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Read for Free: Introduction to my new book Barons and Bros
gregautry.substack.com/p/introduction…
gregautry.substack.com/p/introduction…
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Greg Autry🚀 retweeted
Seems like a good time to point out that while honeypots work, the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies can often get what they want just by asking the Pentagon, National Science Foundation, or Department of Energy.
Consider Duke University Distinguished Professor of ngineering Yiran Chen, a recipient (with his wife, Duke ECE Department Chair and fellow Distinguished Professor Hai “Helen” Li) of over $50 million in @NSF funding across the last two decades, as well as millions more in U.S. Army, Air Force, DOE, and DARPA grants to investigate topics in machine learning, cybersecurity, drone warfare, etc.
In 2013 Li and Chen proposed a project called “NeoNexus: The Next-generation Information Processing System across Digital and Neuromorphic Computing Domains” and won a multi-year award for this AI chip design research that was overseen by an NSF program manager named Tao Li. Per @Kate_OKeeffe and @ChinaSelect, Tao Li was later found to have been working for the CCP as a talent program awardee while dispensing U.S. taxpayer funds.
The FBI has warned that these talent programs "pose a serious threat to U.S. businesses and universities through economic espionage and theft of intellectual property."
In 2020, after Li had won a follow-on NeoNexus grant (overseen by a different NSF program manager, Yuanyuan Yang, who also turns out to be a talent program awardee -- you can't make this stuff up!), Chen disclosed a relationship to a new Singapore-based company called NeoNexus, the corporate parent of a Beijing-based semiconductor company that Chen co-founded in 2021.
This semiconductor company, PiMCHIP, received the 2025 “Torch Technology Transfer Award” -- for leveraging overseas technology into commercial success in China -- from an organization co-founded by China’s Ministry of Science & Technology.
Perhaps it is for such feats that Chen received an “Outstanding Science & Innovation” award at the October 2025 annual meeting of the Chinese Association for Science & Technology, USA (CAST-USA), which @CherylYuuu calls a “united front professional organization.”
Chen has also co-authored 9 publications since 2020 with Shiping Wen, who led a project on “deep learning-based behavior recognition of moving targets” for China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), China's biggest missile manufacturer, which is on the Pentagon's 1260H list. One of their co-authored papers, from 2024, overlaps topically with a sub-award Chen received in 2023 from @DoWCTO and the @USArmy, but acknowledges funding from the National Key R&D Program of China. How efficient!
During the same period Chen was also appointed co-leader of a $24 million grant from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Office, on “inducing cyber and physical effects in unmanned aerial systems via cyber-electromagnetic convergence.”
I could go on -- but please, @AAUniversities, tell us more about how the NDAA shouldn't tighten up research security because it might “overly constrict the open research environment.” 🤦‍♀️ 🧵
Consider Duke University Distinguished Professor of ngineering Yiran Chen, a recipient (with his wife, Duke ECE Department Chair and fellow Distinguished Professor Hai “Helen” Li) of over $50 million in @NSF funding across the last two decades, as well as millions more in U.S. Army, Air Force, DOE, and DARPA grants to investigate topics in machine learning, cybersecurity, drone warfare, etc.
In 2013 Li and Chen proposed a project called “NeoNexus: The Next-generation Information Processing System across Digital and Neuromorphic Computing Domains” and won a multi-year award for this AI chip design research that was overseen by an NSF program manager named Tao Li. Per @Kate_OKeeffe and @ChinaSelect, Tao Li was later found to have been working for the CCP as a talent program awardee while dispensing U.S. taxpayer funds.
The FBI has warned that these talent programs "pose a serious threat to U.S. businesses and universities through economic espionage and theft of intellectual property."
In 2020, after Li had won a follow-on NeoNexus grant (overseen by a different NSF program manager, Yuanyuan Yang, who also turns out to be a talent program awardee -- you can't make this stuff up!), Chen disclosed a relationship to a new Singapore-based company called NeoNexus, the corporate parent of a Beijing-based semiconductor company that Chen co-founded in 2021.
This semiconductor company, PiMCHIP, received the 2025 “Torch Technology Transfer Award” -- for leveraging overseas technology into commercial success in China -- from an organization co-founded by China’s Ministry of Science & Technology.
Perhaps it is for such feats that Chen received an “Outstanding Science & Innovation” award at the October 2025 annual meeting of the Chinese Association for Science & Technology, USA (CAST-USA), which @CherylYuuu calls a “united front professional organization.”
