JB Consulting International provides over 40 years of aerospace consulting experience. The consultant has extensive experience developing space hardware, managing research projects, assessing technologies, and creating innovative organizations. He has also led strategic planning efforts and developed international collaborations over 20 years.

1. JB Consulting International
James W. Bilbro
As a consultant I offer over 40 years experience in aerospace, in both the civilian and the
defense sectors. Since retiring as Assistant Director for Technology & Chief Technologist for the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Marshall Space Flight Center, I have served as
a consultant to the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the US Air
Force. I am also a lecturer in NASA’s Applied Program, Project and Engineering Leadership
program.
During my time with NASA I developed experience in: space-flight hardware
development; research, development and application of technology; assessment and infusion of
technology into ground-based, airborne and space-flight hardware systems; strategic planning;
international and national collaboration development; and creation and management of R&D
organizations.
As member of the board of directors of SPIE (the international society for optical
engineering) for 10 years, including a term as President of the Society, I developed an in-depth
understanding of the operation of international not-for-profit organizations and established an
extensive network of international contacts in 24 countries. I developed a number of international
collaborative activities and was deeply involved in strategic planning, particularly with respect to
international operations, and also with regard to overall society operation and structure.
Throughout my career I have created organizations and developed technologies and
systems that are highly innovative and, from the perspective of the private sector, generated a
high return on investment. The following provide substantive examples.
 Aerospace – over 39 years experience in aerospace systems development.
o Space-flight hardware development - over 20 years experience in the development
of space flight hardware including developing many innovative, cost saving
approaches.
 Developed lightweight, high resolution, replicated optic for AXAF-S.
 Achieved order of magnitude improvement in resolution.
 Achieved several orders of magnitude reduction in fabrication costs
and time compared to conventional fabrication techniques.
 Demonstrated lightweight mirror technology for the James Webb Telescope
that achieved an order of magnitude reduction in area density over the
Hubble Space Telescope primary mirror.
 Served as: Lead Optics Engineer for Chandra X-ray Observatory; Optical
Technologist for James Webb Telescope; member of independent
assessments on the Lyman Infrared Telescope and New Millennium Program
ST-8 mission.
 Responsible for: Solar-A X-ray mirror development; Solar X-ray Imager
mirror, telescope and camera development; Space Coherent Lidar
Experiment optical system development; and Space station window
specifications development.
 Successfully brought the fabrication of the Solar X-ray Imager mirror in-
house when the contractor went out of business and closed their doors.
JB Consulting International
4017 Panorama Drive SE Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone: 256-534-6245 Fax : 866-235-8953 Mobile : 256-655-6273 E-mail: jbci@bellsouth.net
Website : www.JBConsultingInternational.com

2. o Research, development and application of technology – over 25 years of direct
involvement in research development and application primarily in coherent lidar and
optics resulting in the development of a number of highly innovative concepts
including:
 Ground-based, airborne and space-based lidar systems for wind
measurement.
 Detection and tracking of aircraft wake vortices.
 Airborne remote, real time mapping of vector wind fields.
 3-d wind measurement.
 Critical technologies in optics, detectors, pointing systems and signal
processing.
 Glass fracture toughness for Zerodur.
 Replication, diamond turning, ion figuring, and advanced long path
profilometry for lightweight x-ray optics.
o Technology assessment & Infusion – over 10 years experience in the development
and application of assessment processes and automated assessment tools.
 Developed processes for systematically determining TRL’s.
 Developed a systematic process for quantifying cost, schedule and risk.
 Developed a suite of automated technology assessment tools.
 Served as an advisor to NASA’s Office of the Chief Engineer
 Led NASA process to:
 Refine Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale for hardware and
software.
 Establish exit criteria for each level.
 Establish a set of clarifying definitions to accompany the TRL scale.
 Invited lecturer in NASA’s APPEL program.
 Developed “best practice” white paper for NASA System Engineering
Handbook.
 Advised numerous development projects, most recently the Ares launch
vehicle.
 Invited lecturer to DOD and Industry workshops on technology assessment.
 Served on a DOE team to evaluate the Technology Readiness Assessment for
the Hanford Nuclear Waste Treatment Facility.
 Served on an Air force-wide team to develop a process for identifying risks
associated with incorporating technology into AF programs, resulting in the
Risk Identification: Integration & Ilities (RI3) process.
 Developed an Excel based calculator for implementing the RI3 process.
 Provided consultation on various aspects of technology assessment for
systems and systems of systems to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
 Creation and management of R&D organizations – over 20 years experience in the
development of innovative, cost effective organizations.
o Developed a premier, internationally recognized coherent lidar group.
JB Consulting International
4017 Panorama Drive SE Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone: 256-534-6245 Fax : 866-235-8953 Mobile : 256-655-6273 E-mail: jbci@bellsouth.net
Website : www.JBConsultingInternational.com

