluid Mechanics Lab at Stanford University, where he was responsible for the renovation and redesign of the Stanford Low-Speed wind tunnel as well as managing the Stanford experimental facilities of the Stanford/NASA Ames Joint Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was part of the technology development team for a holographic data-storage company and worked in the R&D department of the Orenda engine division of Hawker-Siddeley, Canada.
Pye J. Outpacing acquisition—Using innovation to manage risk. Army Strategic Leadership Development Course, 2007.
Pye J. Developments and field trials of the advanced robotic controller—Lessons learned. Interfaces for Ground and Air Military Robots (Workshop Summary), National Academies Press, 2005.
Pye J. Analysis of a 747-100 passenger to cargo conversion. AA252 Techniques of Failure Analysis, Stanford University, 2001.
Medhekar S, Pettinger A, Pye J. SSD design risk assessment. Prepared for Space Systems LORAL, Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Inc., June 2000.
Calligiuri R, Pye J. MSA passport testing. Prepared for Pennzoil, Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Inc., February 2000.
Coakley S, Duffner D, Pye J. Pump station analysis study. Prepared for the Union Sanitary District, Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Inc., October 1999.
Pye J. An Investigation of the flap edge flowfield. Ph.D. Dissertation, Stanford University, 1999.
Pye J. The flap-edge noise source. AA290 Fluid Mechanics Seminar Series, Stanford University, 1998.
Mathias DL, Pye JD, Cantwell BJ. Correlation of wingtip noise with mean flow parameters. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 16th Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 1998.
Pye J. Flap edge flowfield measurements. American Physical Society—Division of Fluid Dynamics Conference, 1997.
Georgakis K, Smith J, Goodfellow H, Pye J. Review and evaluation of models estimating the minimum atmospheric dilution of gases exhausted near buildings. Air & Waste Management Assoc. 1995; 45:722–729.
Land Warrior—Contractor test lead for the Land Warrior 1.0 program. Land Warrior is a U.S. government program with the objectives of bringing advances in situational awareness, lethality, and survivability to the soldier through a networked collection of wearable digital devices.
Objective Force Warrior—Lead engineer for the Phase One Objective Force Warrior program. Objective Force Warrior (now Future Force Warrior) is a follow-on exploration of the Land Warrior capabilities—treating the soldier and all of his gear as a single system and examining opportunities for enhancement that the ‘soldier-as-a-system’ concept brings.
MARCbot IV—Program manager for the MARCbot IV development and production. The MARCbot is an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) inspection robot, of which ~1000 have been delivered and are in use by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
RDISS—Program manager for the development and initial fielding of RDISS: Rapidly Deployed Integrated Surveillance System. RDISS is networked collection of surveillance assets that can be quickly installed in small, fixed sites. Approximately 300 systems have been delivered and are in use by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
MAVARC—Program manager for the development of the MAVARC micro-air vehicle. MAVARC is a man-portable, impact resistant, unmanned air vehicle that was developed with a PDA controller to explore the limits of portability and very simple interfaces for the dismounted soldier working with unmanned air vehicles. A prototype system was flown in Afghanistan in 2004.
Auto-Mortar—Program manager for the development of a robotic conversion kit for a captured-piston, multiple-launch, 51-mm mortar system.
Apple iMac—Participated in the structural analysis, failure mode analysis, load envelope determination, and performance evaluation of the articulating display for the original Apple iMac.
747 Cargo Conversion Analysis—Performed a detailed structural analysis of a retro-fit cargo door surround structure in a 747-100 aircraft. Non-linear finite element techniques were used to quantify structural failure loads.