Brendan Hermalyn

Brendan Hermalyn is a highly accomplished scientist and engineer with a diverse background in aerospace, science, sensing, and instrumentation.

He has a profound interest in physics-based system approaches to challenging problems and has a track record of leading, developing, and delivering hardware and scientific research programs across various sectors including governmental, academic, start-up, and commercial fields.

His expertise spans from bespoke one-off developments to mass production projects, with a focus on systems designed for different environments like land, air, and space.

Brendan has been involved in the creation of a wide range of systems such as ruggedized visible and infrared timelapse systems deployed in challenging terrains like the Antarctic Dry Valleys, high-speed velocimetry measurements in laboratory and wind tunnel settings, automotive-grade instruments, microgravity fluidic experiments, and space-borne telescopes and camera systems developed in collaboration with NASA and the University of Hawaii.

Prior to the acquisition of Skybox Imaging by Google, Brendan served as the Space Instrument Systems lead where his team established the first commercial space camera production line.

He then took on the role of camera lead at Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous vehicle company, overseeing the transition to mass production of self-driving sensors.

In his most recent position, Brendan led the AV hardware group at Cruise, GM's self-driving car program, taking charge of sensors, compute, networking, and topology.

Brendan Hermalyn's educational background includes a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Planetary Astronomy and Science, as well as studies in Engineering, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, and Music at institutions like Brown University and Fairfield University.

Throughout his career, Brendan has held key positions in various organizations including Founder & CEO at Thalo Labs, CEO at Pythagorean Applied Research, Advisor at Heirloom, Director of Autonomous Hardware Systems at Cruise Automation, Camera Lead at Waymo, Space Instrument Systems Lead at Skybox Imaging, Senior Imaging Scientist at Skybox Imaging, Researcher at NASA Ames Research Center, Assistant Researcher at University of Hawaii at Manoa, Postdoctoral Researcher at NASA Astrobiology Institute, Postdoctoral Researcher at Brown University, and Instructor at Discovery Museum and Planetarium.