Blake Bullock
Business Development and Science Advocacy,
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Blake Bullock is a campaign lead for Northrop Grumman. In this role, she is responsible for supporting scientific and technical advocacy for astronomy and astrophysics. Prior to her current assignment, Ms. Bullock served as Risk Manager and Systems Engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope Program at Northrop Grumman.
Ms. Bullock served as a Presidential Management Fellow at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and in the Pentagon for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Strategic and Space Programs. Prior to this, she lived and worked in New Mexico as a science journalist and Mass Media Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She holds a Master’s degree in Astronomy from Wesleyan University and a Bachelor’s degree in Astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of Women in Aerospace, the Association for Women in Science, and the American Astronomical Society.
Kelley Ristau
Manufacturing Engineer, Space Vehicle Structures & Antennas,
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Kelley Ristau currently reviews spacecraft structure and antenna designs to ensure they can be built; identify tooling and processing needed to successfully build the spacecraft hardware; and help identify and implement solutions to challenges that arise during the manufacturing process.
Since a young age, Ms. Ristau has been fascinated with space — what is out there, and how to get there. Growing up, her favorite subjects in school were math and physical science. Ms. Ristau graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering, and since then has worked for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems at their Space Park facility in Redondo Beach, CA. In her several years at Aerospace Systems, Ms. Ristau has worked in a number of roles, including Civil Space Business Development, Tooling Design, Materials & Processes Engineering, and Manufacturing Engineering.
Ms. Ristau really enjoys hands-on materials research and development, as well as the satisfaction of seeing paper designs come to life as tangible spacecraft structures and antennas in the manufacturing area. She is proud that three of the satellites she has helped build are already on orbit around Earth. Ms. Ristau continues to take courses related to material science with the hope that advances in material technology will remove some of the restrictions that currently limit spacecraft capabilities and missions. In her non-working time, Ms. Ristau enjoys gardening, cooking, traveling, learning about sustainability, and participating in figure skating as both a skater and a judge.
Aaron K. Oki
Technical Fellow and HBT Technical Champion,
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Aaron K. Oki was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1983 from the University of Hawaii and the Master of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1985 from the University of California, Berkeley. Since joining Northrop Grumman as a member of technical staff in 1985, he has been working on the development, production, and insertion of advanced Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), Indium Phosphide (InP), Antimonide (Sb), Gallium Nitride (GaN), and Wafer Level Packaging (WLP) technologies into mission-critical U.S. government military and space systems. He is a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow in the Northrop Grumman Microelectronics organization. He has been awarded 18 U.S. patents and has co-authored over 250 technical publications on solid-state technology.
Christian T. Orlowski
Corporate Director, Engineering,
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Chris Orlowski is Corporate Director for Engineering and provides leadership for corporate activities associated with engineering and technology. Mr. Orlowski has the responsibility for ensuring that engineering capabilities are utilized to the maximum extent possible and are aligned to satisfy current and future customer demands across the enterprise. Additional responsibilities include identification and development of state-of-the-art capabilities, best practices and technologies that ensure successful program execution and enable multi-sector growth. Mr. Orlowski chairs the Corporate Engineering Council.
Mr. Orlowski joined Northrop Grumman in 1999 as a senior systems engineer. Since then, he has held a number of increasingly responsible positions, including program manager for various C4ISR programs in Baltimore, Maryland and head of the Systems Engineering department at the former Shipbuilding sector in Newport News, Virginia.
Prior to joining NGC, Mr. Orlowski worked closely with the Navy’s ship acquisition community in Arlington, Virginia as a naval architect, systems engineer and project manager.
Mr. Orlowski received his bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering and a master’s degree in systems engineering from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. He completed the Darden School of Business Executive Program at University of Virginia. He is the company representative on the Aerospace Industries Association’s Engineering Management Committee. He serves as a member of the TechAmerica Supplier Assurance Task Force. He serves on the Corporate Advisory Board of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE).