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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Appoints Craig Blue as Chief Manufacturing Officer
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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Appoints Craig Blue as Chief Manufacturing Officer

Craig Blue, defense manufacturing programs director at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has assumed additional responsibilities as chief manufacturing officer at ORNL.

He will help manage ORNL’s growing manufacturing portfolio and improve coordination of the laboratory’s capabilities and resources in support of manufacturing initiatives that seek to foster U.S. competitiveness and advance the country’s economic advantage, the national lab said Thursday.

Blue brings to his expanded role over 25 years of experience building teams and programs in the field of manufacturing science and materials.

“Craig’s technical expertise and proven leadership are evidence of how he guides big ideas to achieve real-world impact,” said ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer. “I look forward to working with him as we continue to drive ORNL’s manufacturing innovation.”

Blue led the establishment of the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, or MDF, at the national lab and helped launch several national institutes, including the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, the Critical Materials Institute and DOE’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at ORNL.

He holds 32 patents and is a fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the American Society of Metals International.

NSF Unveils Investment Program to Advance Privacy-Enhancing Technologies
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NSF Unveils Investment Program to Advance Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

The National Science Foundation has launched a new investment initiative that will fund research programs aimed at promoting the development and adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies across the federal government.

The Privacy-Preserving Data Sharing in Practice, or PDaSP, program is seeking proposals from researchers and multidisciplinary teams to conduct research in three tracks with budgets ranging from $500,000 to $1.5 million, NSF said Thursday.

Track 1 will run for two years and focus on advancing key technologies to enable practical privacy-preserving data-sharing and analytics technology solutions.

Projects selected for Track 2 will be performed for up to three years to develop integrated and comprehensive tools to enable secure data-sharing in application settings.

Track 3 will also run for three years with the goal of creating usable tools and testbeds for the trustworthy sharing of confidential data.

“Through this program, NSF will prioritize use-inspired and translational research that empowers federal agencies and the private sector to adopt leading-edge PETs in their work,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for technology, innovation and partnerships.

US Government to Invest $75M in Entegris to Bolster Local Semiconductor R&D, Manufacturing
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US Government to Invest $75M in Entegris to Bolster Local Semiconductor R&D, Manufacturing

Entegris is set to receive up to $75 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding following the signing of a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms between the advanced materials company and the Department of Commerce.

Entegris will use the proposed investment to finance the construction of a manufacturing center in Colorado Springs and the expansion of its research and development capabilities in the U.S., the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The move is expected to result in nearly 600 direct manufacturing jobs over several years and approximately 500 construction jobs by 2030. It is also expected to result in Front Opening Unified Pods, or FOUPs, being produced in the U.S. rather than abroad.

Invented by Entegris, FOUPs serve as internal transportation containers for semiconductor wafers during the manufacturing process. These pods are used by major global chipmakers, including TSMC and GlobalFoundries.

Commenting on the investment, Entegris President and CEO Bertrand Loy said, “This proposed federal support would help further position us to respond quickly to meet the needs of our customers, the leading chip manufacturers, while also re-establishing Colorado as a major technology hub.”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian said, “Today’s announcement would create over 1,100 new jobs in Colorado that will help power America’s semiconductor industry and drive American competitiveness.”

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Owen Barwell Named Nuclear Regulatory Commission CFO
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Owen Barwell Named Nuclear Regulatory Commission CFO

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has named Owen Barwell as chief financial officer, effective July 14.

NRC said Thursday Barwell has over 35 years of experience in the federal government and the private sector and will replace Jennifer Golder, who has held the CFO role since Howard Osborne‘s departure in December 2023.

The official joins the NRC from renewable energy company Independence Hydrogen, where he was CFO for over two years.

Barwell’s resume also includes leadership positions at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, Grant Thornton, NASA and the Department of Energy, where he served as acting finance chief and deputy CFO from 2011 to 2012.

He also oversaw 200 federal employees and contractors as chief operating officer at DOE’s Loan Programs Office.

“Owen brings significant business acumen and experience leading large and complex financial programs to this important role,” said Christopher Hanson, chairperson of the NRC.

In addition to Barwell’s role at the commission, he also works as a board member and treasurer for the NREL Foundation, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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Rescale, Parallel Works Deploy Cloud-Based High-Performance Computing Services Under DIU Agreements
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Rescale, Parallel Works Deploy Cloud-Based High-Performance Computing Services Under DIU Agreements

Rescale and Parallel Works have demonstrated their ability to give the Department of Defense access to high-performance computing services both through commercial cloud services and on-premise computers under prototype agreements with the Defense Innovation Unit.

The vendors have linked cloud-based HPC assets to the High-Performance Compute Modernization Program’s — a.k.a. HPCMP — Supercomputing Resource Centers after an 18-month prototyping period, DIU said Thursday.

Benjamin Parsons, chief technology officer at HPCMP, said the prototype project has enabled researchers “to access cloud resources when appropriate to augment their work at on-premises centers.”

“This has given them access to a wider variety of hardware, and the ability to scale resources beyond what is currently possible, all within one secure, easy to use, environment,” Parsons added.

Rescale and Parallel Works will transition to production contracts with the HPCMP later in 2024.

