Dr. Mark J. Lewis is the Executive Director of the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies Institute (ETI), a non-partisan think tank focused on critical national defense technologies. He is best known for his expertise in hypersonic aircraft and has spent more than 35 years conducting advanced research into high-speed propulsion, aerodynamics, space vehicle design and optimization. Today, Dr. Lewis leads research and analyses to inform the development and integration of emerging technologies into the defense industrial base. Immediately prior to his current position, Dr. Lewis was Director of Defense Research and Engineering in the Department of Defense (DoD) and acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, overseeing technology modernization for all Services and DoD agencies. As the Pentagon’s senior-most scientist, Dr. Lewis managed a $17B budget that included DARPA, the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Innovation Unit, as well as the Space Development Agency, and oversaw the DoD Federally-funded Research and Development Centers and the Department’s basic and applied research portfolio. Dr. Lewis is a former department chair and current professor emeritus of aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland.