AUVSI's Unmanned Systems 2016

Kurt Carraway
UAS Department Head
Kansas State University


After serving 25 years with the United States Air Force, retired Colonel Kurt J. Carraway is the Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) Executive Director of the Applied Aviation Research Center (AARC) and UAS Department Head at Kansas State University’s Salina Campus. In this capacity Carraway provides strategic leadership in advancing Kansas State University’s UAS program goals. He directs the execution of research activities involving UAS through the AARC. Carraway also directs flight operations development and maturation of the UAS training program through direct supervision of the Flight Operations staff. He manages highly skilled UAS professionals that perform hundreds of UAS flights per year in civil airspace. He sets policies and procedures for unmanned flight operations. He serves as Principal Investigator (PI) on UAS activities through the AARC and is the University PI representative to ASSURE, the FAA’s UAS Center of Excellence. Before arriving at Kansas State University, Carraway was stationed at Camp Smith in Oahu, Hawaii where he served first as Joint Operations Director and then Division Chief of Current Operations, both for the U.S. Pacific Command. Carraway worked with the Global Hawk UAS, as an evaluator and instructor pilot, and later became commander of the Global Hawk squadron. Carraway established standard operating procedures and composed technical manuals for the military’s use of the Global Hawk. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Carraway received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Missouri Science and Technology in Rolla, prior to entering the Air Force. During his service, Carraway also completed a Master of Science in Systems Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and a Master of Arts in Management from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.

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