About Nathan Bitz

Nathan Bitz is the Aviation Safety Officer for the Autonomy Research Institute (ARI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He leads ARI's Safety Management System for unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations, coordinating hazard identification, risk assessment, and safety assurance across the institute's research and flight operations.

Prior to this role, Nathan served 22 years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Commander, most recently as Assistant Chief of Staff for Safety for the Chief of Naval Air Training. Throughout his career he has been awarded three safety honors: the Chief of Naval Operations Aviation Safety Award and the Secretary of the Navy Safety Excellence Award for Aviation in 2011 and the Naval Aviation Readiness Through Safety Award in 2020.

Nathan holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.