Yonas served as the acting deputy director and chief scientist during the implementation of the Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as Ronald Reagan's Star Wars Program. He has consulted for numerous national security organizations including the Defense Science Board, DARPA, the Air Force, the Army, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and has received many honors, including the U.S. Air Force Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Yonas has published extensively in the fields of intense particle beams, inertial confinement fusion, strategic defense technologies, technology transfer and "wicked engineering." After his time leading the Strategic Defense Initiative, Yonas went to work for Titan Corporation in San Diego, where he managed a group of small research companies. Three years later, he returned to Sandia National Laboratories to lead the pulsed power fusion program and several weapon related programs in the role of vice president of Systems, Science and Technology. At Sandia, Yonas went on to create the Advanced Concepts Group and explore new opportunities including brain research. Following his retirement from Sandia, he joined the Mind Research Network as the director of neurosystems engineering where he explored the link between neuroscience and systems engineering. He also developed a graduate course in this field and taught as an adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Yonas holds a Ph.D. in engineering science and physics from the California Institute of Technology and a bachelor's in engineering physics from Cornell University, where he also received a varsity lightweight crew letter. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Jane, and is the father of two daughters, Jill and Jodi, and the grandfather of five children--Libby, Jenna, Jonathan, Emily and Ben. Yonas makes his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