Chen has also co-authored 9 publications since 2020 with Shiping Wen, who led a project on “deep learning-based behavior recognition of moving targets” for China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), China's biggest missile manufacturer, which is on the Pentagon's 1260H list. One of their co-authored papers, from 2024, overlaps topically with a sub-award Chen received in 2023 from @DoWCTO and the @USArmy, but acknowledges funding from the National Key R&D Program of China. How efficient!
During the same period Chen was also appointed co-leader of a $24 million grant from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Office, on “inducing cyber and physical effects in unmanned aerial systems via cyber-electromagnetic convergence.”
I could go on -- but please, @AAUniversities, tell us more about how the NDAA shouldn't tighten up research security because it might “overly constrict the open research environment.” 🤦‍♀️ 🧵
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Greg Autry🚀 retweeted
Is the lunar soil the same in the polar regions as in the previously explored locations on the Moon? I think there is a high probability it is not, and that rovers will be more likely to get stuck in the softer upper layer of the soil there. Please see the explanation below.
True. There are questions about the soil properties at the South Polar region especially in the permanently shadowed regions. Experiments that I did with several students have shown that thermal cycling plays a role in soil compaction in the upper layers of the soil, so in the Polar regions, where there is less thermal cycling, the soil ought to be fluffier. See the pre-print here: arxiv.org/pdf/1801.05754. However, boulder tracks, where large rocks rolled down hills leaving trails behind them, are not deeper at the south polar region than at the mid latitudes, suggesting that soil compaction is the same. My personal interpretation is that the soil is only softer in the upper 10 cm or so in the polar regions and boulder tracks are not accurate enough to distinguish those differences in such a shallow depth. Much lower ground pressure from a rover wheel would find this difference significant, however, so personally, I think there is a much higher chance of a rover becoming stuck in the polar regions. There is also evidence from the LCROSS impact that soil inside some permanently shadow craters may be stabilized by ice so that it maintained much higher porosity even at 2 or 3 m depth. I don’t think we have seen any boulder tracks across the flat ground in the bottom of those craters where the ice might exist, so I don’t think there is any contradictory evidence. We really won’t know until we get ground truth from missions to the south pole.
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My good friend, the Honorable David Kilgore gave me this poppy in Ottawa many a November ago. Today I thought of father, stepfather and father in law, who all served in Korea.
My stepfather ran away from his family farm at age 15 and joined the Navy in 1942. He saw action in he war joined the Army and was spun out with the Air Force. He stayed on through the end of Vietnam.
My stepfather ran away from his family farm at age 15 and joined the Navy in 1942. He saw action in he war joined the Army and was spun out with the Air Force. He stayed on through the end of Vietnam.
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Greg Autry🚀 retweeted
The Future Is Finally Here: Elon Announces He Has Invented Those Glowy Power Cylinders With Handles At The Top That You Push Into A Slot And Then Turn The Handle To Lock Into Place buff.ly/v4oUjw7
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Greg Autry🚀 retweeted
Heartbroken Eric Swalwell Learns Chinese Intelligence Has Been Seeing Other People buff.ly/MSU8g2q
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Greg Autry🚀 retweeted
JENSEN HUANG, CEO of Nvidia, calls the China hawk label “a badge of shame” and accuses hawks of “destroying that pipeline of the American dream.”
“It’s not patriotic,” said Jensen on the @BG2Pod. “Not even a little bit.”
No mention of how the CCP has abused Nvidia’s tech to tion of how Beijing abuses our visa system to steal basic and applied research. No mention of Xi Jinping’s “China Dream” to unseat America as the world power.
There is no win-win outcomes with a Leninist regime. You don’t have to like that, but telling the truth isn’t unpatriotic.
“It’s not patriotic,” said Jensen on the @BG2Pod. “Not even a little bit.”
No mention of how the CCP has abused Nvidia’s tech to tion of how Beijing abuses our visa system to steal basic and applied research. No mention of Xi Jinping’s “China Dream” to unseat America as the world power.
There is no win-win outcomes with a Leninist regime. You don’t have to like that, but telling the truth isn’t unpatriotic.
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This is a worthy GoFundMe by a true pioneer of commercial space. gofund.me/590eef893
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Good to see that the antisemitic Kristallnacht
protest and boycott organized by “Philly Bike on your Left” failed. Wish I could have joined the counter protest. There is no room for this hate on America.
Read more: trib.al/2qpvO4b
protest and boycott organized by “Philly Bike on your Left” failed. Wish I could have joined the counter protest. There is no room for this hate on America.
