Daniel A. O'Connor

Dr. Daniel A. O’Connor joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1982 as a technical staff member in the Analysis and Systems Group. He was promoted to assistant leader in 1995 and associate leader in 1996. In 2004, he was promoted to leader of Systems and Architectures. In 2008, he returned to his original group, renamed Advanced Concepts and Technology, as its leader.

O’Connor has applied creativity and leadership in developing and demonstrating advanced systems and discrimination techniques for ballistic missile defense. He has played a lead role in using data from field measurements to test tracking algorithms on the Lexington and Kiernan Reentry Measurements System Discrimination Systems. For two years, he served as Tracking and Discrimination Experiment (TRADEX) mission director and system engineer at the Reagan Test Site and contributed to creating and successfully executing the Theater Critical Measurements Program. Working across the Laboratory, O’Connor helped to identify wideband radar waveforms and two-color infrared seekers as key enabling technologies. He worked with a small Laboratory team and Missile Defense Agency leadership to initiate a major national effort in discrimination technology, which became known as Project Hercules. He helped the government steer and focus this $60-million-per-year effort and managed the Laboratory’s contributions throughout the 10-year life of the program. In 2015, O’Connor received a Lincoln Laboratory Technical Excellence Award in recognition of his career achievements.

O’Connor earned a BS degree in electrical engineering at Clarkson College of Technology and MS and PhD degrees in systems science and mathematics at Washington University.