Hector Escobar Alvarez

Hector Escobar Alvarez, PhD, is an experienced professional in the field of aerospace engineering, currently serving as the Autonomy & GNC Section Manager at AeroVironment since November 2020, following roles as a Senior Staff and Senior Autonomy Robotics Engineer. Previously, Hector was a Principal Investigator for the DARPA Fast Lightweight Autonomy program at Scientific Systems, where funding was secured for multiple DARPA initiatives, including the Subterranean Challenge in 2018. Hector's earlier career includes a postdoctoral researcher position at the University of Maryland, focusing on biologically-inspired sensing methods, and a research assistant role at the University of Texas at Austin, where research on unmanned ground robots and inertial measurement units was conducted. Academic qualifications include a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.