John Villasenor, UCLA professor of electrical engineering and public policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, testified in a U.S. Senate hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 24. The hearing, "Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Key Considerations Regarding Safety, Innovation, Economic Impact and Privacy," was convened by U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security. It examined the potential beneficial uses for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and the efforts of the Federal Aviation Administration on safe integration of UAS in the National Airspace System. The hearing also explored potential privacy concerns associated with this emerging technology.
Villasenor's work addresses the intersection of digital technology with public policy and the law. His research explores the technology and policy challenges associated with trends such as the move to cloud computing, the globalization of technology product design and manufacturing, advances in digital communications and electronics, and the increasing complexity of today’s networks and systems.
Villasenor is the director of the Digital Technologies Initiative at the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA, vice chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Intellectual Property System, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.
