Leadership Team

Dr. Shannon D. Blunt received a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri in 2002, from 2002-2005 he was with the Radar Division of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C. In addition to being CEO and co-founder of Wavos Technologies, LLC, he is also the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) at the University of Kansas (KU), Director of the KU Radar Systems Lab (RSL), and Director of the Kansas Applied Research Lab (KARL). His research interests are in sensor signal processing and system design with a particular emphasis on waveform diversity and spectrum sharing techniques, having made a variety of contributions that have been deployed in operational radar and sonar systems.  

Dr. Blunt received an AFOSR Young Investigator Award in 2008, the IEEE/AESS Nathanson Memorial Radar Award in 2012, was named a Fellow of the IEEE in 2016 for “contributions to radar waveform diversity and design”, was appointed to the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) in 2019, received the 2020 IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation Premium Award, was named Fellow of the MSS in 2024 for "contributions to national defense and civilian applications of radar waveform diversity and design" in 2024, received the IEEE/AESS Warren D. White Award in 2025 for "fundamental and practical contributions to radar waveform design for advanced radar systems", and also in 2025 was named one of two inaugural inductees into the University of Missouri EECS Alumni Hall of Fame. He has over 200 refereed journal, conference, and book chapter publications, and 21 patents/patents-pending. He co-edited the books Principles of Waveform Diversity & Design (2010) and Radar & Communication Spectrum Sharing (2018). His research has  

been supported by over $40M in funding from NRL, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the Army Research Office (ARO), the Department of Energy (DoE), Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and multiple industry partners.  

He has served as a subject matter expert (SME) on topics related to radar spectrum management and sharing for DARPA, the Air Force's S&T 2030 Initiative, the National Spectrum Consortium, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (OUSD(R&E)), and the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP). He served as Chair of the IEEE/AESS Radar Systems Panel and on the Board of Governors for the IEEE Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society (AESS). He was the Founding Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Transactions on Radar Systems, was on the Editorial Board for IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation, and served in different editorial roles for IEEE Transactions on Aerospace & Electronic Systems. He was General Chair of the 2011 IEEE Radar Conference in Kansas City and Technical Chair of the 2018, 2022, and 2023 IEEE Radar Conferences in Oklahoma City, New York City, and San Antonio, respectively, along with being a member of the Program Committee for the MSS Tri-Service Radar Symposium series. He was Chair of the NATO SET-179 research task group on “Dynamic Waveform Diversity & Design” and a member of SET-182 on “Radar Spectrum Engineering & Management” and SET-227 on “Cognitive Radar”.  

Carl spent 30 years serving the United States as a Military Intelligence Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army, and as a civilian Special Agent / Intelligence Officer with the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community. Carl’s focus was counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and counterproliferation investigations and operations. As a military officer he held investigative, operational, staff, and command positions. Carl’s civil service career included investigative, operational, senior leadership positions, as well as three joint duty assignments within the U.S. Intelligence / Law Enforcement Community. Carl is a combat veteran and deployed outside the United States throughout his career to perform intelligence operations. He retired from the U.S. Government in 2015 as an Assistant Director of a U.S. Defense Agency.  

After retiring he was hired as the Chief Security Officer for the University of Kansas, which included developing and leading the Office of Global Operations & Security (GOS). GOS  

was responsible for security management, export compliance, and risk/threat identification university wide. GOS developed and implemented strategies to reduce risk and ensure a safe and secure academic / research environment. Carl also oversaw the  

expansion of the KU National Industrial Security Program (NISP) and secured funding / designed / supervised the construction of a large facility to be used for national security related research programs in support of Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Energy (DOE). Additionally, he provided research security program assistance to other academic institutions, the U.S. Government, and was frequently requested to speak to national audiences about developing and maintaining security programs in higher education. Carl was also a co-Principal Investigator for KU’s U.S. Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (ICCAE) Program, a Director of National Intelligence grant, and was on the Executive Board for the Association of University Research Security Professionals, formerly known as the Academic Security and Counter Exploitation Program (ASCE). Carl left KU as a full-time employee but continued to maintain a personal service contract to advise university leadership on national security related topics.  

In January 2023, he became the Vice President for Academic Engagement for IPTalons, Inc., a managed security service company specializing in research security, countering foreign influence, and risk management. He rejoined KU in July 2025 as the Director, Secure Research Projects & Special Security Officer.  

He graduated from Bridgewater State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science, and the Senior Executive Fellow Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.  

 James M Stiles received a BSEE from the University of Missouri in 1983, an MSEE from Southern Methodist University in 1987, and the PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1996.  From 1983 to 1990, he was employed as an electrical design engineer for the Defense Systems and Electronics Group of Texas Instruments (now Raytheon).  While at TI, he designed wideband microwave receivers and components for electromagnetic sensing systems.   From 1990 to 1996, Dr. Stiles was employed as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Radiation Laboratory of the University of Michigan, where he worked on research and experiments related to radar remote sensing.  In 1996, Dr. Stiles joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Kansas.  In 2026, he retired from KU as a full professor and was awarded emeritus status.   His research activities at KU have focused entirely on electromagnetic sensing, with a primary interest in radar.