The Honorable William A. Navas, Jr. was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, ASN(M&RA), on 17 July 2001. As the Assistant Secretary, Mr. Navas is responsible for providing Secretariat leadership and oversight on all matters pertaining to manpower and personnel policy--for all active duty, reserve, and civilian personnel--within the Department of the Navy. Secretary Navas was commissioned as a Regular Army officer in 1965 upon graduation from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez with a degree in civil engineering. His tours in the Army included command of a combat company in the 168th Engineer Battalion. After service in the Army, he joined the Puerto Rico Army National Guard and concluded his military career with an active duty assignment as the Director of the Army National Guard where he managed a $6 billion budget and was responsible for over 362,000 citizen-soldiers across 54 states and territories. Mr. Navas holds a Master of Science in Management Engineering from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He attended numerous military schools, including the Command and General Staff College, and the Inter-American Defense College, as well as the program for Senior Managers in Government at Harvard University. Mr. Navas has served as a member of numerous organizations including the American Veterans for Puerto Rico Self Determination, Minuteman Institute for National Defense Studies and the Army Engineer Association.
LtGen Frances C. Wilson is President of the National Defense University. Lieutenant General Wilson served as Commandant of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University, from 2003 to 2006. General Wilson has a BS in social sciences from Michigan State University and was commissioned a 2nd Lt in 1972. She was the Honor Graduate and recipient of the Leadership Award from the U.S. Marine Corps Women Officer Basic School. As a company grade officer, she served as an Air Traffic Control Officer at Yuma and Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Stations and as an Instructor at Marine Corps Development and Education Center's Instructional Management School. Following graduation from Amphibious Warfare School in 1980, she served as Staff Secretary, 3d Marine Division, III Marine Amphibious Force. As a field grade officer she was a Company Officer, Brigade of Midshipmen, and served as an Assistant Professor in the Professional Development Department at the United States Naval Academy. A graduate of the College of Naval Command and Staff, Naval War College, she served as a manpower management analyst in the Manpower Plans, Manpower and Reserve Affairs Department, Headquarters Marine Corps; and as Special Assistant for General and Flag Officer Matters, Joint Staff, and as Executive Assistant to the Vice Director, Joint Staff.
General Wilson commanded the Fourth Recruit Training Battalion at Parris Island Recruit Depot from 1988-1990. She had a Federal Executive Fellowship with the Brookings Institution before serving as the Marine Forces Pacific Requirements and Programs Officer. In July 1993, General Wilson assumed command of Camp H.M. Smith and the Headquarters and Services Battalion, Marine Forces Pacific. Returning to Washington, D.C., in 1995, she participated on Roles and Missions Coordination Group, Requirements and Plans, Headquarters Marine Corps before being assigned as Secretary, Joint Staff. General Wilson commanded the Marine Corps Base at Quantico and the 3d Force Service Support Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force. She then directed Manpower Management Division, Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Headquarters Marine Corps, and was the Marine Corps representative to the Secretary of Defense's Reserve Force Policy Board.
General Wilson has Masters degrees in education from Pepperdine University, psychology from the University of Northern Colorado, business management from Salve Regina College, National Security and Strategic Studies from Naval War College, and she has a Doctorate of Education from the University of Southern California. She also completed the U.S. Army Basic Airborne Course, Armed Forces Staff College's Joint and Combined Staff Officer School, National Defense University's CAPSTONE course, Naval Post Graduate School's Revolution in Business Practices, and Harvard University's JFK School of Government's Senior Executive Course in National and International Security.
