On this week’s MindSET episode, Leidos Vice President and Maritime Systems Division Manager Donnelly Bohan talks about her work and experience in maritime autonomy, or as her team calls it “big robot boats.” Donnelly tells us about her role working with Sea Hunter, the Leidos designed and built Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV), which became the first ship to successfully autonomously navigate from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and back without a single crew member onboard, except very short duration boardings by personnel from an escort vessel to check electrical and propulsion systems.
Donnelly has been the division manager for maritime systems for three years, prior to which she had a 17-year career with the company stretching back to the SAIC days. And while she’s carved out this niche career, it wasn’t what she envisioned herself doing when she left school.
“I thought I would end up in a leadership role in a hospital portfolio, and that didn't come together quite as I expected. I did some internships and it wasn't as I thought it was going to be. I ended up transitioning to work for the state of Illinois on a technology challenge grant. So I jumped right into cutting edge technologies.”
And Donnelly has never looked back.
She is immensely proud of the work she does, the team she works with, the technology they develop, and the role their work plays in keeping Sailors safe via the ability to use autonomous vessels in dangerous missions.
On today’s podcast:
The range of future maritime autonomy technologies
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