The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) will host a reception for UTSI graduates in the main lobby of the Academic Building from 3 – 4:30 p.m., May 9, 2016. Colonel Rodney Todaro, Commander of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex, Arnold Air Force Base, will be the guest speaker.

As the Commander, Todaro leads the largest and most advanced complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world. The complex employs more than 2,100 people and comprises 28 aerospace test facilities located at Arnold Air Force Base, as well as two geographically separated units, the Hypervelocity Tunnel 9 at the Federal Research Center at White Oak, Md., and the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex at Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif. The test facilities simulate flight from subsonic to hypersonic speeds at altitudes from sea level to space. All NASA manned spacecraft and every high performance aircraft, missile, most space launch systems and many military satellites in use by the Department of Defense today have been tested at the complex.

Col Todaro was commissioned in 1991 as a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. He completed specialized undergraduate navigator training at Mather AFB, Calif. in 1992. He has served as an operational and experimental flight test weapons system officer in the B-1B Lancer. He has also served as a staff officer at the Air Force Personnel Center, Randolph AFB, Texas; as the director of operations, and commander of the 419th Flight Test Squadron, and Director, Global Power Bomber Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB, Calif.; and as Director, Comparative Technology Office reporting to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Rapid Fielding, within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He comes to Arnold after successful command of the 412th Operations Group, Edwards AFB, Calif.

Col Todaro is a Master Navigator with over 2,500 hours in 35 different aircraft types. He is a Department of Defense Acquisition Corps member and holds Level 3 certification in Test and Evaluation and Level 2 certification in Program Management.

UTSI was established in 1964 primarily to offer AEDC engineers and scientists an opportunity to earn graduate degrees. The Institute’s graduates hail from all over the United States as well as from various other countries. UTSI is focused on defense and aerospace as well as automotive industries.

The public is invited and persons wishing to attend this event should contact Clara Ferguson at 931-393-7228.

Colonel Rodney F. Todaro is the Commander, Arnold Engineering Development Complex, Arnold AFB, Tenn.