Madison Cole earned his M.S. degree from Northern Illinois University in 1997 in Electrical Engineering with a double emphasis in Digital Control Systems and Digital Signal Processing. He also holds a B.S. degree, earned in 1993, in Electrical Engineering also from Northern Illinois University. Previous to MZA, he worked for Boeing-SVS in Albuquerque, NM for over 12 years as an Associate Technical Fellow, where he led simulation and modeling efforts for various DoD directed energy systems. He was a key contributor to the Air Borne Laser program, and author of many of the Fire Control algorithms used in the ABL primary missions. Over the course of his tenure at Boeing his teams developed simulation architecture tools that were subsequently leveraged by multiple programs from small tactical systems to multi-billion dollar weapon systems. Prior to SVS, he was employed at Reed-Chatwood in Rockford, IL where he was successful in converting their multi-million dollar line of textile capital equipment to PC and PLC control.

Matthew Heino holds degrees in physics from Kent State University and Western Illinois University. He has worked in electro-optical engineering and science for 12 years with Lawrence Livermore national lab, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing. He is an experienced horseman in the natural style, and volunteers at Walking in Circles Ranch rehabilitating abused and neglected horses. What's left of his time is used in astronomy, mostly astrophotography and satellite tracking, or searching for asteroids and comets.