She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on autonomous fault-tolerant flight management systems, and she has collaboratively designed, built, and flight-tested novel unmanned seaplane (Flying Fish), flexible wing (X-HALE), aerobatic, and flapping wing aircraft. Dr. Atkins is an Associate Fellow of AIAA and a small public airport owner/operator (Shamrock Field, Brooklyn, Michigan).