Phil Root

Retired Army Lt. Col., MIT-trained aerospace engineer, and renowned research and development leader — joins GRVTY after serving as director of DARPA's Strategic Technology Office, and previously as deputy director and acting director of DARPA's Defense Sciences Office. He has led pioneering programs in AI infused autonomy, counter-UAS, tunneling technologies, the lunar economy, and ethical analysis of autonomous systems. Root's operational background includes deployments in Afghanistan, support to the NASA Astronaut Office, and an Apache helicopter pilot tour in Germany and South Korea.