Timothy Bunning, chief technology officer of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), has announced his retirement after 30 years of work with the Air Force.
Bunning became AFRL CTO in March 2020 where he oversaw an annual $3.5 billion Air Force science and technology program and 6,000 Federal employees in the laboratory’s nine technology directorates, according to Bunning’s LinkedIn profile.
Before his appointment to CTO, Bunning was the directorate’s chief scientist – a role he held from 2015 to 2020.
Other roles Bunning held at AFRL include division technical director, first-and-second-level supervisor, bench-level scientist and engineer, and an ongoing research role throughout all of his various positions.
“A congratulations and thank you to our ‘Chief Geek’ Dr. Timothy Bunning upon his retirement!” said AFRL in a LinkedIn post announcing the retirement. “Dr. Bunning’s strategic leadership has shaped AFRL’s technological trajectory, positioning us to win the future.”
Bunning first became involved with AFRL in 1990 within its Materials and Manufacturing Directorate as a Ph.D. student at the University of Connecticut where he received an Air Force Office of Scientific Research doctoral fellowship.
He later earned his doctorate and conducted additional studies at Cornell University where he worked as an on-site contractor within the AFRL directorate for six years before he transitioned to civil service in 1998, AFRL said.