AIRC-DAU Quarterly Research Forum

Speakers:

Dr. Dennis K. McBride, Director of AIRC in the Office of the Secretary of Defense

Dr. Dennis K. McBride is Director, Acquisition Innovation Research Center (AIRC), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (A&S), Acquisition Enablers.  Dennis has more than 40 years of experience at the intersection of science, technology, and public administration, including multiple levels of leadership in national security policy.  Dr. McBride served in uniform as a Naval Aerospace Experimental Psychologist at six nationally prominent high tech RDT&E laboratories and multiple headquarters – including as Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), tri-Service lead for Operational Medicine S&T at the Naval Medical Research & Development Command, Program Officer for Modeling and Simulation, Office of Naval Research, and extensive Additional Duties (ADDU) for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (C4I) and for the Deputy Under Secretary of  Defense for Advanced Technology. 

 
Dr. Dinesh Verma, Executive Director, Acquisition Innovation Research Center (AIRC), Executive Director, Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC)

Dinesh Verma is the Executive Director of the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), the first University Affiliated Research Center established by the DoD for Systems Engineering Research. In 2020, Verma became the Executive Director of the Acquisition Innovation Center (AIRC). He is also a Professor in Systems Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology as well as the Scientific Advisor to the Director of the Embedded Systems Institute in Eindhoven, Holland. Prior to this role, he served as the Dean of the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens institute of Technology (2007 -2017), as well as the Technical Director at Lockheed Martin Undersea Systems, in Manassas, Virginia, in the area of adapted systems and supportability engineering processes, methods and tools for complex system development and integration.

Dr. Philip Antón, Chief Scientist, AIRC

Philip S. Antón is the Chief Scientist of the Acquisition Innovation Research Center (AIRC) at the Stevens Institute of Technology. As a Pentagon interface in the between the AIRC and the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition ecosystem, he assesses the practical needs of the DoD, helps to envision and develop innovative acquisition research in the AIRC, and ensures the transition and application of AIRC results in DoD acquisition policies, guidance, practices, reports, and workforce development. Prior to this, Dr. Antón was a Senior Information Scientist at the RAND Corporation for 23 years, where he conducted research on acquisition and sustainment policy, cybersecurity, emerging technologies, technology foresight, process performance measurement and efficiency, aeronautics test infrastructure, and military modeling and simulation.

Mr. Tom McDermott, CTO, SERC

Tom McDermott is a leader, educator, and innovator in multiple technology fields. He currently serves as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, as well as a consultant specializing in strategic planning for uncertain environments. He studies systems engineering, systems thinking, organizational dynamics, and the nature of complex human socio-technical systems. He teaches system architecture concepts, systems thinking and decision making, and the composite skills required at the intersection of leadership and engineering. He has over 30 years of background and experience in technical and management disciplines, including over 15 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology and 18 years with Lockheed Martin.

Dr. Laura Freeman, AIRC Researcher, Virginia Tech

Laura Freeman is the director of the Hume Center for National Security and Technology's Intelligent Systems Lab director. Additionally, she is a research associate professor in the Department of Statistics and a faculty member of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

Her research interests include experimental design considerations in machine learning and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity analytics, reliability analysis, and statistical engineering.

Host:

David Gallop Director of Acquisition Workforce Education Partnerships, DAU

David L. Gallop is DAU’s Director of Acquisition Workforce Education Partnerships.  He serves in this Congressionally mandated position to enhance the capabilities of the Defense Acquisition University to support educational, training, and research activities, enabling acquisition missions of the Department of Defense. Before joining DAU in 2009, Gallop was the Director of Programs at Athena Technologies. He served in various tactical and acquisition positions in his 21-year Army career, including an ACAT-1C program manager. Gallop has PhD and MS degrees in Systems Engineering from the George Washington University.  

CLPs:

3

Event Survey: https://eval.dau.edu/jfe/form/SV_ePOtI66PnOCGn2K?EventID=613