Title: Chief Scientist
Company: Arcfield
Location: Lafayette, Colorado, United States
Geoff Crowley, PhD, Chief Scientist at Arcfield, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Scientists for dedication, achievements and leadership in Ionospheric Physics.
Dr. Crowley is recognized for his long and successful career in atmospheric and space sciences, spanning nearly five decades of expertise and leadership. Since 2023, he has served as the chief scientist at Arcfield in Boulder, Colorado, where he manages growth and business development, engages with customers to identify their needs, collaborates with senior management, and communicates directly with the chief executive officer and chief operating officer. Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, Arcfield has over 15 offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, supporting missions in cyber and space defense, hypersonic and nuclear deterrence, and warfighter readiness.
Among Dr. Crowley’s many responsibilities, he oversees both ground- and space-based scientific instruments, develops and launches small satellites, builds satellites for government agencies, designs ground-based sensors, and manages the operational aspects of government resources. He is recognized for his leadership in model-based systems engineering, mentoring both senior and junior scientists, supporting teams across various offices and presenting at scientific conferences.
Before joining Arcfield, Dr. Crowley was the founder, chief executive officer, president and chief scientist of Atmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates (now Orion Space Solutions) from 2005 to 2023. For nearly two decades, he devoted himself to building the company from inception to a workforce of 100 employees. Under Dr. Crowley’s guidance, the organization became a leader in the CubeSat revolution that began in the early 2000s and gained significant momentum by 2010.
During his tenure at Atmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates, Dr. Crowley and his team developed small scientific satellites that were successfully launched in 2008. Their work expanded to larger satellites for NASA, reaching sizes comparable to microwaves or small refrigerators. These advancements contributed significantly to the growth of the commercial satellite industry. The company’s success attracted multiple acquisition offers before it was ultimately acquired by Arcfield.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Crowley worked at Southwest Research Institute for 10 years, beginning in 1996. Hired as a senior research scientist, he became a principal scientist in 1997 and a staff scientist from 2001 to 2006. In these roles, Dr. Crowley advanced research in ionospheric physics and space weather phenomena, while leading projects that contributed to understanding geomagnetic storms and their impacts on global ionospheric conditions.
Between 1992 and 1996, Dr. Crowley served as a senior research scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He also excelled as part of the senior research staff at the Air Force Research Laboratory at the University of Lowell, Hanscom Air Force Base, from 1989 to 1992. Dr. Crowley’s earlier experience included serving as a visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research between 1986 and 1989 and as a research associate at the University of Leicester in England from 1985 to 1986.
Dr. Crowley’s academic foundation began with a bachelor’s degree in pure physics from Durham University in Durham, England, in 1978. He went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in ionospheric physics from the University of Leicester in Leicester, England, in 1985. Being the first in his extended family to attend university made these achievements especially meaningful for Dr. Crowley.
Dr. Crowley is actively engaged professionally through membership in several prominent organizations, including the American Meteorological Society. He is also active on several committees for both the American Geophysical Union and NASA, and is both a founder and executive committee member of the American Commercial Space Weather Association. Additionally, Dr. Crowley co-chairs the Space Weather Roundtable at the National Academy of Sciences within the National Academies.
As a seasoned researcher, Dr. Crowley has been a principal investigator on more than 100 grants and contracts for the U.S. Department of Defense and civilian agencies. His scholarly contributions include authoring more than 170 scientific papers on ionospheric physics and space weather. He is also an active reviewer of manuscripts submitted to professional journals. Additionally, Dr. Crowley has secured numerous patents related to ionospheric physics and bathymetric lidar technology.
Dr. Crowley has received numerous awards, including an Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Refereeing from Space Weather Magazine in 2012. He was also recognized among the Colorado Companies to Watch by Colorado Inc. in 2016 and received the Sebastian Sizgoric Technical Achievement Award from the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise in 2022. Dr. Crowley attributes his professional success to hard work, unwavering support from his family, particularly his wife, and what he describes as divine favor guiding his life choices.
Looking ahead, Dr. Crowley intends to expand his professional network while applying advanced sensor technologies developed at Orion Space Solutions toward new challenges, including launching additional satellites equipped with these innovations. He remains committed to building more satellites to support ongoing technological growth and to collaborating with teams to expand the reach of technology.
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