Jay Seidel

Jay Seidel is a professor and the director of the Fullerton Drone Lab at Fullerton College, where he trains pilots and helps to develop UAS workforce skills, as well as multiple professional certifications and degrees for drone operations. He is a Part 107 certified UAS pilot and an AUVSI TOP (Level 3) UAV Instructor who guided the Fullerton program to become an ASTM-certified training center. He has developed the country’s first drone piloting registered apprenticeship program and the West Coast’s first baccalaureate program in Drone and Autonomous Systems. Jay is a representative of the FAA’s Safety Team, where he is the Drone Pro for Orange and Los Angeles counties. He regularly speaks to communities across Southern California about drone safety, regulations, and drone education. He is the president of the California Chapter of AUVSI (Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International), where he brings together the state’s industry working in the autonomous field. A certified master thermographer, Jay trains students on acquiring and interpreting thermal images and data. He has taught drone courses at California State University, Long Beach, and California State University, Channel Islands, as well as trained diverse groups from various industries, including educators at the University of Texas at El Paso, surveyors at the Port of Long Beach, state conservationists, and sheriff’s deputies on drone operations. He has authored the drone training textbook Drones: Training and Applications to Digital Imaging, now in its fifth edition.