Ms. Anita K. Blair assumed the responsibilities of Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Total Force Transformation (TFX) on 1 February 2005. As the DASN (TFX), Ms. Blair serves as the program executive for the Department of the Navy's human capital transformation agenda, leading efforts to modernize the management of the Department's total force of active duty, reserve, civilian, and contractor personnel. Prior to this assignment, Ms. Blair served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Military Personnel Policy. In prior public service, Ms. Blair chaired the 1998-1999 Congressional Commission on Military Training and Gender-Related Issues, and also served for six years on the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Board of Visitors, originally appointed by Governor George Allen in 1995 and reappointed by Governor James S. Gilmore, III in 1999. Before joining the Department of the Navy, Ms. Blair had been a lawyer in private practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia since 1981, concentrating in business law and litigation. She served eight years on the Board of Governors of the Virginia State Bar Section on Antitrust, Franchise and Trade Regulation Law, which she chaired in 1998-1999. Beginning in 1992 Ms. Blair was also Executive Vice President and General Counsel and later President of the Independent Women's Forum (IWF), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and public education on policy issues concerning women. Ms. Blair received her bachelor's degree in Classical Greek from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1971. She graduated in 1981 from the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville.
LTG William H. Reno, (Ret.) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Wexford Group International (WGI) in Vienna, Virginia. General Reno has more than 35 years experience in command, engineering, finance, program analysis and evaluation, human resources, strategic planning and marketing. He provides the top-level management and administrative support for all contracts at WGI. General Reno retired as Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (G1) of the U.S. Army and also served as the Army's Director of Program Analysis and Evaluation. General Reno served for five years as the Senior Vice President of National Operations at the American Red Cross where he was responsible for all Human Resources, Finance, and Business Management. He is a registered professional civil engineer, and he has served on numerous boards and commissions.
Laurel Allender, Ph.D. was recently named Acting Chief of the Crewstation Branch at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Human Research and Engineering Directorate (ARL-HRED) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. This assignment follows her decade as Cognitive and Decision Modeling Team Leader in the Cognitive Sciences and the Integration Methods Branches. Dr. Allender's recent research thrusts include: a) research and development of human behavior representations, b) cognitive neuroscience methods; c) human-robot-system-team interaction; and d) secure mobility issues for vehicle-mounted crews. She is also the lead of ARL's Collaboration Technology Alliance on Advanced Decision Architectures, Technical Area on Cognitive Metrics and Modeling.
Dr. Allender began her career with the Army in 1984 at the U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI) for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Fort Bliss Field Element where her research led to the development of an automated assessment capability for Patriot missile training systems. While at Fort Bliss, she was part of a team that first applied methods of the Army Manpower and Personnel Integration (MANPRINT) program, the Army's Human-Systems Integration system, to an Army acquisition program. After joining the Army Research Laboratory at its inception in 1992, Dr. Allender oversaw an innovative verification, validation, and accreditation effort, to provide the Army its first accredited human-system performance modeling environment. Dr. Allender received a Ph.D. in psychology from Rice University in 1987. She is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), currently is Co-Chair of the Conference on Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (BRIMS), is past chair of the Systems Development Technical Group of the HFES, and of the Manned System Modeling Subgroup of the Department of Defense Human Factors Engineering Technical Advisory Group. Recently she was named a member of a NATO panel on human behavior representation.
David L. Alderton, Ph.D. is the Director of the U.S. Navy's Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology (NPRST), Bureau of Naval Personnel, at Millington, Tennessee. He manages an annual research and development budget of $12M. Dr. Alderton has been with NPRST for 16 years which included a stint as the head of NPRST's Institute for Selection and Classification. Currently, he directs four research programs, encompassing over 40 projects that span all aspects of the Navy's personnel enterprise. Previously he worked five years as a behavioral epidemiologist for HIV/AIDS surveillance at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Alderton has a Ph.D. in psychology, with specializations in cognitive psychology, psychometrics, and quantitative methods. He conducted extensive research on the design, development, and evaluation of psychological tests for the selection and job classification of military personnel. He also conducted research on theories of intelligence, the structure of aptitudes, cognitive models of spatial and verbal problem solving, gender differences in aptitude, personality measurement, skill acquisition and construct validity. Dr. Alderton has over 20 years experience with computer-based psychological testing, having worked on the Computer Adaptive Testing version of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (CAT-ASVAB); he was instrumental in development of the tests, procedures, execution and evaluation of the Enhanced Computer Administered Test (ECAT) study (the largest validation of computer tests ever conducted); and worked on the DoD-wide Job Performance Measurement Program (JPM) linking test scores to actual job performance; and contributed to several national level survey and behavioral measurement programs. Recently, Dr. Alderton designed a comprehensive 5-year program (Whole Person Assessment) to revamp Navy enlisted selection and classification, augmented with a comprehensive series of data collections to understand the root causes of attrition and retention in the Navy.