3. o Developed a premier, internationally recognized optics organization with unique
capabilities in diamond turning, replication, stray light testing, x-ray and large-scale
cryogenic optics testing at a time when MSFC was experiencing significant overall
reduction in capability.
 Increased technology funding from zero to nearly $20 M per year.
 Increased facilities footprint from ~15,000 square feet to over 100,000 square
feet.
 Increased equipment and facilities value from ~$5M to over $100M.
 Increased personnel from 27 people with no formal training in optics to 55,
approximately 25% of whom had PhDs in critical areas.
 Developed formal collaborative arrangements with nineteen industrial
organizations, three universities and colleges and five other government
organizations
 Established a Center of Excellence in Optical Systems under the joint
sponsorship of NASA’s Science, and Aeronautics and Space Technology
Directorates.
 Strategic planning - over 10 years experience in organizational strategic planning involving
identification and assessment of personnel skills, equipment and facilities, critical
technologies and core competencies/capabilities.
o Conceived and implemented numerous technology development strategies for space
flight programs including the James Webb Telescope.
o Developed a strategic, goal oriented IRAD program focused on critical technologies.
o Developed long term strategies in avionics/health management and composite
materials.
o Led strategic planning for the SPIE, revising the strategic planning process to provide
for the identification and prioritization of areas for investment.
o Initiated a successful strategic thrust for the SPIE to establish student chapters around
the world as a means of promoting long term growth of the society.
o As SPIE president instigated assessment of optimum structure for future operations.
o Developed a long term strategy for SPIE international operations.
 National collaboration - over 30 years experience in developing collaborations with
industry, academia and other government agencies. Selected examples include the following:
o DOE: Lawrence Livermore; Los Alamos; Sandia; Y-12 & Oak Ridge
o National Reconnaissance Office.
o NOAA; Wave Propagation Laboratory; National Severe Storms Center.
o U.S. Army: Strategic Defense Command; Army Missile Command; Lincoln
Laboratory.
o U.S. Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory: Wright Patterson; Kirtland;
Hanscomb.
o Academia – U. Arizona; Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; U. Texas
Observatory; Penn State U.; U. Alabama in Huntsville; Alabama A&M U.;
Vanderbilt U.
o Industry – Boeing, Hughes, Lockheed-Martin and Raytheon
JB Consulting International
4017 Panorama Drive SE Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone: 256-534-6245 Fax : 866-235-8953 Mobile : 256-655-6273 E-mail: jbci@bellsouth.net
Website : www.JBConsultingInternational.com

