On Wednesday, June 2, at 10:00am eastern, CAPT Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Chief Technology Officer for the Chief Engineer of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and former NASA Astronaut, presented the Office of Naval Research’s Distinguished Lecture. The title of her lecture is, “Repairs 200 Miles in Space”.
The lecture has ended. We will post the archived video as soon as possible.
Dr. Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force, recently presented the lecture, “Emerging Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Their Role in Future Military Operations and the Key Technologies that will Shape Their Development,” as part the Office of Naval Research‘s Distinguished Lecture Series.
As chief scientist, Dr. Dahm provides assessments on a wide range of scientific and technical issues facing the Air Force mission. His primary research and teaching focus has been in fluid dynamics, turbulent flows, combustion, and propulsion.
A laser that stops traffic? Yes, a new light tool called “driver defeat” will help soldiers slow approaching cars from a distance so they can determine if the driver is friend or foe.
It works like this: When a laser is pointed at the eye, the flashes create an “afterimage,” an optical illusion that limits a person’s sight for a very short time. It’s a little like driving into the sun, says Gordon Hengst, a research physicist at Brooks City Air Force Research Lab.
So, “if somebody’s driving a vehicle the natural reaction is to either slow down or stop,” giving soldiers that extra moment they need. Scientists are experimenting with the color, power and timing of flashes to make the laser a safe — as well as effective — universal stop sign.
Special thanks to the National Defense Education Program for providing this insider’s view of every day work undertaken by Defense Department scientists and engineers. For more awesome science, check out the LabTV website, or visit Lab TV on Facebook and Twitter! (more…)
DoD's Dr. Erin Fitzgerald contributed to the design of Computer Engineer Barbie.
Dr. Erin Fitzgerald is a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the Basic Science Office within the Office of the Director, Defense Research and Engineering in the Department of Defense, where she develops strategic plans for future basic research investments.
This January, I was surprise to receive an email from Randy Atkins, the Senior Media Relations Officer at the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Although I had worked briefly last year at the National Academies before joining the Department of Defense in September 2009, I had never met Randy. (I did know his name and voice, however, from listening to NAE Engineering Innovation podcasts.)
Even more surprising was why Randy had contacted me: he wanted ideas for what a Barbie doll would look like if she were a computer engineer!
It turns out that every few years Mattel announces a new career for Barbie, and then in turn releases a new doll fitting of that career. This year, the career was selected by online vote from five possible options: architect, anchorwoman, computer engineer, environmentalist, and surgeon. The vote was targeted toward young girls, but computer engineers and scientists—such as Systers (the world’s largest email community of technical women in computing) and the Society of Women Engineers—organized their own online “get out the vote” effort.
Dr. Larry Schuette, the Director of Innovation at the Office of Naval Research, is hosting a collaboration event on Wednesday, May 19th, to explore open innovation business models for industry and government and how they apply in each environment.
The event will examine how these models fit into new applications and how certain industry models can assist government processes. Each presentation will highlight why a model was introduced, how it was received, what incentives were used to get adopted, and the overall value to the customer.
We will be live-streaming this event from the blog, so check out the below agenda and tune in Wednesday for some engaging presentations on the newest business innovations available. If you would like to attend this event in person, please register to get all the details, agenda, maps, etc. (more…)
NRL scientists and R/V Cape Hatteras crew deploy the Deep Towed Acoustics Geophysics System (DTAGS) after it is outfitted with an aluminum landing plate. (Photo: Naval Research Laboratory)
Donna McKinney
Naval Research Laboratory
Scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center, MS, (NRL-SSC) and Washington, D.C., recently completed an investigation of the acoustic properties of the deep seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico.
Scientists on the cruise measured the effects of geologic faulting on the efficiency of acoustic wave propagation.
“Knowing the bottom loss-the amount of sound energy lost with each bounce off the bottom-affects how far away one can ‘see’ a target in the ocean using sound,” said Dr. Warren Wood, a geophysicist in the Marine Geosciences Division at NRL-SSC. “What we are trying to determine with this experiment is to what extent the ‘visibility’ depends on the direction we are looking.”
Craig Kaucher is the Chief Technology and Information Officer at Defense Media Activity.
Craig Kaucher is the Chief Technology and Information Officer at the Defense Media Activity. These are his personal views and do not in any way constitute an endorsement on behalf of the Defense Media Activity, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government of any particular commercial product or service.
Over the past decade, approaches to securing enterprise information systems have evolved from the secure bastion, through defense in depth, to include today the concepts of continuous monitoring and operations. Through this all, many newer, more powerful technologies have emerged and been integrated into various portions of the enterprise information assurance architecture. One particular aspect of information assurance, the password, which is often seen as one of the greatest vulnerabilities of information systems, still seems to be sticking around in some form or another.
Fortunately at the Department of Defense, the Common Access Card (CAC) has alleviated much of the pain of remembering multiple passwords. Unfortunately, the still-required password, as a backup to the CAC, if nothing else, is longer than ever. Combine that with the near infinite number of passwords that almost anyone uses to access anything from on-line banking to e-commerce sites to subscriptions, and the potential for mistakes or intentional bypassing (i.e., writing them down) becomes quite high.
This historical footage documents test flights of the U.S. Air Force’s X-37 Approach and Landing Test Vehicle, the predecessor of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV).
The launch of the X-37B OTV mission is set for today, April 22, 2010, from Space Launch Complex-41 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., with the launch broadcast beginning at 7:32 p.m. EDT. The launch can be viewed via webcast at http://www.ulalaunch.com.
The X-37B OTV will provide a flexible space test platform to conduct various experiments and allow satellite sensors, subsystems, components and associated technology to be efficiently transported to and from the space environment where it will need to function.
For more information about the X-37B OTV, check out the recent Bloggers Roundtable interview with Mr. Gary Payton, Air Force Deputy Under Secretary for Space Programs, and Lt. Col. Erik Bowman, 45th Launch Support Squadron commander, Patrick AFB, Fla.
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