Dr. Alderton is a scientific advisor to the Chief of Naval Personnel and the Commander of the Navy Personnel Command. He is the author of over 35 articles and book chapters, has served on editorial review boards for psychological and educational journals, and has given many presentations at national and international conferences in psychology, education and behavioral epidemiology.
Paul T. Bartone, Ph.D., Col., USA is a staff scientist at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Ft. McNair, Washington, DC. He is a native of Massachusetts, where he graduated from the University of Massachusetts - Boston (B.A., Psychology, magna cum laude). He earned a Master's (1981) and Ph.D. (1984) from the University of Chicago in Psychology and Human Development. Dr. Bartone was directly commissioned into the Army as a research psychologist in 1985, and has served continuously on active duty since. He has conducted numerous field studies of stress, health and adaptation among military personnel and their families, covering deployments ranging from the Gulf War to Bosnia. Dr. Bartone joined the faculty of the National Defense University, Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, DC in June of 2003, where he is a Professor of Behavioral Science in the Leadership and Information Strategy Department. Previous to that he served at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, as Director of the Leader Development Research Center, and as an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. Previous assignments also include five years as Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research) in Heidelberg, Germany. Bartone is actively involved in the profession of psychology, and is a past-President of the Society for Military Psychology, Division 19 of the American Psychological Association. He is a charter member of the American Psychological Society, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Bartone also serves on the executive committees of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, and the European Research Group on Military and Society, and currently serves as Consultant to the Army Surgeon General for Research Psychology.
Tanja F. Blackstone, Ph.D. is an economist at the Navy Personnel, Research, Studies, and Technology (NPRST), Bureau of Naval Personnel, at Millington, Tennessee. Tanja conducted research on multiple science and technology projects on retention compensation, recruiting, distribution and assignment, attrition, and military personnel planning and policy analysis. Her primary research interests are individual choice, auctions, incentive systems and compensation models. Her current research project models Navy enlisted advancement probabilities. She serves as science advisor and Office of Naval Research (ONR) liaison for NPRST, contributing to visioning, strategic planning, program management, marketing, and sponsor/customer relations.
Dr. Blackstone is the Supporting Technology Technical Manager for the ONR Manpower and Personnel Science and Technology (S&T) Program, managing three research programs: a) 6.1 University Basic Research Grant Program, b) Manpower and Personnel Discovery and Invention Program, and c) Capable Manpower Future Naval Capability (FNC), Acquire Enabling Capability.
David Cashbaugh is the Director of the Personnel Plans and Policy Analysis Institute at the Navy Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology (NPRST) within the Bureau of Naval Personnel. A retired Naval Officer with extensive experience in military modeling, simulation and strategic planning, Mr. Cashbaugh has been engaged in manpower and personnel modeling since 2000. His institute produced the data systems and modeling tools used by officer and enlisted community managers as well as strength planners for analysis such as accession planning, advancement / promotion planning, retention planning, selective reenlistment bonus analysis and sea-shore rotation policy analysis. He is also co-director for the Memphis-based enterprise Simulation and Optimization Laboratory (eSOL), a consortium of leading modeling experts dedicated to advancing the science of modelilng and simulation through research.
