/
DARPA Selects Teams to Create AI Tools for Automating Scientific Knowledge Extraction, Modeling
Published on
DARPA Selects Teams to Create AI Tools for Automating Scientific Knowledge Extraction, Modeling

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has named the research teams to develop artificial intelligence tools and approaches designed to help subject matter experts automate knowledge discovery, model creation and simulation.

The selected teams will work on the four major technical areas of the Automating Scientific Knowledge Extraction and Modeling program, which is divided into two phases that will both run for 21 months, DARPA said Friday.

Phase 1 of the ASKEM initiative will focus on enhancing the accuracy, maintainability and timeliness of expert models, while phase 2 will center on the models’ generalizability and scalability.

The selected teams are:

  • Harvard Medical School     
  • Julia Computing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Lum.ai, University of Arizona, SIFT, University of Utah     
  • MIT  
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Basis, University of Texas at Austin   
  • Uncharted Software Inc., Jataware
  • University of Florida, University of Colorado Denver, Topos Institute
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Morgridge Center for Public Service, ETH Zurich     
    The teams will demonstrate the effectiveness of the models and simulators for various use cases such as viral epidemics and the causes and impacts of space weather.
/
NGA Employs Natural Language Processing to Streamline Text Reading, Generation
Published on
NGA Employs Natural Language Processing to Streamline Text Reading, Generation

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is looking into the potential of natural language processing to speed up the analysis of imagery and maps by reducing the time spent on text reading and generation.

NGA said Friday it hopes to raise awareness across the intelligence community about the potential time savings and intelligence benefits of using NLP to automate the sifting, sorting, translation and comprehension of vast amounts of data.

The agency conducted a year-long study of NLP and found that up to 80 percent of its workforce’s average workflow is spent on conducting research, reviewing documents, generating reports and tipping imagery.

“Many NGA employees know that NLP resources are available, but they have difficulty knowing where to find them or how to orient them towards NGA topics of interest,” said Monica Lipscomb NLP program manager at NGA Research.

Lipscomb said NLP can work to support workflows involving finance, security, policy, records management and safety of navigation alerts.

NLP is the driving force behind the Source Maritime Automated Processing System, which has reportedly streamlined the process of generating navigation warning alerts since its launch in April.

//
Air Force Veteran Lester Lyles Named Chair of DOD’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee
Published on
Air Force Veteran Lester Lyles Named Chair of DOD’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee

Lester Lyles, a retired U.S. Air Force general, has been named chair of the newly formed Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, assigned Lyles and 19 other civilians, some of whom are military veterans, to provide advice on equal opportunity and racial and ethnic diversity matters, the Pentagon said Friday.

Lyles has more than two decades of leadership experience in the military and private sector. He served as chairman of the Military Leadership Diversity Commission in 2009, and continues his work on diversity and inclusion matters through community service. He is chairman of the board at KBR and a member of the board of directors at JobsOhio and Frontier Technologies.

His distinguished military service includes positions as vice chief of staff of USAF and commander of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Kristen Kavanaugh, senior director of diversity and inclusion at Tesla, will serve as vice chair.

The other committee members are:

  • Byron Bagby, managing partner, BMB Strategies
  • April Beldo-Lilley, director, executive operational planning, USAA
  • Vincent Brooks, consultant principal, WestExec Advisors
  • Phillip Carter, senior director of corporate counsel, Salesforce
  • Lisa Carrington Firmin, CEO, Carrington Firmin
  • Lawrence Gillespie, international consultant
  • Gregory Jenkins, CEO, Greg Jenkins Consulting
  • James Johnson, CEO, Operations Gratitude, and vice chairman, U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors
  • Walter Kaneakua, professor, U.S. Naval War College, and adjunct professor, Pacific Rim Christian University
  • Thomas Lee, of counsel, Hughes Hubbard & Reed
  • Nelson Lim, director of workforce, development and health program, RAND Project AIR FORCE
  • Jeffrey Means, department chair and associate professor, University of Wyoming
  • Horacio Rozanski, president and CEO, Booz Allen Hamilton
  • Alfredo Sandoval, founder and managing partner, the Private Investment Group, and co-founder, Creosote Partners
  • Celia Szelwach, professor, Cabrini University
  • Heidi Urben, professor, Georgetown University
  • Linda Urrutia-Varhall, vice chair, board of directors, National Military Intelligence Foundation and board of directors, National Intelligence University Foundation
  • Frances Wilson, board of directors, Sentara Healthcare
/
US, Australia, UK Leaders Announce Progress in Past 12 Months Under AUKUS Defense Alliance
Published on
US, Australia, UK Leaders Announce Progress in Past 12 Months Under AUKUS Defense Alliance

The leaders of the U.S., Australia and the U.K. have issued a joint statement on their countries’ progress in advancing collaboration on defense and security capabilities under a trilateral security partnership called AUKUS.

