Acting Chief

Principal Technical Advisor for Aviation Safety Management

In addition to serving as acting chief of the Aviation Safety Management Systems Division, Edwin Tait is an expert in the areas of aviation safety systems development, large scale software development, management of large multidisciplinary teams, and software estimation. He has more than two decades of experience working in systems safety for a variety of federal sponsors at the U.S. DOT Volpe Center including DOD, the Office of Pipeline Safety, and FAA.

More recently Edwin’s focus has been on implementing comprehensive system safety approaches and processes for aviation certification and oversight. His work has assisted FAA in improving safety beyond current levels through enhanced safety management systems and risk-based decision making (RBDM) practices and initiatives.

Prior to coming to the U.S. DOT Volpe Center, Edwin worked in private industry as an engineer and technologist for various high-tech companies, including British Aerospace. His research interests include the creation of system safety models, using AI to analyze aviation safety data, and improving software estimation techniques.

Edwin is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with a B.S. in Management Science from the University of Swansea (Swansea, UK) and a master’s degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (Amherst, MA).