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Our Team 

The Society for UAP Studies is firmly committed to bringing together thinkers, ideas, and research from both the humanities and from STEM. We believe that only when scientific and humanistic pursuits keep close company will there be true progress on the most difficult of problems humanity faces. The UAP phenomenon is no different — it especially benefits from having a plurality of minds engaged in disciplined debate.

Both our Board of Directors and our Advisory Board reflect this vision.

Hussein Ali Agrama, Ph.D.

University of Chicago

Ramon Carbó-Dorca, Ph.D.

University of Girona (Spain)

Bill Chalker

SUAPS

Brenda Denzler, Ph.D.

SUAPS

William Dewan, Ph.D.

UC Irvine

Adam Dodd, Ph.D.

University of Queensland, (Australia)

Greg Eghigian, Ph.D.

Penn State University

Kimberly Engels, Ph.D.

Molloy University

Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D.

CIHS

Darrell Evans, Ed.D.

Purdue University

Jérôme Ezan, Ph.D.

Neurocentre Magendie-INSERM U1215

Stephen Finley, Ph.D.

Louisiana State University

Steven Fuller, Ph.D.

University of Warwick (U.K.)

Michael Glawson, Ph.D.

Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies

Gene Greneker

UAPx | RADAR Flashlight

Dillon Guthrie, J.D.

SUAPS

Rich Hoffman

Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies

Eli Karetny, J.D., Ph.D.

City University of New York

Paul Kingsbury, Ph.D.

Simon Fraser University (Canada) | SCU

Kevin H. Knuth, Ph.D.

State University of New York, Albany | UAPx

James Madden, Ph.D.

Benedictine College

Andreas Müller

GreWi.de | IFEX

Tim Murithi, Ph.D.

University of Free State, South Africa | ICER

Filipe Nascimento, Ph.D.

University College London (U.K.)

Ted Peters, Ph.D.

Graduate Theological Union

Inbar Pincu

Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)

Joshua Pierson, D.S.S.

Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies

Peter Reali, M.S.

Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies

Mark Rodeghier, Ph.D.

J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies

Nikola Schmidt, Ph.D.

Prague Institute of International Relations

Erling Strand, Ph.D.

Emeritus - Østfold University College (Norway)

Gretchen Stahlman, Ph.D.

Florida State University

Matthew Szydagis, Ph.D.

SUNY Albany | UAPx

Massimo Teodorani, Ph.D.

SUAPS | Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies

Michael Uhall, Ph.D.

Indiana University East

Michaël Vaillant, M.S.

UAP Check (France)

Wesley Watters, Ph.D.

Wellesley College | Galileo Project

Edward C. Wolff, Ph.D.

SUAPS

Jinwoo Yu

Korean UAP Research Network

Michael E. Zimmerman, Ph.D.

Emeritus - University of Colorado, Boulder

Leadership. Discernment. Direction.

The SUAPS Advisory Council is a standing body of expert Councilors who offer strategic, ethical, and interdisciplinary guidance to the Society’s leadership. Positioned just below the Board of Directors, the Council plays a vital role in shaping SUAPS’ research direction, public posture, and institutional development.

Historical & Ethical Inquiry

Greg Eghigian, Ph.D.

USA

Dr. Eghigian is a historian of the human sciences and medicine as well as modern Europe. He is particularly interested in how societies use science, technology, and medicine to define and treat people and behaviors deemed to be troubling, bizarre, or outright dangerous.


Dr. Eghigian's research has therefore focused on such things as disability, delinquency, criminality, mental illness, and security. More recently, his attention has shifted to studying the modern history of supernatural and paranormal phenomena.


His latest book, After The Flying Sauces Came (Oxford University Press) is a history of reports of UFOs and claims of alien contact throughout the world. Dr. Eghigian is presently working on two new book projects: the first is a broad overview of the history of madness from the ancient world to the present; the second is a study of the alien abduction phenomenon in the late-20th century.


For a review of After The Flying Saucers Came, read Dr. Matthew Bowman's article in Volume 2 of Limina - The Journal of UAP Studies, managed and published by the Society.


https://history.la.psu.edu/directory/greg-eghigian/

Law & Public Policy

Dillon Guthrie, J.D.

USA

European UAP History & Policy

Edoardo Russo, M.A.

Italy

Born in 1959, married, grown-up  daughter and son, lives in Turin, Italy. After classical studies, he graduated in economics and has worked as a tax consultant and chartered accountant for 38 years.


Actively involved in UFOs since a teenager, has worked with local/national organizations (Gruppo Clypeus since 1976, Centro Ufologico Nazionale 1978-1985, Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici 1985-) and with the editorial boards of several publications (Clypeus 1976-, Ufologia, 1979-1984; Notiziario Ufo, 1978-1984; Quaderni Ufo, 1981-1983; Ufo Phenomena International Annual Review, 1981-1984; Ufo  Rivista di informazione ufologica, 1986-; Notizie UFO, 1985-2000; European Journal of Ufo and Abduction Studies, 2000-2003).

He is the author of a few hundred articles published both in Italian and in international UFO periodicals, two large circulation books (in 1997 and 2025), the UFO Field investigation methodology manual (3 editions, 1984-2010).

He also presented dozens of papers at congresses in Italy and abroad since 1979 (recently at CAIPAN-2, CNES, 2022; Italian Senate, Rome, 2023; European Parliament, Bruxelles, 2024); and has been interviewed a few hundred times on radio, TV and newspapers.


Among the coordinators of EuroUfo.net since 1998, he has been MUFON National Director for Italy since 2012 and a board member with UAP Check since 2023.


Among the coordinators of EuroUfo.net since 1998, he has been MUFON National Director for Italy since 2012 and a board member with UAP Check since 2023.


https://www.resolvomd.it/edoardo-russo/

Information Science & Integration

Gretchen Stahlman, Ph.D.

USA

Gretchen Stahlman is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information at Florida State University. She previously served as Assistant Professor of Library & Information Science at Rutgers University. Gretchen earned her Ph.D. degree from the University of Arizona School of Information in 2020.


Her current research interests broadly include scholarly and science communication, scientific information lifecycles, and the sociotechnical systems supporting research infrastructures, resources, and data management.


The overall purpose of Gretchen’s present and future work is to inform open science and scholarly communication initiatives, as well as development of methods, services, and infrastructures for long-term information management and responsible data science.


With more than 10 years of prior professional experience related to librarianship and information management, she has also worked in an academic library, and as a documentation specialist for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope construction project.


Gretchen organized an important data and information sciences focused workshop with partial funding from the NSF, and after published a key paper characterizing the informational and data-related problems faced in the community of reserachers working on the subject of UAP.


https://directory.cci.fsu.edu/gretchen-stahlman/

Data Science & Technical Analysis

Michaël Vaillant, M.Sc.

France

Mssr. Vaillant is the founder of UAP Check, a global network that promotes public awareness of Unidentified Aerial—and Aerospace-Undersea—Phenomena (UAP) and fosters international research collaboration. As principal consultant at his own firm Meta-Connexions, he combines 19 years of advisory work for GEIPAN—the French space-agency unit investigating UAP—with expertise in data-science and innovation management (dual master’s degrees).


At GEIPAN he launched the world’s first institutional UAP website, built a state-of-the-art government database with automated investigative software for UAP identification, and helped triggering discussions of an automated detection-camera system that later became the backbone of the FRIPON fireball-detection network.


On the research side, Mssr. Vaillant co-authored the first quantitative spatial-statistics study of six decades of French UAP reports, testing seven environmental co-variables and demonstrating, at p < 0.05, that sightings cluster near polluted land and nuclear-risk facilities (Laurent, Thomas-Agnan & Vaillant, 2015). He also contributed to an earlier study showing how meteor explosions may seed cloud formation by agglutinating stratospheric aerosols (Courty, Vaillant & Benoit, 2012). Most recently, he was part of the team behind “The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP)” (Progress in Aerospace Sciences, 2025), a comprehensive review that synthesizes eight decades of governmental and scientific investigations and charts a roadmap for future research.


https://www.uapcheck.com/people/2/michael-vaillant

Divisional Leadership

Dedication. Expertise. Passion.

Our team of divisional executives and departmental directors reflects our strategic vision: positioning the Society as the leading critical voice and trusted source of information, analysis and knowledge production in contemporary UAP Studies worldwide. Our Departments manage both public-facing outreach projects and programs, as well as our relationships with academics, academic institutions and other professional organizations mission-aligned with the Society. Our team brings a wealth of industry experience, and a solid commitment to building the administrative infrastructure to support the growing community of scholars and other professional devoted to the serious, evidence-based study of UAP (broadly understood to encompass physical as well as experiential components).

Director Academic Outreach, Latin America

Mr. Esteban Corio

Argentina

Chief Operations Officer

Mr. Rafael Di Carlantonio

Italy

Director of Academic Events & Programs

Dr. Adam Dodd

Australia

AURA Program Manager

Dr. Laura Dominé

Japan

Director Academic Outreach, Europe

Mr. Francisco Mourão Corrêa

Portugal

Director of Publications

Dr. Justin Pearl

United States

Director of Research Programs

Mr. Peter Sforza

United States

Director of Digital Development

Mr. Zak Swenson

United States

Appointed by the C-suite executive leadership, the Society's Senior Strategic Advisors & Analysts work as subject-area or industry experts to help our leadership team with strategy, policy, and other foundational areas of the Society's operational and programmatic development. They are vital to the Society's long-term sustainability and institutional success.

Darrell Evans, Ed.D.

Senior Analyst, Institutional Advancement

Edward C. Wolff, Ph.D.

Government Engagement & Policy

N.J. Todd

Government Engagement & Policy

Michael P. Ross

Experiencer Engagement & Cognitive Systems Strategy

Supporting Team

Commitment. Cause-Driven. Tireless.

The Society has a number of supporting team members who coordinate efforts across the various Departments and organizational Units at the Society. These volunteers offer the Society their precious time and energy to help grow our dynamically-evolving organization. They have a passion and commitment to the cause - building the stable academic and administrative infrastructure needed to sustain high-level academic research and elevate public discussion on the subject of UAP. Without the support of these tireless team members, the Society could not be what it is: a community-driven, grass-roots endeavor.

Departments Supported

Digital Communications & Social Media | Publications

Greg Bishop

Senior Correspondent

Departments Supported

Community Outreach | Digital Communications & Social Media

Carissa Dahik

Community Outreach Coordinator | Social Media Coordinator

Departments Supported

Digital Communications & Social Media

Deborah West

Society Newsletter Editor | Senior Marketing Advisor

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Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors is responsible for the organization as a nonprofit corporate entity. The specific direction that the organization takes as a learned & professional society is shaped by the Society's Departmental Directors in regular consultation with its incoming and newly-appointed Advisory Council (separate from its standing Board of Advisors), which functions as a steering committee.

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President & Executive Director | Co-founder

Dr. Cifone earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he specialized in the philosophy of science (special focus on the philosophical foundations of theoretical physics). Now he focuses entirely on UAP Studies - especially the conceptual foundations of the emerging science of UAP (which he takes to include both physical and experiential dimensions). He founded both the academic journal Limina and the Society for UAP Studies, which creates much-needed academic infrastructure for interdisciplinary research, peer-reviewed publication, and critical, self-reflective dialogue (both public and professional) on this exciting new area of academic research. Starting in October 2025, Dr. Cifone will be in residence as a research fellow at the Center for Alternative Rationalities in Global Perspective at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany.

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Secretary | Co-founder

Michael D. Silberstein, Ph.D.

Dr. Silberstein is Full Professor of Philosophy at Elizabethtown College, a founding member of the Cognitive Science program and permanent Adjunct in the Philosophy Department at the University of Maryland. His primary research interests are foundations of physics, foundations of cognitive science and foundations of complexity theory respectively. Prof. Silberstein has published widely in each of these areas.

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CFO

Thomas Scheiding, Ph.D.

Dr. Scheiding earned his doctorate in Economics from the University of Notre Dame, where he wrote his dissertation on the economics of academic journals and learned societies. He is Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Hawai‘i, and publishes widely in economics. 

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