CSU Drone Center Team
Christopher Robertson, Drone Center Director
Email: Christopher.Robertson@colostate.edu
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. Christopher left the CSUPD to become the full time Director of the CSU Drone Center in 2020. He is also an alumnus of Colorado State University. Christopher has been involved in UAS operations for the past 5 years and has experience with drones in both the public and private sector. He assisted in founding the Larimer County UAS Team which provides fire, police, and search and rescue drone services for Larimer County. Christopher founded the CSU Drone Flight School and has helped over 150 people obtain their Part 107 FAA UAS certificate. Christopher is a licensed FAA Part 107 UAS Pilot and has experience piloting both multi-rotor and fixed wing UAS.
Adam Smith, Drone Center Assistant Director
Email: Adam.S.Smith@colostate.edu
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.
Seth Wilson, UAS Pilot
Email: seth303@colostate.edu
Seth Wilson is a student at Colorado State University studying Mechanical Engineering. He has experience in manned aviation for over 5 years and has combined his passion for research and aviation via drones. Seth’s drone expertise is in videography, photography, and promotional videos. In his free time, Seth enjoys all areas of outdoor recreation including hiking, skiing, mountain biking, and boating.
Ryan Pyle, Maintenance Officer and UAS Pilot
Email: rdpyle@colostate.edu
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.
Alex Olsen-Mikitowicz, UAS Pilot
Email: aolsenm@colostate.edu
Alex is a graduate student at CSU in the Werner College of Natural Resources and a U.S Air Force veteran. He has experience working with geospatial data acquisition/analytics, remote sensing, and many other UAS applications. He has flight experience in a wide variety of UAS platforms and is currently working on his Private Pilot License. Alex also enjoys mountain biking, telemark skiing, and science fiction.
The CSU Drone Center is overseen by a steering committee who advises and sets direction for the Center:
| Committee Member | Department |
|---|---|
| Mahmood R Azimi-Sadjadi | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| V. Chandrasekar | Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| Jose Chavez | Civil and Environmental Engineering and Extension |
| Sean Freeman | Atmospheric Science |
| Sonia Kreidenweis | Atmospheric Science and Dean’s Office Walter Scott College of Engineering |
| Dan Mcgrath | Geosciences WCNR |