Read more: trib.al/2qpvO4b
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Greg Autry🚀 retweeted
Barons and Bros Belongs on Every Frontier-Tech Reader's Shelf . . .
Greg Autry's new book, “Barons and Bros: Leadership Lessons from the Parallel Lives of the Great 19th and 21st Century Entrepreneurs” asks a simple question: do great entrepreneurs like Andrew Carnegie and Elon Musk share traits or experiences that explain their success? To answer it, @GregWAutry pairs influential 19th-century industrialists with 21st-century tech entrepreneurs, an approach inspired by the Roman biographer Plutarch. Musk sits alongside Carnegie, and the book also sets Sir Richard Branson against Cornelius Vanderbilt, Palmer Luckey of Oculus and Anduril against Hiram Maxim, and Jeff Bezos against Montgomery Ward, who built the first home-delivery retail empire.
In the free Introduction, Greg calls the book "unabashedly positive." He argues that these builders made the world safer and better, and that their flaws don't erase what they contributed. The free Carnegie excerpt shows how this plays out on the page: a poor immigrant boy teaches himself Morse code by ear and turns that skill into a seat beside one of the most powerful railroad men in America. The book comes out February 2, 2027 from Post Hill Press.
Few people are better placed to write this exceptional viewpoint. At the University of Central Florida, Autry is the Associate Provost for Space Commercialization and Strategy. He arrived in 2024 to start a space commercialization program and to lead a university-wide effort to build the SpaceU brand. UCF, founded in 1963 to fuel the nearby space industry, is a natural home for him. Our community here on the Space Coast is very lucky to have Greg - demonstrated by, but not limited to Greg leading the College of Business's efforts to establish Executive and MBA programs in space commercialization.
Before UCF, he launched the world's first space leadership, business and policy program at Arizona State University's Thunderbird School. Earlier still, he studied the commercial space industry before any other management scholar had recognized its significance. He also teaches space entrepreneurship in a Graduate Certificate Program in Commercial Space offered by International Space University and Florida Institute of Technology (where $IonQ is placing a Superion 256 system).
Greg Autry's advocacy for making humans an interplanetary species goes well beyond the classroom. He co-wrote Red Moon Rising: How America Will Beat China on the Final Frontier, he served as NASA's White House Liaison, and he has twice been nominated to be NASA's CFO. Coverage of his latest nomination described him as keen on Mars, wary of China. That pairing captures his view of the frontier: it is an inspiring human project, and it is also a contest over who sets the rules. A view I completely agree with. He is also generous about who gets to take part, predicting that careers will soon be open to anyone who always wanted to work in space but couldn't get into an astronaut program.
I've followed quantum computing for well over a decade and actively, space exploration even longer, and “Barons & Bros” speaks to me because the two frontiers are so closely linked. Quantum sensing, secure quantum networks, and quantum-designed materials will all help carry humanity to the Moon and Mars. They'll be built by the kind of founders Autry profiles, people who spot the bottleneck first and refuse to play it safe.
I strongly recommend Barons and Bros to anyone interested in frontier technology, leadership, and the world we're building. It comes out February 2, 2027, and you can preorder it on Amazon (I’ve preordered a bunch of copies for belated Xmas gifts): amazon.com/Barons-Bros-Le…
Greg will have a few book signings on the Space Coast upon the book’s release.
Congratulations Greg for this wonderful achievement, your continued incredible work in our space program, including molding tomorrow’s leaders.
Greg Autry's new book, “Barons and Bros: Leadership Lessons from the Parallel Lives of the Great 19th and 21st Century Entrepreneurs” asks a simple question: do great entrepreneurs like Andrew Carnegie and Elon Musk share traits or experiences that explain their success? To answer it, @GregWAutry pairs influential 19th-century industrialists with 21st-century tech entrepreneurs, an approach inspired by the Roman biographer Plutarch. Musk sits alongside Carnegie, and the book also sets Sir Richard Branson against Cornelius Vanderbilt, Palmer Luckey of Oculus and Anduril against Hiram Maxim, and Jeff Bezos against Montgomery Ward, who built the first home-delivery retail empire.
In the free Introduction, Greg calls the book "unabashedly positive." He argues that these builders made the world safer and better, and that their flaws don't erase what they contributed. The free Carnegie excerpt shows how this plays out on the page: a poor immigrant boy teaches himself Morse code by ear and turns that skill into a seat beside one of the most powerful railroad men in America. The book comes out February 2, 2027 from Post Hill Press.