Mr. Cashbaugh was the Joint Staff chief mobility analyst for development of the Joint Vision 2010 strategic plan in 1992 and the Joint Staff lead mobility analyst for the 1993 Quadrennial Defense Bottom-Up Review (BUR). He was also lead mobility analyst for the first Joint Staff study on the impact of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on a theater level campaign - an effort that resulted in the reprogramming of $1 billion to WMD effects mitigation. David also represented the Joint Staff during the requirements determination process for development of both JSIMS and JWARS, acquisition programs designed to consolidate modeling and simulation across the Department of Defense.
Paul A. Gade, Ph.D., is a senior research psychologist and the chief of the Research and Advanced Concepts Office at the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. He received his BA in psychology from Hiram College in 1961; his M.S. in 1969, and his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Ohio University in 1974. A Vietnam era veteran, Paul served as a lieutenant and then captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1962-1966 as he served as a weapons controller at the Spokane Air Defense Sector, Alaskan Air Command, Chicago Air Defense Sector, and on the NORAD and Air Defense Command Operational Readiness Inspection teams.
Dr. Gede is a fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for Military Psychology. He is a past president of the Society for Military Psychology and in 2001 he was awarded the Society's Charles S. Gersoni award for outstanding contributions to military psychology. Dr. Gade has more than sixty publications including book chapters, journal articles, magazine articles, and technical reports. He is a past Associate Editor of the journal Military Psychology and currently serves on its Editorial Board.
Frank C. Garland, Ph.D. is the Technical Director of the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in San Diego, California. Dr. Garland has over 25 years experience in Navy Medical Research and Development, and has been the principal investigator of a wide range of studies including HIV in the military, health status of women aboard ship, cancer occurrence in military populations, and in many other topic areas. Dr. Garland received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in epidemiology and he is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. He also serves as the director of the NRHC Special Programs Office where for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery he manages a large portfolio of Special Congressional Programs directed toward medical research projects within and outside the Department of Defense.
Dr. Garland is a Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (USSD) School of Medicine. He is a member of the John and Rebecca Moores Cancer Center at UCSD, and the United States Military Cancer Institute. In those capacities, Dr. Garland is a world-recognized leader in the field of vitamin D and disease prevention.
Jay Goodwin, Ph.D., a Research Psychologist at the U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI) for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, is responsible for leading projects related to U. S. Army missions with a particular focus on issues related to leader development, leadership in Joint, Interagency, and Multinational organizations, and leadership in teams. Dr. Goodwin is a Team Leader in ARI's Leader Development Research Unit and is currently managing a 5-year project on leadership in the Leading Multinational Teams research program, focused on development of tools and techniques to enable leaders to lead and participate in complex, multicultural teams. In this capacity, Dr. Goodwin maintains regular contact with researchers at other defense labs, particularly with ONR and NAVAIR Training Systems Division (Orlando), and is currently serving on two Multiple University Research Initiative (MURI) panels related to this domain. Dr. Goodwin is the U.S. Army representative on The Technical Coordinating Panel (TTCP) Technical Panel No.11, and he is currently also a member a NATO research group (HFM-127) focused on command team effectiveness.
Previously, Dr. Goodwin was employed at the American Institutes for Research where he was responsible for working on and leading industrial/organizational psychology projects on a variety of scales, particularly in federal civilian and military settings. In addition to leading team-related research efforts, he served as a statistical expert for validation projects, and was a testifying expert on organizational issues and statistical analyses for employment litigation suits on behalf of the federal government. Dr. Goodwin received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University. He has published in journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Leadership Quarterly, Military Psychology, Group Dynamics, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. Dr. Goodwin currently serves on the editorial board of the journal Human Factors, and is an ad hoc reviewer for Journal of Applied Psychology, Military Psychology, and Human Performance.
