CSU Drone Center Team

Christopher Robertson

Christopher Robertson, Drone Center Director

Email: [email protected]

Christopher Robertson serves as the Director of the CSU Drone Center. He has been employed by Colorado State University for the past 20 years primarily with the Colorado State University Police Department. During his time at CSUPD, he spent 16 years in the patrol division and 4 years in event security management. Christopher left the CSUPD in 2020 at the rank of Sergeant to become the full-time Director of the CSU Drone Center. He is also an alumnus of Colorado State University. Christopher has been involved in UAS operations for the past 6 years and has experience with drones in both the public and private sectors. He assisted in founding the Larimer County UAS Team which provides fire, police, and search and rescue drone services for Larimer County. Christopher has experience piloting sUAS for police, fire, SAR, and research-based missions. Christopher founded the CSU Drone Flight School and has helped over 300 people obtain their Part 107 FAA UAS certificate. Christopher is a licensed FAA Private Pilot and a certificated Remote Pilot. Christopher has experience piloting both multi-rotor and fixed-wing UAS and traditional single-engine airplanes. Christopher is additionally a search and rescue K9 handler for Larimer County Search and Rescue and Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States.

Adam Smith

Adam Smith, Drone Center Assistant Director

Email: [email protected]

Adam Smith serves as the Assistant Director of the CSU Drone Center. He has been employed by Colorado State University for the past 20 years, and recently retired from the Colorado State University Police Department. During his time at CSUPD, Adam worked in a variety of assignments throughout the community, and helped develop the Police Department’s UAS program, recently supervising all police UAS operations until his retirement. Adam is a licensed FAA Part 107 UAS pilot and has many years of experience flying UAS for law enforcement, event management, search & rescue, and commercial photography / videography projects. Adam is a current Colorado emergency medical technician and a U.S. Navy veteran.

Ryan Pyle

Ryan Pyle, Maintenance Officer and UAS Pilot

Email: [email protected]

Ryan has been flying drones since he was old enough to hold the controller. He is currently a student a CSU studying GIS. Ryan enjoys competitive aerobatic flying with his large Extra 300 aircraft, as well has lots of experience with all drone platforms.

Davis Bio

Davis Schenkenberger, UAS Pilot

Email: [email protected]

Davis is a current CSU student studying Computer Science with a minor in GIS. He has
experience writing software for open-source UAS flight systems, and has built and developed
numerous workflows and models in addition to his experience with UAS mapping & modeling.