CSU Drone Center Team
Christopher Robertson – Drone Center Director
Email: [email protected]
Christopher Robertson has dedicated 26 years of service to Colorado State University, including two decades with the Colorado State University Police Department, where he served 16 years in patrol operations and four years in event security management. In 2018, he founded the CSU Drone Center and assumed full-time management as Director in 2020. With more than nine years of UAS experience, Christopher has supported public safety, search and rescue, GIS and remote sensing, scientific research, and other specialized missions. He also founded the CSU Drone Flight School and has helped provide UAS education and training to more than 2,000 individuals. Christopher serves as an Adjunct Instructor with the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, teaching UAS technology and applications.
Christopher is an FAA-certificated Private Pilot with an Instrument Rating and an FAA Remote Pilot, with experience operating multirotor, VTOL, and fixed-wing unmanned aircraft. He helped co-found the Larimer County UAS Team, providing UAS support for law enforcement, fire, and search and rescue operations. Christopher has also dedicated 10 years of service to Larimer County Search and Rescue, serving as a Search Leader, K9 Handler, and UAS Pilot. His combined experience in aviation, public safety, education, research, and emergency response provides a broad perspective on the safe and effective integration of emerging aviation technologies.
Adam Smith – Drone Center Associate Director
Email: [email protected]
Adam leads all public-facing outreach and educational initiatives, drawing on over 20 years of teaching experience in the vocational/experiential learning arena. Adam is a retired Colorado law enforcement officer and emergency medical technician, and has 11 years of UAV piloting and program management experience encompassing a wide variety of missions for public safety, event management, search and rescue, collegiate athletics, and commercial photography/videography. He is a proud U.S. Navy veteran with an unwavering commitment to community service and safety.
Stephen Gurian – UAS Research Technician and Instructor
Email: [email protected]
Stephen studied Computer Information Systems at Colorado State University and began flying unmanned aircraft for the Colorado State University Police Department (CSUPD) in 2016. He earned his FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate in 2017 and has since built extensive experience supporting public safety operations, including law enforcement, fire, and search and rescue missions.
Prior to his current role, Stephen spent nine years as a sworn law enforcement officer and also served in civilian infrastructure security supporting the U.S. Air Force. He currently serves as a UAS Technician and Instructor at the Colorado State University Drone Center, where he trains pilots and supports advanced drone operations.
His current technical focus includes photogrammetry, LiDAR, and multispectral imaging, with experience planning and executing complex data collection missions using enterprise UAS platforms. His background combines operational aviation, public safety, and geospatial data acquisition to support emergency response, infrastructure inspection, agriculture, and mapping applications.
Don Hunter, Ph.D. – Wildlife Research and Development
Email: [email protected]
Don Hunter wears the hats of scientist, teacher, and author. With a doctorate in wildlife ecology, he was lured into the worlds of two big cats, the mountain lion and snow leopard. Their environments, east and west, enriched his life and moved him to study them and help to conserve their worlds. In addition to dozens of journal articles and publications, he contributed and edited Snow Leopard – Stories form the Roof of the World, a poignant collection of first-person stories by those who have shared a personal connection with this rare cat. His current research centers around using thermal-equipped drones to census the prey of large cats—wild sheep and goats in the mountains of Colorado and Central Asia.
Jack Gottschalk – UAS Research Technician
Email: [email protected]
Jack Gottschalk is a Research Associate/Technician at the CSU Drone Center. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University in Fall 2025 and is currently pursuing an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at CSU.
Jack began working at the Drone Center as a student employee and transitioned into his current role following graduation. He has more than two years of experience as a UAV pilot and has accumulated over 160 hours of flight time across multirotor, fixed-wing, and VTOL platforms.
His work focuses on UAS flight testing, systems integration, and research operations. He coordinates and executes research missions, supports the development of FAA waivers and authorizations for operations beyond standard Part 107 limitations, and designs and implements custom payload solutions for a variety of aircraft and research applications. His interests include experimental flight testing, aircraft and payload integration, and expanding UAS capabilities to support complex research missions.
Josephina (JoJo) Matibag – UAS Program Assistant
Email: [email protected]
JoJo is a senior undergrad at Colorado State University pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability. As UAS Program Assistant, she supports the coordination, operation, and administration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for research, event management, and educational projects. JoJo is also heavily involved in numerous mapping and modeling initiatives. In this capacity, she oversees the planning, piloting, and subsequent data processing of UAV operations, directly contributing to diverse research projects across multiple academic fields. Outside of work, she dedicates herself to a long list of hobbies including dancing, playing bass and guitar, gardening, reading, and upcycling.
Russell Ragland – Student UAV Technician
Email: [email protected]
Russell Ragland is a junior Mechanical engineering student at CSU. He has flown UAVs since early youth, accumulating over 13 years of flight experience and 3 years holding a part-107 license. Russell specializes in programming and designing open-source UAV platforms and enjoys flying FPV.
Prior to his time at the drone center, Russell worked closely with Brightflight drone shows and helped safely conduct several drone swarm light shows.
Luke Robertson – Student UAV Technician
Email: [email protected]
Luke is a sophomore at Colorado State University pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. As a Drone Technician with the CSU Drone Center, he supports the operation, maintenance, and testing of unmanned aircraft systems while gaining hands-on experience with emerging aviation technologies. Luke has a strong interest in engineering design, fieldwork, and the practical application of technology. Outside of work, he enjoys a wide range of activities from baseball and hiking to sled dog racing and art. After graduation, he hopes to build a career in either the aviation or automotive industry, where he can continue learning while contributing to innovative engineering solutions.
Dominic Moser – Student UAV Technician
Email: [email protected]
Dominic Moser is a second-year Computer Engineering and Computer Science double major with a passion for designing and building autonomous drones and aerial systems. When he’s not in the lab working on hardware or software for drone technologies, Dominic enjoys practicing jujutsu, hitting the slopes on his snowboard, and going for long walks with his dog.
CSU Affiliates
Huck Huckstep – Defense Engagement
Email: [email protected]
Huck is a proud career US Air Force veteran who joined the CSU team in early 2026 to advance defense-focused research initiatives. In his active-duty career, he led and executed multiple mission areas across the military space enterprise before pivoting to academia and research in the biomedical sciences.
He has earned awards for technical, organizational, and teaching achievement. He holds a BA in biology from Baylor University, an MS in human physiology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a PhD in cardiovascular medicine from the University of Oxford. He is blessed with a wonderful family and a sweet but slightly neurotic dog
Dr. Thomas Bradley – Department Head, Systems Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Tom Bradley conducts research and teaches a variety of courses in system engineering, multidisciplinary optimization, and design.
Dr. Bradley’s research interests are focused on applications in Automotive and Aerospace System Design, Energy System Management, and Lifecycle Assessment.
Dr. Bradley has coauthored 125+ peer-reviewed archival papers, including seminal contributions to Model-Based Systems Engineering, the design and development of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and the lifecycle assessment of biofuels.
He is an active member of the academic community as author of ~250 conference publications and academic reports. Dr. Bradley has served as PI and Co-PI for $30M in research funding since 2008.
Dean Rue – Airport Technical Advisor
Email: [email protected]
Dean serves as the CSU Christman Airfield/Airport Technical Advisor after retiring as an aviation civil engineer for regional, commercial, and military airports as a fellow aviation technologist, project manager, designer, and construction manager. Early in his career, he served 4 years as a U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering officer. He is a registered professional engineer in Colorado and has given many national technical airport presentations and papers at conferences by the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Military, and the American Society of Civil Engineers.