Dr. Chad Mello is the Kaminski Endowed Chair for Augmented Intelligence at the Institute for Future Conflict (IFC) and a professor in the Department of Computer & Cyber Sciences (DFCS) at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He directs the Falcon AI Research (FAIR) Lab, leading mission-focused work in space domain awareness, autonomous systems, brain–computer interface (BCI), and intelligent decision-support systems. He also directs the DFCS capstone program and created, as well as course-directs, CS472 “Autonomous Systems Integration,” where cadets build and deploy real-world ML to drones, rovers, and edge devices.

Mello oversees USAFA’s internal GPU compute infrastructure and the Academy’s agentic development framework. He is currently advancing research in interpretable agentic systems within the FAIR Lab. He works closely with DFCS, IFC, and the U.S. Space Force SDA TAP Lab to transition research to operational use to further USAFA’s goal of developing AI-ready officers. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science focused on deep learning and neuroscience.