Tonia Heffner, Ph.D. is the Team Leader in the Selection and Assignment Research Unit at the U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI) for Behavioral and Social Sciences. She joined ARI in 2000 and has held her current position since 2004. Dr. Heffner's primary research focus is the selection and classification of Soldiers and promotion of Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs) for both the current and future Army. Her current research is the ARMY CLASS project, a longitudinal validation of non-cognitive predictors (e.g., temperament, person-environment fit, situational judgment) for the selection and job classification of new Soldiers. As part of the ARMY CLASS research, the team also is examining assessment for NCO reclassification in response to operational needs. Her previous research resulted in products for the Army, including assessment items for self-development tools and the Soldier/NCO of the Year competitions, a classification tool for Basic Combat Training, and a selection tool for enlisted aides. Her previous research on the junior NCO promotion system resulted in policy changes being implemented now.
Prior to joining ARI, Dr. Heffner was an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. In 1989 she received her B.S. in psychology and, in 1992, her M.S. in human factors and industrial/organizational psychology from Wright State University, Dayton, OH. She received a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from The Pennsylvania State University in 1997. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Military Psychology, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Dr. Heffner is also the U.S. Army representative to The Technical Coordinating Panel (TTCP -TP3. She has presented at numerous military and psychological conferences and published technical reports and articles in journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Military Psychology as well as serving as an ad hoc reviewer for these and other journals.
LTC Carl G. Hover, Ph.D. is the Director of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The MOMRP includes research conducted at five intramural laboratories, two detachments, and through multiple extramural grants and contracts in two interrelated areas: force health protection and human performance optimization. This assignment also includes managing Congressional Special Interest research programs in support of the overall program objectives.
LTC Hover is an Environmental Science Officer in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. His military experience includes a variety of assignments including; Health Hazard Assessment Program Manager at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine; Commander, 172nd Medical Detachment, U.S. Southern Command ESO; Officer-in-Charge, Preventive Medicine Services (Atlantic) in Panama; and 1st Special Forces Group ESO. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Southern Maine, a Masters in Public Health from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University and a Ph.D. in Public Health from the School of Public Health, University of South Florida. He is a Registered Environmental Health Specialist with the National Environmental Health Association.
Gerald Krueger, Ph.D. has his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in engineering psychology from the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Krueger is also a graduate of the Army War College and is a certified professional ergonomist (CPE). He has 40 years experience conducting, managing and directing multidisciplinary research, measuring and predicting human operator performance. He is highly experienced in human factors design of both military and commercial materiel systems; and is a recognized authority on sustained human performance, especially of equipment operators experiencing sleep deprivation and fatigue during sustained operations.
Dr. Krueger (Colonel, USA, ret.) is the former military commander and technical director of the USA Research Institute of Environmental Medicine at Natick, MA. During his 25-year active duty career, Dr. Krueger served at the USA Aeromedical Research Laboratory, at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, at the USA Human Engineering Lab, at the USA Medical R & D Command, and as a military advisor for DARPA in Vietnam. From 1999 to 2007, Dr. Krueger directed the Wexford Group International's programs in Human Factors Engineering, Ergonomics, and Medical Research, where he provided a wide variety of scientific advisory services to organizations in the Departments of Defense, and Transportation. Dr. Krueger authored 100+ technical publications, and he makes formal speeches and presentations at numerous national and international scientific conferences, as he continues lecture on workplace ergonomics, equipment operator fatigue, worker wellness, health and fitness. He is also an adjunct associate professor of military psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
Jerry C. Lamb, Ph.D. is the Technical Director of the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) at Groton, Connecticut. He has responsibility for the conception and long-range development of an integrated research program, general oversight of NSMRL's research program, and representation of the laboratory to sponsors, at national and international meetings, and with other research institutions both inside and outside the Navy. Dr. Lamb has a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Connecticut; he studied computer science at the University of Rhode Island; and had a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT's Sloan School of Management. He has been involved for many years with submarine technology, simulator development, training systems, and human performance research. He worked at General Dynamics Electric Boat Division as a research scientist investigating human performance and information processing; he led research and design efforts in submarine command and control, training, on-board computer controlled displays, diver performance, and underwater research vehicles. He was Manager of Human Factors for General Electric's Information Systems worldwide. Dr. Lamb was SES Department Head for Combat Control Systems at NUWC with responsibility for all submarine torpedo and cruise missile fire control systems development.
