Patrick Highland

Major Patrick DICE Highland was born on Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. He spent the majority of his life in Maryland where he attended high school and the University of Maryland at College Park. Major Highland received a bachelor of science in electrical engineering before receiving his commission in the United States Air Force through the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 2007. Major Highland then attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma and received his assignment to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska to fly reconnaissance variants of the C-135. During this time, Major Highland earned a master of engineering degree in engineering from the University of Nebraska. Major Highland served seven years at Offutt Air Force Base in varying assignments culminating as evaluator pilot in all C-135 variants at the base. Major Highland was then selected to attend the United States Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Following his graduation in 2017, he served two years as an experimental test pilot in the KC-46A, KC-135R/T, and KC-10A. Major Highland was then selected to attend the prestigious United States Air Force Test Pilot School Faculty Pipeline PhD program where he is now serving as a doctoral student in systems and industrial engineering with a specialization in human systems integration at the University of Iowa. Major Highland is expected to graduate in May of 2022 upon which time he will return to the United States Air Force Test Pilot School as a flight and academic instructor. Major Highland has 3200+ hours in over 50 different aircraft to include 289 combat hours.