Young accepted this position after serving as a PI leading research and development of Synthetic Vision System enabling technologies between 2000 and 2005. This included developing a monitoring capability that utilizes sensor measurements to confirm, or validate, in flight the integrity of the model-based synthetic environments. Flight test experiments were conducted integrating and evaluating advanced sensor technologies, navigation systems, geo-spatial models, and flight deck display concepts.

Between 1993 and 2000, Young led the investigation of a low visibility landing and surface operations system concept. The approach called for the integration of several flight system technologies, ground-based elements, and data link applications to provide pilots and controllers with shared situational awareness, appropriate guidance, and automatic detection of unsafe states during low visibility conditions. The multi-disciplinary system design was tested in full-mission simulation studies and flight test experiments. As part of this research, Young led the design of an onboard runway incursion detection function that monitored traffic locations with respect to active runways and provided direct warnings to the crew.

Young has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the West Virginia Institute of Technology, a master’s of science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in Electrical Engineering, specializing in Avionics Systems Engineering, from Ohio University. He is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA and has authored more than 35 technical publications across a range of disciplines including systems engineering, navigation systems, remote sensing, safety-critical avionics, computer science, and crew-vehicle interfaces.