Jay Seidel

About Jay

Jay Seidel is a professor and director of the Fullerton Drone Lab at Fullerton College. He has always had a passion for aviation. As a teenager, he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol, where he flew gliders and immersed himself in all things aviation. This, coupled with his other passion for visual storytelling, led him to drones and to create the Fullerton Drone Lab at Fullerton College.

He is a Part 107-certified UAS pilot and has been flying drones since 2016. He is an AUVSI TOP (Level 3) UAV Instructor, a Skydio Certified Instructor, and helped the Fullerton Drone Lab become an ASTM Certified Training Center when he started developing it in 2018. 

Jay is a representative of the FAA’s Safety Team, serving as the Drone Pro for Orange and Los Angeles counties, working from the Long Beach Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). He regularly speaks to communities across Southern California about drone safety and education. He is also a certified master thermographer by the Infrared Training Center and trains students on acquiring and interpreting thermal images and data.

He authored the textbook Drones: Training and Applications to Digital Imaging (now in its fifth edition) and has served as a guest speaker and trainer at industry workshops and conferences. He served as the first president of the AUVSI California Chapter for four years and helped establish the chapter in the Golden State. The association focuses on advancing uncrewed systems and robotics and represents corporations and professionals in defense, civil, and commercial markets across California.

He served 12 years in the U.S. Army and the California Army National Guard, where he worked as a combat engineer at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and as a photojournalist at Los Alamitos, California.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Cal State Long Beach and his master’s degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton. He also teaches drone courses at Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Channel Islands. He has provided drone workshops at San Diego State University and various agencies across California.

In addition to teaching drone tech courses, he also teaches multimedia and visual journalism courses. He trains students in everything from writing and photography to audio and video (including drones and 360 video). He has worked as a journalist for more than 15 years.

He is also the founder and festival director of the Southern California Drone Film Festival, which showcases the creative work of aerial visual storytellers.

The Orange County native enjoys spending time with his family and friends, playing sports, traveling, photography, flying drones, 360 video/VR, and all things tech.