The leaders said Friday the three countries have made progress in helping Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines through the AUKUS alliance, which was established in September 2021.

“Today, as we mark the one-year anniversary of AUKUS, we reaffirm our commitment to that critical endeavor and to peace and security in the Indo-Pacific,” the joint statement reads.

Under AUKUS, the three countries also reported advancements in strengthening trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, cyber, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence and autonomy, undersea capabilities and quantum technologies.

The leaders announced the countries’ continued commitment to promoting technology and information sharing, accelerating defense innovation enterprises and fostering integration of their supply chains and industrial bases to further support their progress in tech capability areas.

///
DoD Announces Award of Defense Manufacturing, Community Infrastructure Grants; William LaPlante Quoted
Published on
DoD Announces Award of Defense Manufacturing, Community Infrastructure Grants; William LaPlante Quoted

The Department of Defense has awarded 19 grants valued at approximately $90 million combined under the Defense Community Infrastructure Pilot Program and six grants worth about $30 million in total through the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program.

DOD said Friday the Defense Community Infrastructure Pilot Program is a competitive effort that allows states and communities to carry out facility construction and other infrastructure enhancements to improve resiliency of military installations.

One of the grant recipients is the Arizona Department of Transportation, which will make improvements along the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation Canal Bridge and U.S. Route 95 to improve the transportation of service personnel and equipment to and from Yuma Proving Ground.

The Massachusetts Development Finance Agency received a $4.6 million grant to build a new fire station in support of Fort Devens Reserve Forces Training Area.

“The Defense Community Infrastructure Pilot Program is critical in delivering public infrastructure and services that not only benefit our local installations, but help to support our service members, their families, and the Department’s mission while building key partnerships and resiliency at the state and local level,” said William LaPlante, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner.

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program helps strengthen the country’s national security innovation base by investing in research and development, small businesses and workforce development.

Six consortia each received a grant worth about $5 million, including Supply Chain of Recovered Elements Consortium led by SAE Government Technologies and Microelectronics Precision Rapid Innovation and Scaling Manufacturing Network Consortium led by the University of Texas at Austin.

“The Department needs to implement a whole-of-nation manufacturing strategy by collaborating with public, private, and academic partners,” LaPlante said.

“These Defense Manufacturing Consortia will do just that by working to accelerate the development of critical minerals, help to build up the nation’s shipbuilding workforce, enhance cybersecurity efforts, increase energy storage technologies, and accelerate microelectronic and semiconductor processes – all national security priorities,” he added.

/
GSA Details Process for New FBI HQ Campus Site Selection; Nina Albert Quoted
Published on
GSA Details Process for New FBI HQ Campus Site Selection; Nina Albert Quoted

The General Services Administration (GSA) and the FBI launched the process for selecting a location for the bureau’s new suburban headquarters in the National Capital Region.

The 2016 project planning process identified Greenbelt and Landover in Maryland and Springfield, Virginia, as the three potential sites for the new FBI building and GSA said Friday the administrator should pick one from these three sites pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2022.

Nina Albert, commissioner of the Public Buildings Service at GSA, said the two agencies are continuing to advance efforts to meet the key milestones set by Congress for the FBI HQ campus and look forward to implementing a fair and transparent process for the site selection.

GSA said its site selection process is based on public real estate acquisition best practices and that it expects to make a selection in the coming months.

The site selection criteria include FBI mission requirements, transportation access, site development flexibility, cost and promotion of sustainable siting and equity.

The FBI Headquarters Consolidation project seeks to combine all FBI offices at the J. Edgar Hoover building and other locations across the Washington D.C. area into the new campus.

