National Academies Press: OpenBook

U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment (2022)

Chapter: Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information

« Previous: Appendixes
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×

A

Committee Member Biographical Information

GEN Paul J. Kern, Chair, U.S. Army (Ret), is a senior counselor with The Cohen Group. He served as president and chief operating officer of AM General from August 2008 through January 2010 and serves on a number of public and private boards. Since retiring from the Army in 2005, he has held the Class of 1950 Chair for Advanced Technology at West Point, was a vice president for Battelle, and a director on the Anteon, ITT, EDO, Exelis, and iRobot Corporation boards. General Kern retired after almost 38 years with the U.S. Army as the Commanding General of the Army Materiel Command. The command of more than 50,000 personnel has worldwide responsibility for supply and maintenance support to the Department of Defense (DoD), manages the Army depot system, and conducts research for all the ground and rotary wing equipment. In June 2004, the Secretary of Defense tapped General Kern to lead the military’s internal investigation into the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a compelling assignment that he handled with integrity and resolve. Previously he served 4 years as the Department of the Army Military Deputy for Research, Development and Acquisition. In 1996-1997, he was the Commanding General of the 4th Infantry Division, Mechanized, where they developed the organization, tactics, techniques, and equipment implemented in today’s networked force. From 1993 to 1996, he was the Senior Military Assistant for Secretary of Defense Bill Perry and played a key role in international deliberations in South America, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and the Balkans. In 1991, he led the 2nd Brigade of the 24th Infantry Division in the attack into Iraq. He began

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×

his career commanding operational units as a platoon leader and troop commander in the Blackhorse Regiment in Vietnam. General Kern graduated from West Point in 1967 with a bachelor of science degree. He holds master degrees in civil and mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2006. He was a national security fellow at the J.F. Kennedy School and Harvard University and has been a member of the Defense Science Board, as well as the By-Light, Quantitech, Linquest, Aevex, FNA, and TenCate Advanced Armor Advisory boards. General Kern is currently the chairman of the Advance Functional Fabrics of America board and a member of the USA Rare Earth board. He has a unique career that blends technical expertise, combat operations, program management, policy development, and advisor to senior political leaders.

Dr. Jennifer A. Hitchcock, Vice Chair, is a professor of program management at Defense Acquisition University’s (DAU’s). In this role, she provides classroom instruction on DoD acquisition processes and policies and conducts mission assistance with DoD agencies to aid in the development and implementation of key acquisition and leadership activities. She joined DAU in August 2019, bringing over 30 years of organizational and leadership experience in military ground vehicle technologies, system engineering, acquisition, and program management. She is also a certified Executive Coach. Dr. Hitchcock previously served as a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) since 2011 with the U.S. Army. From 2017-2019, she was the executive director, Systems Integration & Engineering (SIE), at the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center, formerly known as the Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC). In this role, she was responsible for leading more than 1,000 associates and delivering vehicle system prototypes (including design and fabrication), concepts, modeling and simulation, analysis, systems engineering, testing, and force projection technologies to the Army. Her organization was also responsible for providing engineering, sustainment, reliability, maintainability, quality assurance, standardization, and logistics support to Army Program Executive Offices (PEOs), including PEO Ground Combat Systems and PEO Combat Support and Combat Service Support and the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC). Dr. Hitchcock was dual hatted in this role, covering many of the Research and Technology Integration (RTI) SES responsibilities for 2 years while the position was being filled. During this time, she worked with Army Senior Leadership, Congress, and the newly established CFT’s to realign $2.2 billion of science and technology (S&T) funding across the Army to focus on ground vehicle technologies for Army modernization priorities.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×

Dr. Hitchcock also served as the executive director, RTI, at TARDEC from 2011 to 2017 where she was responsible for leading the research and integration of the Army ground vehicle mobility, power and energy, survivability, robotic, software, and vehicle electronic architecture technologies. Dr. Hitchcock led more than 500 associates in six technical business areas and was the executive responsible for planning and executing technology programs the Army was pursuing. Additionally, she served as the U.S. Army lead for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Ground and Sea Platforms Community of Interest (COI). Dr. Hitchcock also supported the OSD lead Long-Range Research and Development Planning Program-Ground Combat (LRRDPP-GC) as the conventional team lead. In this yearlong role, she led the development of ground combat concepts for the OSD’s Third Offset Strategy. Dr. Hitchcock also served with distinction as the interim director of TARDEC from March thru August 2012 while the TARDEC director position was vacated.

