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NSF Allocates Funds for EducateAI to Help Develop Future AI Workforce
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NSF Allocates Funds for EducateAI to Help Develop Future AI Workforce

The National Science Foundation is funding the EducateAI awards to develop a well-trained AI workforce for the future.

The agency said Wednesday it is investing an estimated $8 million in the Educate AI program, launched by its Computer and Information Science and Engineering and STEM Education directorates.

Educate AI aims to lay the groundwork for a future federal workforce of AI experts, starting their training from the K-12 level. Through the initiative, a national infrastructure will provide access to computational data, software, models and training materials essential for AI research.

The funding will be allocated to five projects, which will also benefit from the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot.

The awardees are as follows:

  • NSF Artificial Intelligence Entry Pathways
  • NSF Expanding the Undergraduate AI Talent Pipeline by Democratizing Access to Instructional Capabilities across Institutions of Higher Education
  • NSF Integrating Artificial Intelligence Literacy into Community College Programs
  • LEVEL UP AI: Developing Strategies to Increase Capacity and Inclusion in AI Education
  • Mobilizing CAHSI Institutions to Infuse Ethical Reasoning in CS Curricula through Contextualized AI Scenarios

Greg Hager, assistant director for CISE, noting the need for a diverse, AI-ready workforce, said, “Through the EducateAI initiative, we are investing in AI educational programs that both complement and amplify our continuing efforts to broaden access to AI research resources.”  

“These investments not only advance our commitment to fostering innovation in emerging technologies but also ensure inclusive access to AI research resources,” commented Katie Antypas, director of the NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure. 

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NASA & DARPA Collaborate on Orbital Satellite Servicing Capability Demonstrator
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NASA & DARPA Collaborate on Orbital Satellite Servicing Capability Demonstrator

NASA will provide subject matter expertise in support of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency‘s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites, or RSGS, program under an agreement between the two agencies.

The aim of the collaboration is the technological development, integration, testing and demonstration in geosynchronous Earth orbit of the RSGS servicing spacecraft, which is expected to advance the inspection, repair and upgrade of satellites while they are in orbit, NASA said Thursday.

The effort is expected to benefit from the expertise NASA has gained from various relevant efforts like the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 project.

Regarding the collaboration, NASA Deputy Administrator and past Wash100 Award winner Pam Melroy said her agency “is excited to support our long-term partner and advance important technologies poised to benefit commercial, civil, and national objectives.”

“Together, we will make meaningful, long-lasting contributions to the nation’s in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities,” Melroy added.

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US Navy Supply Chain Software Modernization Underway Through New NAVSUP Unit
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US Navy Supply Chain Software Modernization Underway Through New NAVSUP Unit

The Naval Supply Systems Command’s Business Systems Center is banking on its newly formed modernization solutions department for custom software solutions to enhance the U.S. Navy’s supply chain information network. 

Capt. Juan Carlos Uribe, NAVSUP BSC commanding officer, called the new unit’s formation an “integrated approach” providing many advantages, including the capability for rapid software deployment, DVIDS reported.

Launched on Aug. 25, the new BSC department distributes its functions among three divisions, with one focused on custom platforms and services, such as developing and implementing tools and procedures for DevSecOps.

Another division is in charge of providing no-code/low-code platforms geared for accelerating enterprise-wide adoption while ensuring conformance with industry standards.  

The department’s third division handles robotic process automation to boost the efficiency and accuracy of repetitive and rule-based procedures. NAVSUP is currently looking into 15 software application robots, with six already cleared, to support the Navy’s supply chain enterprise.  

Besides supply chain management, NAVSUP BSC’s organization has been streamlined to meet the evolving Navy information systems requirements in logistics, transportation, finance and accounting.  

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How a ‘Digital Village’ Shaped Intel Community’s IT Vision
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How a ‘Digital Village’ Shaped Intel Community’s IT Vision

The Intelligence Community achieved a significant milestone in its digital transformation journey with the May release of the Vision for the IC Information Environment. This comprehensive document lays out specific goals to guide the community toward information technology excellence, and according to IC Chief Information Officer Adele Merritt, it took a “digital village” to make it happen.

How a ‘Digital Village’ Shaped Intel Community’s IT Vision

Learn about the IC’s efforts to revolutionize its IT capabilities at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Intel Summit on Sept. 19, where government and industry leaders will come together to tackle the IC’s top challenges and priorities. To learn more and register for the event, click here.

