SERC Updates – April 2025

This sixth annual event welcomes paper presentations for traditional speaking slots and a new option for interactive sessions, which may take the form of tutorials or round-table discussions intended to co-create a product.

The longtime SERC researcher will expand her role as the network’s first Deputy CTO, by which she will “cultivate teams of researchers that can bring an innovative brain trust to bear on increasingly transdisciplinary challenges.”

In the DCTC pilot program, AIRC arranges summer internships for scholars with DoD partners. This blog post shares the excitement of a scholar preparing to serve with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division.

In a project sponsored by the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office in the DoD, Dr. Daniel Selva of Texas A&M continued his work on developing a cognitive assistant tool for training cost estimators.

Ms. Philomena “Phil” Zimmerman and AIRC Deputy Chief Scientist Doug Buettner led three workshops exploring how acquisition and sustainment can be transformed with improved structuring, access, and use of data.

Dr. Pradeep Lall of Auburn led SERC research on reliability expectations in mission-critical applications to understand survivability, failure mechanisms, and efficacy of supplemental restraints in mitigating the propensity for failure.

Dr. Laura Freeman of Virginia Tech and AIRC Chief Scientist Philip S. Antón continued their work developing a data analysis platform called DARCIE (Defense Acquisition Research, Collaboration and Innovation Environment).

Dr. Antón, Dr. Freeman, and colleagues from Virginia Tech outlined a strategy, guiding principles, and recommendations for a DoD Innovative, Data-Enabled Acquisition Strategy (IDEAS).

Dr. Carlo Lipizzi of Stevens Institute of Technology joined Dr. Antón and Dr. Buettner to analyze data and address questions from Congress on the use of Middle Tier Acquisitions and “what is being fielded at a speed of relevance.”

Dr. Robin Dillon-Merrill of Georgetown and colleagues Dr. Eric Burger and Ms. Erika Heeren-Moon from Virginia Tech collaborated to identify critical issues in the socialization of new technologies from the end-user perspective.

Dr. Mike Rayo, Dr. Amanda Girth, Dr. Laura Maguire and Ms. Miriam Balkin of Ohio State partnered with the Army Contracting Command to identify systemic pressures on the acquisition workforce that impede innovative behaviors.

Dr. Brian Mayer and colleagues from Virginia Tech and Stevens prototyped AI tools for the Army Contacting Command for tasks such as aligning documents to regulations and alerting admins and contractors of invoice discrepancies.