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Pepperdine | Caruso School of Law

Greg McNeal selected to moderate White House drone policy session

August 2, 2016 -- Gregory S. McNeal, Professor of Law & Public Policy at Pepperdine University was selected by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to co-moderate a White House drone policy workshop discussion with participants from academia, industry and government.

The daylong event will begin at the White House and will then move to the Newseum for drone flight demonstrations and policy discussions. The event, billed as "The First-Ever OSTP Workshop on Drones and the Future of Aviation" will bring together government, academic, and industry stakeholders to discuss both the near and long-term implications of unmanned aircraft as an emergent technology; issues related to airspace integration; the potential of unmanned aircraft to enable high-impact research, create new jobs and industries, save lives, and improve the way government agencies and companies do business; and potential ways to further address safety, security, and privacy in this emerging field.

Dr. McNeal's session will focus on issues related to the future of U.S. drone regulations. McNeal and a group of government facilitators will help identify challenge areas related to regulation and issues where industry leadership or cross-sector collaboration will prove useful in enabling small UAS integration. Discussion topics will range from immediate-term implementation challenges for Part 107 and other near-term rulemakings, waiver reform, technical solutions for notice of operations, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, nighttime flight, operations over people, and more.

Dr. McNeal was previously appointed by the Secretary of Transportation to serve on the UAS Registration Task Force and was appointed by the FAA Administrator to serve on the Micro UAS Aviation Rulemaking Committee. In addition to his work in support of policymaking, Dr. McNeal serves as Chair of the Consumer Technology Association's Industry Standards Working Group on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (R6 WG 23) and as a voting member of the ASTM technical committee creating scientific standards to govern unmanned aircraft and their operation.

A report conveying the event's proceedings will be produced by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Foundation and will be released to the public to inform policymaking.

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