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GAO Issues Report With Recommendations to Help MDA Meet Next Generation Interceptor Fielding Deadline
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GAO Issues Report With Recommendations to Help MDA Meet Next Generation Interceptor Fielding Deadline

The Government Accountability Office is urging the Missile Defense Agency to take key steps to ensure the efficiency of and reduce the risks to its development of the Next Generation Interceptor, a capability that will work to defend the U.S. against missile attacks.

Among the steps the MDA should take is to collaborate with stakeholders to monitor changes in the threat landscape and, if necessary, update the threat requirements of the NGI, GAO said in a report issued Wednesday. The threat requirements refer to the types of missiles the NGI should be capable of defeating.

GAO noted that the Department of Defense had already called on the MDA to take such actions following a 2022 review of the NGI program but the response has been limited.

Another step the MDA should take is to make sure the simulations it uses to evaluate the performance and maturation of the NGI is representative of the conditions in which the system will be used.

GAO also said the 2022 DOD review flagged the MDA for the same issue as well as for its limited response.

The DOD expects the NGI to begin fielding by 2028 and production to begin this year. GAO describes the timeline as “optimistic” but says the MDA acting on the office’s recommendations could help in its meeting the fielding deadline.

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FedRAMP Publishes Final Emerging Technology Prioritization Framework
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FedRAMP Publishes Final Emerging Technology Prioritization Framework

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program has released the final document describing the operational framework for how FedRAMP will engage with industry and government to identify which emerging technologies to prioritize and how cloud service providers can request their offerings to be prioritized.

The final Emerging Technology Prioritization Framework for FedRAMP includes the initial list of prioritized emerging tech platforms, including generative artificial intelligence capabilities identified in the AI executive order, according to a blog post published Thursday.

The framework is designed to speed up the inclusion of emerging technologies in the FedRAMP Marketplace and how the program will determine which services to prioritize.

According to the post, FedRAMP will open submissions for emerging tech prioritization requests twice a year and assess the requests against the qualifying and demand criteria. The program expects to initially prioritize up to 12 AI-based cloud services using the framework.

For the first round of prioritization, cloud service providers can complete and submit the request form for cloud service offerings and the emerging technology demand form by Aug. 31.

FedRAMP will disclose the first prioritization determinations by the end of September.

In January, the General Services Administration solicited comments on the draft Emerging Technology Prioritization Framework.

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Air Force Establishes Research Center to Provide Solutions to Hypersonic Development Challenges
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Air Force Establishes Research Center to Provide Solutions to Hypersonic Development Challenges

The Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management has inaugurated a new hypersonics research center that will deliver defense-related interdisciplinary solutions to address challenges in the development of hypersonic systems.

The Applied Research Center for Hypersonics, dubbed ARCH, will perform continuous outreach and engagement to increase awareness of the AFIT’s hypersonics-related education, workforce development and research efforts, the Air Force Institute of Technology said Thursday.

ARCH will also focus on providing subject matter expertise to ensure warfighter readiness and promote collaboration among organizations within the hypersonics domain.

Jose Camberos, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at the AFIT, was selected to lead ARCH as director.

The research center was inaugurated in May with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at AFIT’s Kenney Hall Auditorium. It was established amid the Department of Defense and the Air Force’s ongoing efforts to build and deploy vehicles that can fly at speeds greater than Mach 5.

The United States is pursuing the hypersonic flight capability as it faces power competition with its adversaries.

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DHS CIO Eric Hysen Aims to Grow Cybersecurity Hiring Program
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DHS CIO Eric Hysen Aims to Grow Cybersecurity Hiring Program

Eric Hysen, the Department of Homeland Security chief information officer, aims to increase the number of digital security workers through the Cybersecurity Talent Management System, Nextgov said Wednesday.

CTMS received congressional approval a decade ago but didn’t begin in earnest until 2021. Since then it has yielded 345 job offers and secured 189 employees working at the Office of the Office of the Chief Information Officer at DHS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

DHS’ first hire under CTMS took six months. Although the system generates talent, Hysen said CTMS operations could have started faster.

“It took us too long from receiving the authority to launch the program and begin hiring under it, and our initial rate of hires has been slower than expected,” Hysen noted.

However, CTMS has a reported 94 percent, two-year retention rate, besting tech industry standards. With about half of the program hires being entry-level, Hysen anticipates CTMS can grow a network of future cybersecurity talent.

With almost 2,000 cybersecurity vacancies in the department, Hysen said that DHS “has committed to expanding CTMS” to incorporate other agency services and grow the system to include artificial intelligence and data science practitioners and job-seekers.

The DHS cybersecurity service currently has five cybersecurity career tracks — entry, developmental, technical, leadership and executive.

FDA Requests Comments on Strategies to Improve Technological Advancement, Customer Experience
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FDA Requests Comments on Strategies to Improve Technological Advancement, Customer Experience

The Food and Drug Administration has begun seeking industry input on its strategic plan to modernize its enterprise capabilities and services to improve customer experience.

A notice published in the Federal Register states that the Information Technology Strategy outlines a road map for the FDA’s IT modernization goals and the Customer Experience Strategy guides the effort, defining the agency’s CX framework.

The FDA Office of Digital Transformation is requesting feedback on the specific goals and objectives within the updated IT Strategy and the CX Strategy.

The FDA’s 2024 update of the IT Strategy updated 14 objectives to increase clarity, clarified the strategy’s mission outcomes, promoted alignment to relevant health mission strategies and highlighted the agency’s commitment to working with global public health partners.

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