JAMES M. CONRAD, PhD, is currently a professor for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Jim has worked with IBM, Ericsson/Sony Ericsson, and BPM Technologies. He is a senior member of the IEEE, member of the Project Management Institute and IEEE Computer Society, and board member of the IEEE Computer Society Press operating committee. He is the author of three books on autonomous robotics and has written numerous journal articles, conference papers, and technical papers.