Dr. Annette Sobel is a former Major General in the Arizona Air National Guard, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Education, and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. Currently, she is the Director of Global Laboratory for Energy Asset Management and Manufacturing (GLEAMM), at Texas Tech University. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Executive for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Health Security Initiatives, at TTU. She is residency trained in Family and Community Medicine and Aerospace Medicine and is a Hyperbaric Medicine Specialist, certified by the U.S. Navy. As a physician-human factors engineer, she worked at Sandia National Laboratories as a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff and was a guest scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was a senior advisor to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). Dr. Sobel also served as Senior Advisor for Biosecurity Engagement in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense/Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Program. Presently, she is Chair of the Permanent Monitoring Panel for mitigation of acts of terrorism of the World Federation of Scientists, and is a Commissioner on the Governor Greg Abbott’s Texas Military Preparedness Commission.
Dr. Sobel served as a Major General in the Arizona Air National Guard, retiring in 2008 after twenty years of military service and serving as the first Director of Intelligence for the National Guard Bureau, immediately post 9/11 and during the Hurricane Katrina response. Trained as a military and civilian flight surgeon, she was an Army Astronaut Candidate in 1989. Dr. Sobel served in combat in Operation Just Cause and supported Space Shuttle Operations at NASA-Dryden Test Flight Facility during Operation Desert Storm. While Senior Flight Surgeon for the 57th MEDEVAC Detachment, Fort Bragg, N.C., Dr. Sobel was responsible for all pre-hospital medical care and training. She also served as the Assistant to the Chief, National Guard Bureau, as well as the Chief’s Advisor for Civil-Military Support during 9/11. Dr. Sobel served as Homeland Security Director and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Public Safety for the State of New Mexico from 2003-2005.
Dr. Sobel served a triennium of service on the National Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts of the USA. She is a Board Member of the South Plains Council of BSA and the Vice President Elect of Komen Foundation, Lubbock. She received the New Mexico Anti- Defamation League’s Distinguished Public Service Award, as well as a NATO award for career service devoted to understanding the science of weapons of mass destruction.
Dr. Sobel’s research focuses on integration of human factors principles into a wide range of systems engineering platforms to include synthetic aperture radar systems for advanced tactical fighters, virtual reality and robotic training platforms, unmanned aircraft systems, decision-assisting algorithms for emerging infectious disease response and medical diagnostics for pre-hospital care.