Dr. Lamb previously was President and CEO of Ship Analytics in North Stonington, Connecticut, a simulator and training company specializing in ship bridge simulators and submarine training for military, commercial, and foreign customers, and General Manager of the Systems and Simulation Division of Contraves USA, a high technology simulation training operation in Tampa, Florida. He held positions in academia, including as the Dean for the University of New Haven's Southeastern Campus in New London, Connecticut, where he developed innovative approaches to the re-education of a technically skilled population. He developed a unique management-training program using computer-simulated case studies and wargaming techniques for diverse clients, including an insurance company, a hospital, and a Native American tribe. Dr. Lamb served as Dean of the School of Continuing Education at Eastern Connecticut State University and as Associate Dean of the University of Connecticut's College of Continuing Studies.
Michael P. Letsky, Ph.D. has been a civilian employee of the Defense Department since 1967 in various capacities involved with missile engineering, operations research modeling and human factors research. Dr. Letsky initially served as a Navy Project Engineer for the guidance and control section of semi-active and passive missile systems. He made contributions in dual-mode seeker systems and phased array radar systems design for the Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles. Dr. Letsky later moved to the Office of the DCNO (MPT) to provide Operations Research analysis support for development of Navy manpower determination models. He developed a non-linear programming technique to describe and predict behavior of the Navy's personnel inventory and its relationship with the national manpower pool. In 1980, Dr. Letsky became the Chief of Advanced Development Planning at the Army Research Institute (ARI) where he developed a 15-year plan for technology application to manned systems, operational performance of military units and training delivery systems. Dr. Letsky also served on the 1983 Army Science Board on Highly Maneuverable Forces. In 1997, Dr. Letsky became the Research Management Advisor to the Department of the Navy N1/CNP where he had oversight of MPT R&D, Studies Programs, Navy Personnel Surveys and the MPT Center for Naval Analysis Program.
In 1998, Dr Letsky moved to the Office of Naval Research to become Program Manager of the Collaboration and Knowledge Interoperability Program. The program is research-based and primarily funds academic grants seeking to understand team cognition and team performance. The focus of the program is on knowledge building and problem solving in naturalistic decision making situations. Research transition targets include ad-hoc, distributed teams, consisting of multi-cultural or multi-disciplinary team members responding to time-stressed scenarios and uncertain data sources. Dr. Letsky's education includes a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (1967 Northeastern University), an MBA in Operations Research (1971 George Washington University) and a DBA in Operations Research (1985 George Washington University).
Thomas M. McKenna, Ph.D. received his B.S. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Biology) in 1971, and his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Physiology-Neurophysiology) in 1979. He conducted research in neuroscience for 16 years, and served as a Program Officer at the Office of Naval Research for 19 years. His experimental and modeling research at Harvard Medical School and the University of California - Irvine concerned neural mechanisms of sensory cortex and the effects of neuromodulators.
Dr. McKenna is currently a Program Officer managing the Computational Neuroscience and Biorobotics program and he is acting manager of Cognitive Science in the Division of Life Sciences at the Office of Naval Research. He is responsible for development, funding, and management of basic research programs in neural computation, computational models of cortex, computational vision, biorobotics, omnivision systems, human activity recognition and human-robot interaction. These programs produce novel computational architectures and VLSI electronic implementations of large-scale neural systems, prototype biorobotic systems and intelligent video surveillance technology including omni-directional imaging systems for Anti-Terrorism / Force Protection. Dr. McKenna developed a major thrust in neural networks for mechanical diagnosis and served as team leader in the Machinery Diagnostics and Prognostics Thrust of the ONR Program in Condition Based Maintenance. He was the Technical Manager of the Coherent Analytical Computing Environment ACTD which developed agent-based technology for combined Ops and maintenance scheduling of Harrier aircraft - which successfully transitioned to the USMC and Joint Strike Fighter. He also served as an agent for DARPA programs in neural networks, biorobotics, molecular biocomputation, machine vision and human identification, and deception detection. Dr. McKenna is currently managing a portfolio of projects on Intelligent Video Surveillance for Force Protection and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) prediction. Dr. McKenna is the ONR lead for Biometrics, and he is recipient of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award. His most recent publication, entitled: "The Development of Cortical Models to Enable Neural-Based Cognitive Architectures" is a book chapter in Hecht-Nielsen, R. and McKenna, T.: Computational Models for Neuroscience: Human Cortical Information Processing. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2002.
