Robert Powell has a B.S. in chemistry and is a former collegiate debater. He has 28 years experience in engineering management in the semiconductor industry. While working at Advanced Micro Devices he has taken numerous internal courses related to device physics, design of experiments, and statistical analysis. He helped Advanced Micro Devices develop its first flash memory technology that is used in today’s flash cards for cameras, PCs, video cameras, and other products. His experience includes managing a state-of-the-art chemistry laboratory and managing a Research and Development group that worked on nanotechnology using atomic force microscopes, near-field optical microscopy, and other techniques. Powell is also a co-holder of four patents related to nanotechnology.
Powell is a founding board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU). He was the director of research at the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) from 2007 to 2017 and created MUFON’s Science Review Board in 2012. He is one of two authors of the detailed radar/witness report on the Stephenville Lights as well as the SCU report UAP: 2013 Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. He is also the primary author on the recently published paper, A Forensic Analysis of Navy Carrier Strike Group Eleven’s Encounter with an Anomalous Aerial Vehicle and a secondary author of a paper published in the journal Entropy titled, “Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles.” Powell is a member of the Society for Scientific Exploration, the UFODATA project, and the National Space Society. He is a co-author of a book published in July 2012: UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry and is an author of a book designed for children published in November 2020 etitled, The Truth About UFOs: A Scientific Perspective. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.