Rudolph Kalafus grew up in a blue-collar family, spent his university years around theoreticians, and worked with innovators and entrepreneurs. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He led advanced technology projects at the U.S. Department of Transportation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following which he joined Trimble Navigation in Silicon Valley to develop receivers for the Global Positioning System (GPS). For 25 years he chaired an international committee that developed standards for high-accuracy GPS services. He has received several awards from the Institute of Navigation, including the prestigious Kepler award for significant contributions to satellite navigation.