Yes , I am Matt McCormick . I go by
slab and I'm an instructor flight test
engineer at the Air Force test pilot
school .
So my job is I teach students how to
conduct flight test . So this goes into
some of the planning of , we take some
of basic science ideas and how the
airplanes designed and then we'll
determine what's a way to evaluate and
measure those things . And I help
students see how can we do this ? How
do we present that information ? How do
we build up to do these types of things
safely ? And how do we communicate
those results to other people . So I
get a unique opportunity to teach a
broad array of people . So I teach
other flight test engineers . I teach
pilots , I teach um combat systems
operators . I get to teach a little bit
of everyone and through in both the
classroom here's academics on
technologies such as machine learning
and autonomy and also in the flight
environment in a control room where I'm
on the ground uh directing the pilot
through what maneuvers I need them to
do to collect the data we're looking
for .
I use them a lot . I use it in the
planning of what are some of the
underlying science ideas that are gonna
be occurring here of just from basic
aircraft properties to um aerodynamics
and then building up into electronics
and how does the electromagnetic
spectrum plan , How do we use that ?
And so I use that in the design and
then we'll also go and use that when we
now measure everything of well
instrument , the airplanes will add
sensors to them . These will now
measure what's happening on the
aircraft , how it's operating . And
then we'll take that data and we'll
process that . We'll use a lot of
technology of having lots of computers
to analyze and then present this
information to us so we can use it both
in real time and afterwards to make
reports and tell people this is how the
system will perform well or where it
needs improvement .
So I think one of the coolest things
I've ever got to do was I was part of a
team where we trained a computer how to
fly just using simulations . And so we
had a computer where the computer
programs allowed to fly the airplane
and we built a software emulation and
trotted to follow another airplane .
And so I got to be a part of this team
of designing that program in the flight
test campaign . Um , so I gotta watch
the computer learning simulation where
did millions of iterations of learning
how to fly and follow this other
airplane and then finally going to be
in the airplane and let the computer
fly us towards the other airplane and
follow the other airplane around the
sky . And so I was just incredibly part
of that team and that experience , we
did . We use a lot of machine learning
and kind of reinforcement , deep neural
learning to have the area to fly the
airplane . And so , nope , I was
touching on the control stick and the
airplane was just flying by itself , it
was very cool .
So throughout my life I've been very
blessed to kind of be on this path of
seeing kind of airplanes and computers
and getting to work with both of those
from like a young age . I kind of
started out and went to some summer
camps where I got picked to programs
and one of them was airplane flying and
the other one was computer programming .
And so I've gotten to kind of merge
those two things together throughout
life . And a lot of my life has just
followed that where I went to undergrad
and studied electrical engineering and
then got a master's degree in
aeronautics and finally was able to get
a PhD in computer networks and just
being able to kind of marry those two
things together throughout this time of ,
can you go test computers on airplanes
and connect those together in networks
I think just have a good attitude and
just keep working hard . Don't let
people tell you know , and just have a
dream and follow that and see how far
it takes you . It's , it's incredible
what can happen