Peter Pachowicz

Peter Pachowicz joined George Mason in 1989 as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science and was also a faculty member of the Department of Systems Engineering. He currently holds the rank of Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His early interests and expertise include knowledge-based systems, knowledge acquisition, intelligent systems engineering, automatic target recognition, machine vision/perception, machine learning, self-adaptive systems, data/decision/algorithm fusion, and integration of AI and ML within engineering systems. His academic research was sponsored by DARPA, DARPA/AFOSR, OSD, BMDO, NIMA, NSF and local industry. He also has industrial experience in the design and development of applied intelligent systems and sensory systems. For over 10 years, he was a consultant to SAIC, the U.S. Army NVL, and several companies in Northern Virginia. He specialized in transitioning theoretical frameworks into practical applications.

Pachowicz current interests include CubeSats, SatCom, and SpaceCom. He is leading activities in these areas at the Volgenau School of Engineering. Specific CubeSat areas of his interest include: small-factor satellite bus engineering, resilient satellite bus architectures, and rad-hard embedded software. His interests in communications are oriented towards: design of low-noise antennas, signal and data fusion, and custom software defined radios. He is responsible for the development of the VSE SatCom and SpaceCom ground stations which include a 9.1-meter satellite dish, as well as the ECE CubeSat Engineering Lab. When the dish remodeling is finished, this infrastructure will allow students, faculty, and cooperating institutions to support data transmissions from spacecraft on their flight to the moon, as well as moon relays, stations, and landers. He is also responsible for a SmallSat Engineering certificate and Space-Based Systems specialization areas as part of ECE graduate programs.

Research

2005 - 2009 : AFOSRMURI-05. Funded by US Air Force.

2005 - 2007 : Computational Modeling of Cultural Dimensions in Adversary Organizations. Funded by Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Research Interests

Ultra-small Satellite Design and Engineering
Resilient Satellite Bus Architectures
Antenna Design and Satellite Communications
Real-Time Embedded Systems
Rad-hard Embedded Software
Sensors and Sensor Data/Decision Fusion
Intelligent Systems
Adaptability in Algorithms and Systems
Pattern Recognition and Computer Vision
System Architectures

Degrees

• PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology
• MS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology
• BS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology