Carl Pankok, Jr., Ph.D leads the Human Factors team at Merlin Labs, an aviation technology startup. At Merlin Labs, Carl directs and oversees all human factors efforts for their R&D, military, and civil certification programs. Prior to Merlin Labs, Carl was the Human Factors Lead at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation for their Innovations Program, where he helped develop an optionally-piloted system for the Black Hawk and S-76 platforms. Carl has 15 years of experience conducting research, development, and evaluation of advanced aviation automation systems across fixed-wing, rotary wing, and unmanned platforms.