User:Kirk ogaard/Kirk Ogaard

Kirk Ogaard (born July 7, 1976) is an American researcher in computer science. He led a small team of researchers at the University of North Dakota that developed the first successful implementation of collision avoidance software for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in U.S. national airspace.

Early life
Ogaard was born in Fargo, North Dakota but grew up in the state capital Bismarck. Ogaard's father, Louis Ogaard, was the director of the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) office at the state capitol. Ogaard's mother, Pamela Ogaard, was a college teacher at Bismarck State College (BSC). Ogaard became interested in computers at an early age. At the age of five his mother taught him how to write his first computer program for the TRS-80 Model III. Ogaard's program changed the shape of the cursor. By the age of fourteen Ogaard had taught himself how to write computer programs in C. At the age of sixteen he completed his first computer game--a clone of the popular arcade game Tetris. He started using the Linux operating system when it was first released in 1991.

Education
Ogaard dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen so he could start college early. He enrolled as a full-time student at BSC, the junior college where his mother taught computer science and math, when he was seventeen. He graduated from BSC in 1996 with an A.Sc. in computer science. After a brief hiatus, Ogaard enrolled at the University of North Dakota (UND) in 1997 to complete his undergraduate education. He graduated from UND in 1999 with a B.Sc. in computer science. He later returned in 2007 to complete his graduate education. He graduated with a M.Sc. from UND in 2008 and a Ph.D. from UND in 2012.

NASA Simulation
For his Master's thesis, Ogaard developed simulation software for one of NASA's concepts for a Martian rover, the 12-TET Walker. The software, written in C++, simulated the Martian rover moving across a hill on Mars. Unlike any other Martian rover developed by NASA, the 12-TET Walker in Ogaard's simulation moved by walking like a four-legged animal. Although the simulation software proved that this was possible, NASA discontinued research on the 12-TET Walker shortly after the project ended.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems
For his Ph.D. thesis, Ogaard developed collision avoidance software for UASs.