Ray S. Perez, Ph.D. is currently a Program Officer at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Cognitive and Neural Science and Technology Division, where he manages a research program on technology - based education and training. His research program scope includes investigations of the use of various artificial intelligence methods and techniques to enhance the design of web-based learning, intelligent tutors, simulations, simulations games, and games to the application of emerging neurocognitive theories of learning and teaching. Dr. Perez has also been conducting research in the development of new theories and methods for the assessment of human abilities not only to be used for selection and classification but to assess training effectiveness.
Dr. Perez holds a doctorate and masters degrees in Psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles, he has over twenty years experience conducting and managing research in training. His experience includes working in several DoD agencies, the Army Research Institute(ARI),at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and DoD.
Hendrick W. "Henk" Ruck, SES, is Director, Human Effectiveness Directorate, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Dr. Ruck, known for his scientific contributions in the field of industrial and organizational psychology, was appointed an SES in May 1999. The AF Human Effectiveness directorate is a 1,000-person research and development organization with facilities at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Brooks City Base, and the Mesa Research Site, Arizona. The directorate's mission encompasses basic and applied research through advanced development in areas that include training methods; system interface design criteria; physiological, psychological and physical effects of combat environments; individual and team performance; and personnel protection. The technologies under development include those that support aircrew training simulators; life support equipment; crew escape systems; visual and auditory displays; biotechnology; logistics support systems; and computer-aided tools for designing and evaluating crew stations and other human-centered systems.
Dr. Ruck entered the Air Force in 1972 as an ROTC graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from Stevens Institute in 1980. His civilian career began at the U.S. Air Force Occupational Measurement Center in 1975. He worked at several laboratories, the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center, and the White House. Dr. Ruck began military service with the Air Force Reserve in 1975, and retired in the rank of Colonel in 2001. His career includes duty with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, the Armed Forces Staff College, Ballistic Missile Office, and Air Force laboratories. Dr. Ruck managed an AFRL division that researched advanced human interfaces, and later he worked as the Associate Director for AFRL's plans and programs, where he developed the investment strategy for the lab's $1.4 billion budget. He became Director of the Washington office, Air Force Research Laboratory, and Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology and Engineering, Washington, D.C. in 2001 before returning to WPAFB, Ohio to become the Director of the AFRL's Human Effectiveness Directorate.
COL Michael Russo, MD graduated from Princeton University and Chicago Medical School, and was trained in psychiatry at Metropolitan Hospital (New York), in neurology at New York University, (Bellevue Medical Center), and in sleep neurophysiology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He has studied at the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Bethesda, MD) and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (London, UK) and is certified by the National Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Colonel Russo publishes in the field of cognitive neurophysiology, sleep, neurology, and bioethics, and has over 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts. Together with Drs. Maria Thomas and CDR Dylan Schmorrow, he is twice guest co-editor of a Cognitive Performance supplement of Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine. He is Chair of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Sleep Deprivation section, on the Scientific Program Committee for the Aerospace Medical Association, an active member of the Sleep Research Society, American Academy of Neurology, European Sleep Research Society, World Congress of Neurology, and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at the Uniformed Services University (Bethesda, MD).