“We [designed it] in a very collaborative way because we recognized that we couldn’t write a roadmap and dictate to everybody where they needed to go,” Merritt said during a webinar hosted by the Intelligence & National Security Alliance in August. 

IC Turns to Industry Partners

To create the document, the IC reached beyond its 18 components and extended a hand to the private sector, which the organization’s IT leadership recognized for its long history as a partner to the U.S. government. This experience, said Merritt, made it clear that industry could help the IC tackle its IT challenges, many of which it shares with other agencies.

Building the roadmap began “with an industry-informed look at the landscape.” To gain a commercial perspective, the IC asked its partners to take a survey about “where industry feels that they are going in the future.”

“We needed to be informed by their missions, by the technology that they think they need for their future needs,” she said.

The responses were instrumental in determining the timeline for the roadmap, which, after much deliberation, was set to five years.

“We looked at one year, two years, five years and 10 years out, and when we were developing the scope for the roadmap, we didn’t want it to be science fiction,” Merritt explained. “We also didn’t want to make it two years because that was too close — we needed this to be a strategic planning document.”

These conversations also helped the IC consolidate the roadmap’s objectives. 

“We decided that we could really only handle five focus areas, maybe with five sub areas to it, and when you see the final document, it has five focus areas with a collection of 19 key initiatives,” said Merritt. “We realized that if we were biting off more than that, we might not have a chance of achieving them.”

Accessibility was a major consideration as the IC worked through this process. The roadmap was made available online, which “was done by design.”

“We need to be talking with our partners at an unclassified level, letting them know where we’re going so there’s not a classified compendium of this,” said Merritt. “This was not written on the high side and downgraded for the low side — we designed this from the beginning to be available and accessible to the public.”

Learn More About Intel Community’s IT Transformation

How a ‘Digital Village’ Shaped Intel Community’s IT Vision
Adele Merritt delivers a keynote address at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 CIO Summit.

Numerous IC officials and industry experts will gather at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Intel Summit to discuss current and future IC goals. The event will feature numerous IT leaders and include a panel discussion on how the IC can accelerate IT modernization. To gain access to all the 2024 Intel Summit has to offer, register to attend the event on the Potomac Officers Club website.

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Office of National Cyber Director Unveils Service for America Hiring Sprint
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Office of National Cyber Director Unveils Service for America Hiring Sprint

The White House Office of the National Cyber Director, or ONCD, has launched a hiring sprint, called Service for America, to link U.S. citizens to cybersecurity, technology and artificial intelligence jobs as part of efforts to protect national security while helping Americans chart a career path.

In a blog post published Wednesday, National Cyber Director Harry Coker wrote that ONCD is partnering with the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management on the recruitment sprint.

According to Coker, there are about 500,000 open cyber jobs in the U.S., highlighting the country’s critical need for cyber talent.

“ONCD and its partners will be sharing information about career fairs, job postings, and other resources to connect job seekers with employers and help them on their journey into cyber,” he wrote.

The cyber chief noted that his office has promoted best practices to make cyber jobs more accessible as part of the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, such as removing unnecessary degree requirements, transitioning to a skills-based approach and expanding work-based learning.

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National Labor Relations Board to Receive Technology Modernization Fund Investment
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National Labor Relations Board to Receive Technology Modernization Fund Investment

The National Labor Relations Board will receive an investment from the Technology Modernization Fund to modernize its case management system by implementing a cloud-based platform designed to facilitate the processing of labor disputes.

The General Services Administration said the $23 million TMF investment will support the development of e-filing capabilities to speed up the submission of labor-related documents and improve access to case statuses and critical data.

The modernization effort will also include the adoption of data analytics tools to help identify trends and better allocate resources and advance scalability to streamline the integration of future tech advancements in response to evolving labor requirements.

“This investment exemplifies the transformative power of strategic IT modernization,” said Clare Martorana, chair of the TMF Board and federal chief information officer. 

“By leveraging TMF, we’ve accelerated NLRB’s digital transformation, significantly enhancing its operational capabilities. The shift to a cloud-based solution isn’t just replacing legacy infrastructure – it’s unlocking new levels of scalability, security, and accessibility,” added Martorana, a previous Wash100 awardee.

In 2023, NLRB reportedly processed more than 22,000 cases and recovered over $56 million for workers.

