Bio

Randall Hoven retired from the Boeing Company (former McDonnell Douglas) in 2008 as a Technical Fellow, where he had worked since 1982. He most recently led the navigation analysis on the Small Diameter Bomb program. He invented "A Method and System for Estimating Ionospheric Delays from Dual and Single GPS Signals" (patent # 6,781,542) and applied it to SDB, the Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and other programs, winning the 2005 Boeing Special Invention Award. For the last few years he has been an adjunct professor in the Engineering School of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

Prior to joining McDonnell Douglas he worked at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory from 1979 to 1982. He was also an enlistee in the U.S. Navy from 1972 to 1975, serving on the USS Wichita (AOR-1), earning a Vietnam Service Medal for some brief stints in Vietnam combat waters.

Beyond writing on current events, his non-professional interests include piano, community theater, motorcycling, blackjack and now golf. He wrote the script, music and lyrics for an as yet un-produced musical.

He lives with his wife in Alton, Illinois. He has three children, in various stages of leaving the nest.

Education:

M.S. Systems Science & Mathematics, Washington University, 1985
M.S. Electrical Engineering, Johns Hopkins U., 1982, with honors
B.S. SSM Wash. U., 1979, cum laude

Duty Calls (via xkcd.com)