As a senior research neurologist, Colonel Russo is currently serving as military director of the Congressional Eye-Com Eye-tracker Research Program, a multimillion dollar, tri-service, interagency effort utilizing cognitive neurophysiology to improve operational performance outcomes. He has served as director of Aircrew Health and Performance at the US Army Aeromedical Research Lab at Fort Rucker, AL; as director of Neurosciences at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, MD; and as Commander, U.S. Hospital Soto Cano (Honduras). Dr. Russo is a recipient of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Award for Excellence in Military Medicine. He continues to practice neurology and sleep disorders medicine.
CAPT Kerry R. Thompson, Ph.D. is currently the Executive Officer of the Naval Health Research Center, San Diego and he is expected to take Command of the Center in the month of April 2007. He graduated from the University of Indianapolis with a BS degree in 1982 and MS in Physical Therapy in 1984. He worked as a staff physical therapist and soon after as Head of Sports Medicine at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove, Indiana. He received a direct commission into the U.S. Navy in August 1984. His initial assignment was as Assistant Head of Physical Therapy at the Naval Hospital at Long Beach, California.
In 1988, Kerry Thompson transferred to Naval Hospital, Guam as Department Head of Physical Therapy. In 1990, he reported to Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, CA as Assistant Head of Physical Therapy. There, he became licensed and credentialed in the state of California to perform electroneuromyographic studies and he was instrumental in getting the regulatory law changed in the state to permit physical therapists to perform EMG/NCV studies. In 1994, Thompson deployed to Zagreb, Croatia with Fleet Hospital Six as part of Operation Provide Promise.
Captain Thompson received his Ph.D. in 2000 at the School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy and Cellular Biology at Indiana University. In 1999, he reported to Naval Training Center, Great Lakes as a consultant to Commander NSTC to address policy and procedures for physical training and injury management where his research efforts resulted in a 65% reduction in stress fracture rates among trainees and the adoption of a newly designed work boot for the Navy. In his position at Great Lakes, he did consulting work for SUBLANT, Army TRADOC, EOD, SPECWAR, and the Department of Labor. In 2002, he was appointed Director of the newly established Strategic Training Analysis Cell at the National Training Center (NTC) to oversee all training related research. In 2003, he transferred to the Naval Institute for Dental and Biomedical Research where he served as the Technical Director of Research.
Karl F. Van Orden, Ph.D. is the Director of Operations/Scientific Director at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in San Diego, which conducts research and development work in the areas of human performance, medical technologies, health studies, medical surveillance and epidemiology. Karl received his B.S. in psychology in 1982, and his Ph.D. in Biological Psychology with emphasis on visual perception and psychophysics at Syracuse in 1988. He was commissioned in the US Navy Medical Service Corps in1986. He has been assigned to the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, MD, the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory in Groton, CT and previously served with the Naval Health Research Center from 1994 to 1998. Dr. Van Orden received his certification as a Professional Ergonomist in 1996. From 1999 to 2001 then-Commander Van Orden was a project officer with the Advanced Afloat Human Systems Integration Team of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center - San Diego, conducting prototype command and console development studies for shipboard air defense warfare. During 2001, he served as the Deputy S&T Program Manager for the Capable Manpower Future Naval Capability Program on an additional duty assignment to the Office of Naval Research. He returned to NHRC in 2001 as the Scientific Director, and served as interim Technical Director in 2004 and as interim Executive Officer in 2005.
Dr. Van Orden retired from the Navy in 2006 and joined government service shortly thereafter. His research interests have included visual perception, display design, performance under cognitive and environmental stress, psychophysiological (eye activity and EEG) changes as a function of operator state, physical performance, and health and readiness. Dr. Van Orden is currently a member of the Joint Force Health Protection Transformation Team's IPT on Joint Human Performance Enhancement, and is appointed as a Technical Decision Authority for ONR's Human Performance, Training, and Education Program. Dr. Van Orden currently spearheads NHRC's efforts to develop research and development performance metrics for the purpose of streamlining processes to improve production quality and speed.