Bio
Ruth Stilwell is the executive director of Aerospace Policy Solutions LLC, core faculty member in Norwich University’s Master of Public Administration program, and a leading authority on integrated space and aviation policy and governance. Her work was recently published in the Journal of Space Safety Engineering.
An air-traffic controller for 25 years, experienced labour leader and policy expert, Ruth is also an accomplished researcher and lecturer. Her numerous publications and presentations, which cover a wide range of space and aviation, public safety, human factor, administration, financing and industry reform topics, have influenced key US legislation and, in many cases, have been required reading for administration officials. Ruth’s specific areas of expertise include: integrating commercial space operations in civil airspace; projecting air traffic controller retirement and staffing requirements; Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding and financing structures; workers’ rights and more. In March 2018, she was named a Fellow in the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS). FRAeS is an award granted to individuals who the Royal Aeronautical Society judges to have made outstanding contributions in the profession of aeronautics and have attained a position of high responsibility in this field.
Ruth served from 2010 to 2015 as the industry expert representing air traffic controllers on the International Civil Aviation Organization Air Navigation Commission in Montreal. Her air traffic control experience includes 25 years of operational duty at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center, two years as liaison to the FAA Requirements Service and six years as executive vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
The founding chairperson of the Air Traffic Services Committee of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, a position she held for four years, Ruth currently serves on the International Academy of Astronautics Commission 5 — Space Policies, Law and Economics.
Ruth earned her bachelor’s degree in labour studies at the National Labor College and her master of public administration and doctor of public administration at the University of Baltimore.