Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering

Last week, Dr. Kimberly Sablon, Principal Director for Trusted Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Autonomy, was recognized as one of the 2024 MeriTalk AI Honors awardees. MeriTalk is a public-private partnership that engages Federal chief information officers, along with their industry counterparts and Federal IT policymakers, at the most senior levels of government. Held at Planet Word in Washington, D.C., the ceremony awarded 48 innovators who are leading the charge in harnessing AI’s potential for government agencies. The awards recognize individuals in government and industry who are helping agencies realize the transformative power of AI on agency missions through experimentation, adoption, management, and partnership. Dr. Sablon was the only awardee from the Department of Defense.   To read the official press release, click here: https://lnkd.in/eq52gbAc #AI #Innovators #DepartmentofDefense

Recently, Dr. Aprille Ericsson, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology, represented the Department of Defense at the annual White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) Principals Meeting. “The Arctic is a strategic region for the DoD as it provides defense from northern approaches and serves as a direct gateway to major world powers,” said Ericsson. “The annual IARPC meeting was productive as we continue to emphasize the importance of effective communication with our interagency partners, co-researching climate change impacts and co-developing long-term solutions to benefit the region.”

Introducing the Digital Engineering Body of Knowledge #DEBoK Community Calendar! This calendar features upcoming engagements within the Digital Engineering (DE) and Modeling & Simulation (M&S) community, aiming to foster collaboration across the DoD and drive DE practices forward. Practitioners can stay up-to-date on events from organizations such as International Council on Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech (INCOSE), National Defense Industrial Association - (NDIA), or the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics CPP (AIAA) (and more!) all in one place. The DEBoK is a valuable online resource established for DoD Services and Agencies supporting DE transformation. Have an upcoming engagement to share to the Community? Nominate it for the Calendar here: https://lnkd.in/eCiHKEmj #digitalengineering #debok

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We are pleased to announce that Keith DeVries joined the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering OUSD(R&E) as the new DoD Manufacturing Technology Director. As Director, he will lead efforts to accelerate the advancement and adoption of innovative manufacturing technologies that are critical to our national security and economic resilience. Most recently, DeVries served as the Deputy Director of DoD ManTech, where he played a crucial role in advancing the department's manufacturing capabilities. Please join in congratulating DeVries on his well-deserved promotion and welcoming his leadership in this vital role! Read his biography here: https://lnkd.in/dNZxAD2f

The @National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining has launched an enhanced CORE platform and introduced Roadmapper 2.0, a new data tool. CORE, a secure online platform, helps @America Makes members identify and utilize intellectual capital assets aligned with the Technology Development Roadmap. America Makes, a DoD Manufacturing Innovation Institute, benefits from CORE’s improved features, including mobile accessibility, custom reporting, and streamlined project deliverables. Roadmapper 2.0, unveiled at the America Makes 2024 Members Meeting and Exchange in August, offers real-time collaboration and project progress monitoring. It’s designed to make roadmapping dynamic and actionable, guiding stakeholders toward their goals with a seamless integration into CORE. These advancements mark a significant step in operationalizing data and enhancing efficiency for America Makes members. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eVnsThVh

The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) has launched its first credit product to provide equipment finance to U.S. businesses who need flexible financing to unlock growth opportunities, expand manufacturing, and modernize operations. To learn more about eligibility and the application process, visit https://lnkd.in/e33xZeGu

DoD Instruction 4245.14, DoD Value Engineering (VE) Program   Value engineering (VE) is a methodology used to reduce acquisition and ownership costs or delivery timelines, while maintaining or improving required functionality. VE is integral to supporting DoD’s national security mission.   R&E has released an updated DoD Instruction (DODI) 4245.14, DoD Value Engineering (VE) Program, to reinvigorate VE practice in the DoD.     DoD Components use VE to analyze programs, systems, services, products, and more to ensure they accomplish essential functions at the lowest life-cycle cost consistent with the required performance, quality and safety. Components retain their VE savings for allocation to other internal priorities to achieve a better value for the money. The instruction is available here. For more information on VE, visit its Community of Practice webpage: https://lnkd.in/ee358kad .   -----------   Link to WHS portal: https://lnkd.in/eCAXYWkE   Full document link: https://lnkd.in/eBKmT3yt

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." During the week of September 23rd, Dr. Kimberly Sablon, Principal Director for Trusted AI & Autonomy, was invited to participate in the FIRST Global Challenge competition, hosted in Athens, Greece. FIRST founder, Dean Kamen, has made Robotics a sport through this amazing opportunity for tech savvy youth. This sport now unites students from around the world promoting STEM – but more importantly, promoting peace and friendship that transcends borders.    During the course of this 'coopertition,' participants from countries like Haiti, Madagascar, Chad, Mozambique, Mexico, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago and more, worked together to design innovative ways to leverage emerging technologies to address food insecurity. It was inspiring to see how their cultural experiences influenced the way they solved problems and consequently conceived the resulting solutions. With programs like FIRST Global – that help students transcend their economic circumstances in order to participate – we have a chance to build talent capable of changing the future of national security.    Today, in spite of ongoing conflicts, nations like Palestine, Ukraine, Israel, and more, have prioritized their youth, because they recognize that hope for a future of peace – and responsible use of technology – rests with our future leaders.   #FIRSTGlobal #STEM #YouthinSTEM  

On September 18th, Christopher Collins, the executive director for the R&E office of Developmental Test, Evaluation, and Assessment (DTE&A) presented “Cyber Ranges and Cyber DT&E as a Continuum (dTEaaC),” at the International Test and Evaluation (ITEA) Cyber Symposium in Orlando, FL. Mr. Collins’ focused on how DoD cyber ranges must play a critical role in supporting the dTEaaC Campaign of Learning across the Capability Lifecycle by providing timely cyber data to enable decisions and aligning to the Digital Ecosystem. dTEaaC encompasses Mission Engineering (ME), Systems Engineering (SE), and T&E, to include cyber-T&E, in pursuit of data-informed decision making. Leveraging model-based engineering, digital threads, and statistical techniques to amplify cyber-T&E, cyber DTEaaC drives continuous mission validation across the acquisition lifecycle to deliver cyber resilient capability to the warfighter at the speed and scale of relevance. Mr. Collins’ was joined by Ms. Sarah Standard, DTE&A’s Cyber Technical Director, who served on the ITEA cyber workshop planning team, led a technical track on cyber resilience, and participated in a panel discussion “Cyber Ranges: Enabling Capabilities for Cyber Test, Training and Experimentation” with representatives from the Joint Information Operations Range, the Persistent Cyber Training Environment, and the Test Resource Management Center (TRMC).