Dr. Michael G. Smayda is a founder and the Chief Product Officer of Hermeus Corporation where he leads customer development and product roadmap for high-speed vehicle products.

Prior to Hermeus, Dr. Smayda served as the Director of Systems Engineering at Generation Orbit and was responsible for the vehicle systems design and integration for the GOLauncher family of vehicles.

Previously Dr. Smayda worked at SpaceX as a Senior Aerodynamics Engineer on an assortment of problems related to ascent and reentry/landing of the Falcon 9v1.1, Falcon 9 Full Thrust, Falcon Heavy, and Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) vehicle programs. He was also a key member of the original Hyperloop design team.

Dr. Smayda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical and Aerospace engineering from Cornell University and a PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia. His dissertation focused on dual-mode scramjet operation and testing.