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US, International Agencies Release Advisory on Russian Military Threat Actors
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US, International Agencies Release Advisory on Russian Military Threat Actors

The National Security Agency, FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and international allies have issued a joint advisory on a group of Russian military cyberthreat actors targeting critical infrastructure in the U.S. and abroad as part of efforts to conduct espionage, reputational harm and sabotage.

NSA said Thursday the cyber actors linked to the Russian GRU Unit 29155 are responsible for deploying the WhisperGate malware against victim organizations in Ukraine as early as January 2022 and have performed malicious computer network operations against several NATO member countries.

According to the advisory, the malicious actors’ activities include data exfiltration, infrastructure scanning, data leak operations and website defacements.

Since early 2022, the threat actors have been focused on disrupting efforts to deliver aid to Ukraine.

The advisory includes recommendations to mitigate malicious cyber activities, such as prioritizing routine system updates and remediating known exploited vulnerabilities, segmenting networks and enabling phishing-resistant multifactor authentication for all externally facing account services.

POC - 2024 Intel Summit

Register here to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Intel Summit on Sept. 19 and hear top U.S. intelligence community officials and industry executives discuss the challenges, opportunities and innovation shaping the future of American intelligence.

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Telos Adds Eight New TSA PreCheck Enrollment Centers
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Telos Adds Eight New TSA PreCheck Enrollment Centers

Telos Corporation has opened eight new enrollment centers across the United States for the Transportation Security Administration PreCheck program.

The TSA enrollment sites, which started operating on Monday, are at Office Depot locations in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, Telos said.

With the facilities’ opening, a total of 99 TSA PreCheck enrollment locations are now serving travelers, the company added, noting that the new centers reflect ongoing efforts to expand the program’s nationwide reach.

According to Telos Chairman and CEO John Wood, the centers will deliver a convenient TSA PreCheck enrollment experience to the public.

“Telos has long been a trusted security partner to government agencies and highly regulated businesses,” he stressed.

Travelers using the service will enjoy a hassle-free experience as they get to wear their shoes, belts and light jackets during security screening, leading to a waiting time of less than 10 minutes at airport checkpoints, Telos noted.

Customer convenience will be further enhanced as more locations will be launched within 2024, with the centers implementing extended operating hours for enrollment and renewals, the company added.

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Savannah River National Laboratory, Antares Collaborate to Develop Microreactors
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Savannah River National Laboratory, Antares Collaborate to Develop Microreactors

Savannah River National Laboratory and Antares Nuclear, a multi-disciplinary nuclear technology company, are collaborating through a cooperative research and development agreement to accelerate the development and utilization of small reactor-based power systems. 

SRNL said Tuesday the two organizations will work together on key areas necessary to enhance the microreactors and enable them to generate power for critical U.S. infrastructure. The project also intends to develop small nuclear reactors for national defense and commercial uses.

Under the CRADA, SRNL and Antares will do the needed research and development concerning fuel cycle management, modular facility deployment, specialized engineering and security considerations.

Bill Bates, deputy associate lab director of Environmental and Legacy Management, expressed his excitement over the agreement with Antares, saying, “Part of our role as a national lab is to support industry partners in efforts to mature their technologies and ultimately contribute to their successful implementation.”

Antares CEO Jordan Bramble said of the partnership, “Together, we’ll work to address critical operational energy needs, from domestic natural disaster response to preparedness for U.S. forces and installation power at austere locations.”

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GSA’s 10x Program Sets Sights on ‘Moonshots’ With 10x Concepts Framework
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GSA’s 10x Program Sets Sights on ‘Moonshots’ With 10x Concepts Framework

The General Services Administration’s 10x program has launched a new framework, called 10x Concepts, as part of efforts to focus on and address bigger, promising ideas, or “moonshots,” that could lead to transformative breakthroughs and deliver value to the public and government partners.

10x said Tuesday the Concept Area will enable the program to focus on a single problem area over a specific time period, enabling it to build long-term relationships with agency partners, experts and other stakeholders to facilitate the delivery of sustainable solutions.

The program also formed the 10x Tell Us Once Team to better address new concept areas.

The newly established team partnered with USAGov to explore new products and services and will prioritize three investments as part of its first phase of activity: information collection index, death notification service and income verification for housing benefits.

The Tell Us Once team is working on a pilot program to establish the framework for future Concept Areas, identify new ways of working and create new models for building with partner agencies and the public.

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