Navy announces members of new S&T board
The Department of the Navy’s new science-and-technology advisory panel will be led by former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and convene for the first time on Sept. 22, the service announced.
Former Chief Naval Architect Howard Fireman will serve as vice chair and Maria Proestou — who is also a strategic acquisition adviser to the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition — will be the board’s “designated federal official,” according to a release.
Justin Norman, acting technical director for AI and machine learning at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in Silicon Valley, has also been tapped. So has Robert Work, the former deputy secretary of defense and undersecretary of the Navy who for years has advocated for leveraging artificial intelligence, unmanned systems and autonomy capabilities to enable the U.S. military to operate more effectively.
Other panelists include:
- Andrew G. Alleyne, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota
- Jose L. Arrieta, CEO, Imagineer; Former Chief Information Officer, and Chief Data Officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Jesse H. Ausubel, Director, Program for the Human Environment at the Rockefeller University
- Steve G. Blank, Adjunct Professor, Stanford University; Co-Creator of Hacking for Defense; Author, Four Steps to the Epiphany
- Lance Collins, Vice President & Executive Director, Virginia Tech Innovation campus
- Christine Fox, Former Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense; Former Director, DoD Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE); Senior Fellow, John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
- James R. Gosler, Former Assistant Director Sandia National Laboratories, National Security Agency Visiting Scientist; Retired Capt., U.S. Navy; Senior Fellow at John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
- Samuel Graham, Dean of the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland
- Chris Inglis, Former White House U.S. National Cyber Director, Former National Security Agency Chief Operating Officer; Retired Brig. Gen., U.S. Air Force; Visiting Professor of Cyber Studies, U.S. Naval Academy
- Thomas R. Kurfess, Chief Manufacturing Officer, Georgia Institute of Technology and Executive Director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute
- Cara LaPointe, Retired Capt., U.S. Navy; Co-Director, John Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy; Adjunct professor, Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service
- Gregory Robinson, Former Program Director of the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA; Faculty, Columbia University, School of Professional Studies
- Jocelyn Seng, Retired Maj. Gen., U.S. Air Force; Consultant, Institute for Defense Analyses
The Department of the Navy Science and Technology Board is being created to offer independent advice and counsel on issues and policies relating to scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine and business management functions.
“We are eager to have the [board] work with us to amplify existing initiatives and suggest new possibilities that will strengthen our warfighting capabilities,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said in a statement. “I look forward to meeting with our nation’s leading experts, many of whom have served in multiple roles within the government, academia, and industry.”
Dangiz said: “The board’s highest priority will be to work with leaders in the Department of the Navy to match new opportunities in science and technology with present service needs.”
The group’s first meeting and swearing-in will be held next week at the Pentagon and is scheduled to last three-and-a-half hours.
Del Toro will host the meeting and “be tasking the Board with topics to study so the Board can make their recommendations to the Department and provide guidance on the Department’s priorities and key operational problems in regards to science and technology. There will then be classified discussions on the topics that are tasked by SECNAV and strategy briefings to follow,” according to a notice published in the Federal Register.
