2021 STEM Hero Honorees

An active-duty Air Force officer, First Lieutenant Pablo Buenrostro is the Fuze and Warhead Branch Principal Investigator and Portfolio Manager at the Air Force Research Laboratory.

In this role, he executes $100M+ worth of research, from basic sciences to prototypes and demonstrators. He’s spent the majority of his career at AFRL working as a principal investigator for research ranging from air-to-air and reactive materials to warheads. His work impacts $110 billion or more worth of Department of Defense programs. He also worked as a portfolio manager of research covering hypersonics, selectable effects, hard target defeat, and emerging-and-pervasive technology. These efforts will transition to an additional $30B worth of DoD programs.

Lt. Buenrostro also volunteered for the Language Enabled Airmen Program, which sends participants into linguistically and culturally complex settings with the goal of enhancing language proficiency and understanding varied cultures.

A dedicated engineer, Lt. Buenrostro’s commitment and talent have earned a reputation as a dedicated engineer, a superb Air Force officer, and an exemplary model for scientists and engineers throughout the Department of Defense.