Danielle Bernstein is the principal director of the Federal Programs Division within the Civil Systems Group (CSG) at The Aerospace Corporation. CSG combines deep technical expertise with industry-leading innovation to help the U.S. government, allied governments, and commercial customers solve some of the world’s most complex systems engineering and integration challenges in high-consequence environments. Bernstein supports corporate strategy and business operations and oversees direct support to a diverse federal customer base including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) within NOAA, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Prior to her current position, Bernstein operationalized a streamlined approach to provide appropriate FFRDC support directly to the commercial industry in the national interest, providing a broad range of technical support to the growing U.S. and international space sectors. Bernstein also cofounded Aerospace’s Space Safety Institute (SSI) with Dr. Josef Koller and led the initial corporate-wide space traffic coordination (STC) initiative to coordinate thought leadership of subject matter experts (SMEs) across the company for optimum enterprise outcomes.
Prior to joining Aerospace, Bernstein served as the senior program director of the BAE Systems Maritime Services Division, where she led and directed customer-focused business operations technical services for a portfolio of programs for the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Previously, she was director, Maritime Training and Simulation Technologies at CSC, Inc. (divested as CSRA Inc.) and provided technical leadership and portfolio management of modeling and simulation (M&S) solutions. The M&S product and service offerings provided highly interactive, immersive ship handling training systems based on virtual reality technologies and hydrodynamic modeling of vessel behavior in a wide variety of maritime conditions.
Bernstein began her career at TRW, Inc. (acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation) as a software engineer supporting the implementation of a highly distributed, resilient communications system for the Department of Defense. She spent seven years as deputy program manager overseeing the operations of several contractor companies providing operational productivity tools to the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO’s) Operational Support Office.
Education
Bernstein earned a master’s degree in systems engineering from University of Virginia. From University of California, Irvine, she earned bachelor’s degrees in computer science and economics. She graduated from the Georgetown University International Executive MBA program and completed the Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management Executive Leadership Certificate Program.
Awards and Honors
Bernstein received a letter of appreciation from the chairman of The Aerospace Corporation Board of Trustees for her Space Traffic Management/Coordination presentation to the board’s Technical Committee. She also received a CSC North American Public Sector President’s Award for process improvement and a CSC Corporate Letter of Commendation for leadership in addition to similar achievement awards throughout her career.