Few people are better placed to write this exceptional viewpoint. At the University of Central Florida, Autry is the Associate Provost for Space Commercialization and Strategy. He arrived in 2024 to start a space commercialization program and to lead a university-wide effort to build the SpaceU brand. UCF, founded in 1963 to fuel the nearby space industry, is a natural home for him. Our community here on the Space Coast is very lucky to have Greg - demonstrated by, but not limited to Greg leading the College of Business's efforts to establish Executive and MBA programs in space commercialization.
Before UCF, he launched the world's first space leadership, business and policy program at Arizona State University's Thunderbird School. Earlier still, he studied the commercial space industry before any other management scholar had recognized its significance. He also teaches space entrepreneurship in a Graduate Certificate Program in Commercial Space offered by International Space University and Florida Institute of Technology (where $IonQ is placing a Superion 256 system).
Greg Autry's advocacy for making humans an interplanetary species goes well beyond the classroom. He co-wrote Red Moon Rising: How America Will Beat China on the Final Frontier, he served as NASA's White House Liaison, and he has twice been nominated to be NASA's CFO. Coverage of his latest nomination described him as keen on Mars, wary of China. That pairing captures his view of the frontier: it is an inspiring human project, and it is also a contest over who sets the rules. A view I completely agree with. He is also generous about who gets to take part, predicting that careers will soon be open to anyone who always wanted to work in space but couldn't get into an astronaut program.
I've followed quantum computing for well over a decade and actively, space exploration even longer, and “Barons & Bros” speaks to me because the two frontiers are so closely linked. Quantum sensing, secure quantum networks, and quantum-designed materials will all help carry humanity to the Moon and Mars. They'll be built by the kind of founders Autry profiles, people who spot the bottleneck first and refuse to play it safe.
I strongly recommend Barons and Bros to anyone interested in frontier technology, leadership, and the world we're building. It comes out February 2, 2027, and you can preorder it on Amazon (I’ve preordered a bunch of copies for belated Xmas gifts): amazon.com/Barons-Bros-Le…
Greg will have a few book signings on the Space Coast upon the book’s release.
Congratulations Greg for this wonderful achievement, your continued incredible work in our space program, including molding tomorrow’s leaders.
Read for Free: Introduction to my new book Barons and Bros
gregautry.substack.com/p/introduction…
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Unfortunately I had to spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday at the hospital w. my wife (rather than say at nearby air show) but at least one of her visitors really enjoyed it!
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“Some people get their kicks stompin' on a dream.”
- Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon , recorded by Sinatra
(Gordon was my dad’s best buddy).
- Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon , recorded by Sinatra
(Gordon was my dad’s best buddy).
human civilization can’t even effectively maintain the infrastructure we’ve painstakingly built here on earth
imagining humanity colonizing the moon, let alone our solar system, LET ALONE our galaxy is so far removed from reality that it borders on delusional fantasy
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Greg Autry🚀 retweeted
Today is the National Day for the Victims of Communism. Communism killed more than 100 million people in the 20th century.
This memorial, The Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Prague, powerfully captures what communism does to the human person.
This memorial, The Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Prague, powerfully captures what communism does to the human person.
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I love when my author copies arrive! The 2nd edition of A New Entrepreneurial Dynamic gets a dramatic rocket upgrade on the cover. Inside you’ll find all my classic lessons for founders along with new content in a beautiful full color layout! At a very affordable price. Thanks great job on this!
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Order here: catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/engage/catalog…
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Greg Autry🚀 retweeted
The bravery of this young man is astonishing, and his persecution by the CCP is an outrage.
nytimes.com/2026/11/04/wor…
nytimes.com/2026/11/04/wor…
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Authors who have greatly influenced me over the years:
1. Robert Heinlein
2. Mark Twain
3. Isaac Asimov
4. Tom Wolfe
5. Douglas Adams
6. Ayn Rand
7. Kurt Vonnegut
8. Ernest Hemingway
9. JK Rowling
10. Arthur C. Clarke
1. Robert Heinlein
2. Mark Twain
3. Isaac Asimov
4. Tom Wolfe
5. Douglas Adams
6. Ayn Rand
7. Kurt Vonnegut
8. Ernest Hemingway
9. JK Rowling
10. Arthur C. Clarke
Authors who have greatly influenced me over the years:
1. Tom Clancy
2. Robert Ludlum
3. James Rollins
4. Gene Wolfe
5. Tim Powers
6. Timothy Zahn
7. Matthew Reilly
8. Alastair Reynolds
9. Clive Cussler
10. Ursula Le Guin
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