Robert S. Katz
Robert S. Katz is an American scientist and engineer who is known for his work on initial global interconnectivity protocols and applications. In the early 1990s, he helped in developing the first global IoT application, the first worldwide email platform, the first global Internet system, and the first global positioning tracker.
In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, [...] attacks, Katz was recruited by Lockheed Martin to help in the company's efforts to secure airports and other key facilities and infrastructure assets across the U.S. Katz serves as the executive director of innovation intelligence institute and provides consultancy services to government and military clients through Katz Global Strategies.
Early life and education
Katz earned his BA in Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science from the Frostburg State University in 1986. Subsequently, he joined the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for post graduate research in Electrical, Computer & Systems Engineering.
Career
After the completion of his post-graduate research in 1988, Katz joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory as satellite surveillance scientist. A year later, he left MIT and started his consultancy, Katz Global Strategies. In the early 1990s, he helped in developing the first global IoT application, the first worldwide email platform, the first global Internet system, and the first global positioning tracker. He also led the sensor reconfiguration to re-focus the strategic Star Wars missile defense shield into a tactical theater interceptor, the forerunner of today's Iron Dome.
While serving as product development manager for Stratos Global Corp. during the 1990s, Katz was responsible for creating the world's first global mobile tracking system. In an actual emergency test of the system, he displayed the at-sea rescue by a Chilean merchant ship of a Japanese sailor competing in an international yacht race in 1997. Soon afterwards, he developed the world's first global wireless Internet email service and designed a satellite-based, maritime communications network.
In 1991, Katz became the director of business development for COMSAT and brought various communication services to market, including one of the first widely used text-messaging platforms and an early system for the delivery of news and weather alerts to mobile phones. He was also a part of the team that implemented the first global tracking system for merchant shipping containers.
In the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, [...] attacks, Katz was recruited by Lockheed Martin to help in the company's efforts to secure airports and other key facilities and infrastructure assets across the U.S. In 2004, he led the development and rollout of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). He also managed implementation of the National Response Framework, a federal initiative to engage the skills and resources of all community residents during emergency-response efforts.
In 2001, he joined George Washington University as an adjunct professor where he taught advanced courses in emergency response practices and management.
Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Katz helped organize and lead Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams in addition to requisitioning emergency supplies from private donors in the U.S. for shipment to the island nation. He served a similar role in the coordinated international relief effort in Japan following the 2011 tsunami that caused the Fukushima nuclear power-plant meltdown. During this mission, he began the use of aerial drones to extend the reach and capabilities of emergency responders. In 2010, he became a disaster and [...] adviser at FEMA DHS at the Department Of Defense and worked on Presidential Preparedness Directive-8. In July 2014, during a period of escalated violence in Israel, Katz was deployed to the country as a volunteer firefighter with The Emergency Volunteers Project. The next year, he served as a volunteer firefighter, paramedic, and underwater search and rescue diver for Montgomery County, Maryland.
Katz heads the Innovation Intelligence Institute, a non-profit think tank.