Remembering Eric Unger (Cohort '04)

Eric Jerry Unger (cohort '04) passed away September 2, 2018.

A native of Illinois, Unger attended Northwestern University, where he received a B.A. in mathematics and economics. After college he joined the U.S. Air Force, where he held several analyst positions. He received an M.S. in acquisition management from the Air Force Institute of Technology and was a distinguished graduate and member of Sigma Iota Epsilon, a national honorary and professional management fraternity.

He continued his Air Force career as chief of cost estimating at the MILSATCOM Joint Progam Office, where he directed all cost estimating efforts for a $40 billion portfolio of military satellite communications programs, before coming to Pardee RAND.

Unger finished his Ph.D. in just over 3 years, graduating in 2007 with a dissertation that examined the relationship between usage and operating and support costs for Air Force aircraft. He then moved to Ohio to be a tenure-track assistant professor and director of the Graduate Cost Analysis Program at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He taught master’s degree courses in cost estimation, stochastic risk analysis, and financial management while also conducting original research and providing consulting services to external organizations.

In 2012, he returned to Los Angeles as the cost estimating branch chief with the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base; he was promoted to division chief a year later but went on sabbatical in 2015 after his father passed away.

Unger is buried next to his parents in at the Benton County Memorial Park in Arkansas.