The Honorable Dr. Will Roper is a Distinguished Professor at Georgia Tech and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of technology startup Istari, Inc., helping build ab engineering metaverse, where all technology - from software to satellites - may be created and certified completely digitally. Dr. Will Roper previously served as the 13th Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. In this role, he led all research, development, procurement, and logistics for both the U.S. Air Force and Space Force: an annual budget totaling $60 billion. But he is best known for accelerating acquisition timelines and fostering disruptive innovation inside of government. While at the Air Force, Will took large strides in opening defense market opportunities to commercial companies, spearheading initiatives like AFWERX and Small Business Innovative Research reform that connected 2,300 tech companies with military problems and associated contracts. He also led Department-wide technology transformations for software, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital engineering and initiated high-tech programs for hypersonic weapons, autonomous drones, advanced satellites and rockets, and a militarized internet of things (IoT), all while overseeing the day-to-day readiness of over 5,300 military aircraft and satellites. Prior to departing the Air Force, he demonstrated the first use of AI on a military weapon system (the U-2 spy plane) and first IoT-enabled kill chain. He also led a turnaround of the troubled KC- 46 tanker program by helping redesign its critical 3D vision system. But in addition to technology, Will was equally passionate about competing for talent, updating 50-year-old body standards for all Air Force programs to increase accessibility for women and people of color to pursue military careers. Earlier in his career, Dr. Roper was the founding Director of the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), growing this once-classified innovation office from $50 million to $1.6 billion annually. He has a bachelor’s and master’s in physics from Georgia Tech and a doctorate in mathematics from Oxford, where he studied string theory as a Rhodes Scholar.