Dr. Joan M. Bienvenue is the executive director of the University of Tennessee (UT) Oak Ridge Innovation Institute. As the institute’s first director, Dr. Bienvenue develops strategies for establishing new interdisciplinary graduate research in emerging fields, builds programs using UT and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s capabilities, and leads recruitment of faculty, staff, and students. Dr. Beinvenue received a B.S. in chemistry from Rivier University, an M.S. in forensic science at the University of New Haven, a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Virginia (UVA), and an M.B.A. from the University of Mary Washington. She was a National Institute of Justice Research Fellow while at UVA, where her work focused on the development of microfluidic systems. This work was summarized in more than 15 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and presented at many conferences; she is an inventor on five U.S. patents. In addition to this academic work, she is creator and conference chair for the annual Commonwealth Conference on National Defense and Intelligence, now entering its sixth year, and co-creator and inaugural chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Forensic Analysis of Human DNA. After completion of her graduate studies, Dr. Bienvenue was an ORISE postdoctoral research fellow at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Following this appointment, she joined the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL), as Committee Members the Validation and Quality Control Supervisor where she managed a team that provided quality control and oversaw the evaluation, validation, and implementation of new technology for DNA casework analysis in support of remains identification. She joined Lockheed Martin in 2008 and most recently served as chief scientist and program manager, in support of the development of rapid microfluidic DNA analysis systems. In June 2013, she

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×

returned to UVA as director of the Applied Research Institute (ARI) and was promoted to senior executive director in 2017. ARI serves the university and the defense and intelligence communities as a conduit to facilitate collaboration and innovation between the academia and government, and leverages UVA’s human and capital assets to support research, education, and training, with a focus on homeland security, national intelligence, and defense missions. Dr. Bienvenue is a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, nominated due to her industry experience developing technologies for DNA analysis as well as her expertise in leading the ARI.

Dr. Lawrence “Larry” D. Burns is the former corporate vice president of research and development for General Motors. Dr. Burns oversaw GM’s advanced technology, innovation programs, and corporate strategy. He was a member of GM’s Automotive Strategy Board and Automotive Product Board. Within GM, he personally championed vehicle electrification, “connected” vehicles, fuel cells, bio-fuels, advanced batteries, autonomous driving, and a series of innovative concept vehicles. He has been a leading advocate for design and technology innovation focused on the total customer experience and the application of operations research before his retirement in 2009. He is a member of the NAE and is the author of Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car—And How It Will Reshape Our World and a co-author of Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century.

Dr. John W. Fischer earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Lawrence University, his doctorate in organic chemistry from Northern Illinois University, and served as a post-doctoral research chemist at Ohio State University. He began his career with the Navy in 1984 as an energetics materials research chemist in the Research Department at the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California. After serving in several technical leadership positions on weapons related chemistry and materials, he assumed the position of advanced technology manager for the Tomahawk Cruise Missile Project Office. Dr. Fischer was appointed to the SES in 1998 and led numerous science and engineering organizations for Naval Air Systems Command, including the Naval Aviation Science and Technology Office, the Research and Specialty Engineering Department, and the Systems Engineering Department. In March 2009, Dr. Fischer was selected as the director of defense laboratory programs within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Research & Engineering). In this position, he was responsible for the development and implementation of policies for DoD’s laboratory system consisting of 62 laboratories in 22 states with an annual budget of $30 billion. His responsibilities also included leadership of DoD’s Technology Transfer Program,

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×

management of the Science and Technology Manager Acquisition Career Field, and policy development for the department’s S&T workforce. In March 2015, Dr. Fisher assumed the position of director of the Chemical-Biological Defense Division within the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and most recently, in February 2019, he assumed the role of technical director of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate. Dr. Fischer retired from a 36-year career with the federal government in September 2020 and joined the Energetics Technology Center as a principal scientist.

VADM Paul G. Gaffney II, U.S. Navy (Ret.), served as the seventh president of Monmouth University from 2003 to 2013; he is a president emeritus and a fellow in Monmouth’s Urban Coast Institute. He is counselor to the dean of engineering at the University of South Carolina. He was president of the National Defense University from 2000 to 2003. Prior to that, he was the Chief of Naval Research. He was appointed to the statutory U.S. Ocean Policy Commission and served during its full tenure from 2001 to 2004. In his military career, he headed the Navy’s worldwide operational meteorology and oceanography program and he commanded the Naval Research Laboratory. He is a member of the NAE and is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society. He was a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Ocean Studies Board and the National Academies Gulf Research Program Advisory Board. He chaired the Federal Ocean Research Advisory Panel and was the first chair of the Federal Ocean Exploitation Advisory Board. VADM Gaffney co-chaired the NOAA Decadal Ocean Exploration Study in 2013. He was a director of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc., for 15 years; through 2021. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, holds an M.S. in ocean engineering from the Catholic University of America, is a graduate of the Naval War College with highest distinction, and has earned an M.B.A. from Jacksonville University.

