I searched on his name and Google gave him a top-of-list hit.
His website mentions wanting to rig a Cessna 152 as a UAV for an attempt to run flight experiments. I've got about 65 hours of stick time on these ... maybe an Aerobat variant would do. They're good airplanes, but a tad dainty for thunderstorms. I've done Search and Rescue (actually body recovery) when a Beach Bonanza tangled with a thunderstorm. Not pretty. The pilot who made that Bermuda Triangle flight was just plain lucky.
But as for the possibility of rigging a C152 for unmanned flight, I know where there is some equipment to do the job in an afternoon. Aurora Flight Sciences built it, and it runs with an Athena Controls GuideStar (now owned by Rockwell Collins). Aurora built something that would remind you of the inflatable autopilot from the movie
Airplane. It is essentially a bunch of servos and a control system that strap into the co-pilot's seat of their DA42. I built the hardware in loop simulator for this thing. It hooks to all the essential controls, manipulating the yoke, rudder pedals, throttle, etc, just as a human pilot would. The plane has flown this way, although with a human pilot aboard to satisfy legal requirements. It is technically "optionally piloted." The engines are aircraft diesels, with full FADEC control.
It should adapt to the C152, with servos left over (the DA42 is a twin with constant speed props so there are probably at least three channels to spare, a throttle and two props), but the Cessna will need mixture control that this particular DA42 does not. The control routines would be a straightforward adjustment of the control laws of the DA42 to the C152 to get it flying, and the same simulator setup would prove it out. The Cessna would also accommodate a human pilot for flight testing.
http://www.aurora.aero/Development/DiamondDA42MPP.aspx