Paul Strande
Federal Aviation Administration
2024 fellow
Paul Strande is a proven strategic leader of aviation innovation with over 15 years of experience managing and leading Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) research and engineering programs to deliver results that benefit the FAA, industry, and the public.
In his current role as the Deputy Director of Research, Engineering & Analysis in the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Office, Mr. Strande supports the vision and priorities of the organization through his skills in program management, systems engineering, building partnerships, and managing resources. He leads a team that develops UAS research strategic plans, executes research testing and evaluation, and performs engineering analyses that yield the findings needed to enable regulations, procedures, policy, and standards for safe and efficient integration of UAS into the National Airspace System.
In his role as a White House Leadership Development Program Fellow, Mr. Strande will be working with the Office of Management and Budget’s Evidence Team to execute a new process to facilitate connections between academic researchers and federal agencies as well as support the implementation of the first ever President’s Management Agenda (PMA) Learning Agenda.
Before joining the UAS Integration Office, Mr. Strande managed research and engineering programs for the FAA’s NextGen organization and was the FAA subject matter expert for Multiple Runway Operations. In that role, he was responsible for planning and execution of research for Closely Spaced Parallel Operations, Wake Turbulence mitigations, and more. Mr. Strande was recognized for his leadership and ability to collaborate with industry to enable organizational and operational changes by implementing advanced capabilities that improved efficiency at some of the nation’s busiest airports.
Mr. Strande holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and is Project Management Professional certified. When he’s not working on the National Airspace System, Mr. Strande is a user of the system as he enjoys traveling and exploring new places with his wife and two daughters.
