Lt. Gen. Robert Elder (USAF, retired) joined the George Mason University faculty as a research professor with the Volgenau School of Engineering following his retirement from the Air Force as the Commander of 8th Air Force and U.S. Strategic Command’s Global Strike Component. He currently conducts research in the areas of integrated command and control, operational resiliency in degraded environments, strategic deterrence, and the use of modeling to support national security decision-making. He also serves as a senior advisor to the Cyber Innovation Center in Louisiana. General Elder was the first commander of Air Force Network Operations and led the development of the cyberspace mission for the Air Force. General Elder also served as Commandant of the Air War College, and holds a doctorate in engineering from the University of Detroit.