4. o Served as an advisor to organizations in the NOAA, FAA, Army, Air Force; Navy
and DOE -Solar Mirror Laboratory and the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence
Livermore.
 International collaboration - over twenty years experience in international collaboration
with contacts and working relationships in 24 countries: Australia, Argentina, Bulgaria,
Belgium, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea,
Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, and
Wales.
o Member of the Board of Directors of SPIE for 10 years, including 5 years on the
Executive Board. The SPIE has more than 16,000 members in over 85 countries.
o As President of the SPIE established a series of international committees to assess the
needs of the regional areas and to provide recommendations for future direction in:
Asia (with a focus on China); Europe; Latin America; and India.
o Member of US Advisory Committee to the International Commission for Optics
o Chair of the Advisory Committee – International Commission for Optic’s “Education
and Training in Optics and Photonics” Long Range Planning and Steering Group.
o Representative and co-chair, 10th International School on Quantum Electronics
o International lecturer in optics and coherent lidar.
Education/Training:
BSEE, Colorado State University, 1969
MSE, University of Alabama in Huntsville, 1977
Course work/residency requirements for PhD in Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, 1983.
Honors/Awards:
Member of the federal Senior Technical Service; Research Associateship Advisor for the
National Research Council; Recipient of the NASA medal for Exceptional Service (1990 & 1998);
Recipient of over 65 awards from NASA headquarters, the Marshall Space Flight Center, the Goddard
Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Fellow and life member of the SPIE, the
International Society for Optical Engineering.
Publications & Patents:
Author/co-author of over 90 technical papers and presentations, three of which were selected for
inclusion in special press publications; Feature Editor for Applied Optics and co-editor of two SPIE
Proceedings publications; Contributor to the Encyclopedia of Modern Optics; Past Associate Editor and
member of the Editorial Board of Optical Engineering; Past member of the Editorial Board for the
Applied Optics series of PWS-Kent; Co-holder of a patent on the application of Doppler lidar to aircraft
wake vortex tracking.
Selected recent publications/presentations:
1. Bilbro, James W., “Introduction to Technology Readiness Levels,” Foundations of
Aerospace Part A:, NASA Applied Program & Engineering Leadership program,
Cocoa Beach FL, Jan. 12, 2009.
2. Bilbro, James W., “Foreword and Appendix on Systematic Assessment of the Program/
Project Impacts of Technological Advancement and Insertion” Did I Ever Tell You
About The Whale – Or Measuring Technology Maturity, by William L. Nolte,
Information Age Publishing, 2008.
JB Consulting International
4017 Panorama Drive SE Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone: 256-534-6245 Fax : 866-235-8953 Mobile : 256-655-6273 E-mail: jbci@bellsouth.net
Website : www.JBConsultingInternational.com

5. 3. Yang, Kyle, Bilbro, James W. et al., “Status of the Air Force’s Improved Technology
Maturity Assessment,” 2008 Technology Maturity Conference, Virginia Beach, VA,
Sep. 9-12, 2008.
4. Bilbro, James W., “Mitigating the Adverse Impact of Technology Maturity,”
NASA PM Challenge, Galveston, TX, Feb 6-7, 2007.
5. Bilbro, James W., “Impact of Technology on Programs & Projects,” Foundations
of Aerospace Part A:, NASA Applied Program & Engineering Leadership
program, Cocoa Beach FL, Jan. 29, 2007.
6. Bilbro, James W., “Technology Assessment Requirements for Programs &
Projects,” Multi-Dimensional Assessment of Technology Maturity Workshop,
Dayton OH, May 9-11, 2006.
7. Bilbro, James W., “Space Optics for the 21st Century,” Key Note Address, Society
for Experimental Mechanics Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO. Jun. 5, 2006
8. Bilbro, James W., “The Adverse Impact of Technology Maturity on
Program/Project Success – and How to Mitigate it,” Technology Readiness and
Development Seminar, Aerospace Corp., April 28, 2005.
9. Bilbro, James W., “ Optical Materials: Lightweight Mirrors,” Encyclopedia of
Modern Optics, edited by Robert D. Guenther, Duncan G. Steel and Leopold
Bayvel, Elsevier, Oxford, 2004. ISBN 0-12-227600-0.
Professional Societies and Organizational Activities:
Life member and past President of the SPIE, the international society for optical engineering;
member and past President of the Huntsville Electro-Optical Society (HEOS); member of the American
Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); the Optical Society of America (OSA); Past member
of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP); the Steering Committee for Coherent Laser Radar
Conferences; and the Technical Council of the OSA; Chaired numerous conferences, served on many
committees and served as an invited lecturer at over 20 national and international conferences.
Military Experience:
United States Army (on military leave from NASA) 1969-1971
Sergeant, 101st Airborne/Airmobile Division - Vietnam 1969-1970
Security Clearance:
Available upon request
JB Consulting International
4017 Panorama Drive SE Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone: 256-534-6245 Fax : 866-235-8953 Mobile : 256-655-6273 E-mail: jbci@bellsouth.net
Website : www.JBConsultingInternational.com