Dr. Merri J. Sanchez currently serves as technical fellow and advisor to the senior leadership of the Aerospace Corporation on matters concerning military, intelligence community, and civil space. She has more than 39 years of space engineering, management, national-level policy, and financial experience across government, industry, and academia. She has experience working complex international/multidisciplinary efforts, program management, crisis management, engineering, operations, integration, safety, root cause analysis, flight test, spacecraft development, risk management, threat analysis, and budget analysis. Dr. Sanchez served as chief science and technical advisor, Headquarters Air Force Space Command. As principal adviser to the commander on all matters, she was the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×

authority for all S&T concerning space enterprise vision, launch, ground systems, cyberspace, and multi-domain crosscutting areas. She drove space and cyber S&T investments, evaluated technical needs, solutions, architectures, and programs and advised on shaping command programs to ensure the infusion of S&T provided the best possible solutions. Dr. Sanchez served 28 years as a senior executive, manager, and engineer at NASA working the International Space Station (ISS), Space Shuttle, and X-38 Crew Return Vehicle. Dr. Sanchez also served as the NASA liaison to the commanders of the Air Force Space Command, Strategic Command, Northern Command, and North American Aerospace Defense Command. She was the key strategic advisor to the NASA Administrator of DoD space-related matters, including policy, operations, and research and development. Dr. Sanchez was senior director for the Space Systems Group at the Sierra Nevada Corporation in Louisville, Colorado, where she was program manager for the Dream Chaser commercial crew spacecraft development. She led development and implementation of a new strategy, organization, business area, and technical team, changing the paradigm for a human spacecraft development. Dr. Sanchez is a fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and served over 10 years on its board of directors. She has received numerous national, NASA, and Air Force awards and medals and was inducted into the Colorado Space Hero Hall of Fame. She is the author of more than 18 publications.

Major General John F. Wharton, U.S. Army (Ret.), has served the United States for more than three decades and has extensive experience in leadership, technology, acquisition, and logistics. He is currently a public and private sector advisor to numerous industries, universities, and governments. His focus is on technology acceleration in support of national priorities. General Wharton’s work originates out of the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a next-generation national security enterprise to foster an expanded defense technology innovation community of practice that incorporates DoD stakeholders, traditional defense industry, the start-up and venture capital communities, and the academic research community. In his last military assignment, General Wharton served as Commanding General of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) now Combat Capabilities Development Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. There he led 13,800 scientists, engineers, and support personnel at more than 100 global locations controlling 75 percent of the Army’s R&D budget. While there, he won and led five of the seven President of the United States (POTUS) National Manufacturing Innovative Institutes, a program to stimulate the nation’s economy by rapid technology development and transfer. He

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×

also ran the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), educational outreach, historically black colleges and universities, Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), and Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for the Army. He remains very active in national programs and smart technologies across all sectors to include infrastructure, energy, and broadband. Internationally, he advises and develops strategies for countries to position them and assure their economic stability and future. He is widely known in the U.S. Department of State, USAID, and the United Nations for his work in technology solutions in support of humanitarian assistance and future sustainable development goals. He is affiliate faculty for the Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities at George Mason University and on the Flag Officer Advisory Council and Leadership, Diplomacy and National Security Laboratory at Arizona State University. General Wharton has a degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the United States Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×
Page 73
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×
Page 74
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×
Page 75
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×
Page 76
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×
Page 77
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×
Page 78
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Member Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26413.
×
Page 79
Next: Appendix B: Data-Gathering Session Agendas »
U.S. Army Futures Command Research Program Realignment Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $35.00 Buy Ebook | $28.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

The U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC) leads a continuous effort to modernize and innovate to support future warfighters. AFC now oversees Combat Capability Development Command and has recently reorganized certain research offices, laboratories, and engineering centers. In response to this realignment, the Senate Armed Services Committee asked the National Academies' Board on Army Research and Development to examine these research portfolio changes and assess their impact. This report investigates and assesses the Army's strategy behind the realignment, discusses the issues with stakeholders, and makes recommendations to ensure the alignment meets with Army modernization priorities.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!