//
NetImpact JV Lands USDA Contract for IT Services; Stephanie Wilson Quoted
Published on
NetImpact JV Lands USDA Contract for IT Services; Stephanie Wilson Quoted

A mentor-protege joint venture between business management consulting firms NetImpact Strategies and Attain has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for technical assistance and program execution support.

The contract expects At-Impact, the JV, to collaboratively offer information technology services such as digital transformation and testing automation to the USDA’s Governance Applications Management Branch and Governance Services Division of the Client Experience Center, NetImpact said Friday.

“Our Emotionally Intelligent, Technically Exceptional (EQTE) team is ready to optimize CEC’s IT operations and services for a modern service management that stays ahead of USDA’s dynamic needs,” said Stephanie Wilson, chief operating officer of NetImpact.

By helping the CEC, NetImpact and Attain will be, in turn, reaching nearly 140,000 clients in over 118,000 different offices throughout the U.S. The companies will be comprehensively maintaining and updating the CEC’s Information Technology Service Management tool arsenal, which is responsible for responding to over a million requests every year.

Skilled in utilizing the architectures of eAuthentication/SSO, Salesforce, SailPoint, Pinyon and ServiceNow, among others, the At-Impact team will carry out implementation and maintenance, custom workflows and application management and analysis-based betterment of routine processes.

During the project, NetImpact plans to draw on experience gained in partnerships with a slew of federal agencies, demonstrating their platform-forward, mission-centered design strategies.

DOE, Biden Administration Open Applications for Hydrogen Hubs Through $7B Program; Jennifer Granholm Quoted
Published on
DOE, Biden Administration Open Applications for Hydrogen Hubs Through $7B Program; Jennifer Granholm Quoted

Submissions are now being welcomed for a $7 billion initiative by the U.S. Department of Energy to encourage the establishment of regional hubs for the production of hydrogen.

The endeavor, which comes via President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, seeks to uplift American communities that have been ill-served by economic disadvantage and lack of access to clean energy sources, the DoE said Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm elucidated that the effort will consult scientists, engineers, community organizers and business leaders in order to execute a long-lasting, innovative hydrogen development strategy.

Granholm additionally stated that she believes, if carried out successfully, the program will “lift our economy, protect the planet, and improve our health.”

The larger $8 billion hub endeavor that the $7 billion project is a part of marks one of the most extensive investments in the department’s history. It is aimed to bolster job availabilities in the areas the hubs are opened while making steps toward instituting a clean energy economy, strengthening energy security and prioritizing environmental health.

With their new offering, the DoE is also attempting to reverse and restore some of the prior damages done to marginalized populations that have suffered as a result of legacy energy-gathering processes and approaches.

Conceptual outlines to apply for the hydrogen hub effort are due on November 7, while full applications must be submitted no later than April 7, 2023. Anywhere from six to 10 hubs will be chosen to move forward into the actualization phase, though further, expanded funding may be available in the future.

Outstanding applicants must demonstrate a commitment to community and labor engagement, America’s workforce, diversity and inclusion, as well as align with President Biden’s overarching objective to divert 40 percent of certain federal income to underserved communities.

Hydrogen, which is able to be made using wind, solar and nuclear resources or with methane through an emission-mitigating carbon process, is seen as an instrumental element of the President’s mission to reach a carbon-free grid by 2035 and net-zero emissions in the next three decades.

/
Arati Prabhakar Confirmed to Lead OSTP
Published on
Arati Prabhakar Confirmed to Lead OSTP

The Senate confirmed Arati Prabhakar, former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and a previous Wash100 awardee, as director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy in a 56-40 vote Thursday.

Prabhakar, who was nominated to the post in June to replace Eric Landers, will concurrently lead OSTP and serve as chief adviser to President Biden on science and technology matters, the White House said Thursday.

She led DARPA from July 2012 to January 2017 and was the first woman to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology as director, a role she held from 1993 to 1997.

Her private sector career included leadership positions at Raychem, Interval Research and U.S. Venture Partners.

The federal R&D veteran most recently served as CEO of Actuate, a nonprofit organization she established to conduct managed programs that focus on developing options to address societal issues, according to her LinkedIn account.

/
Brookings Institution Issues Analysis of Federal AI Spending
Published on
Brookings Institution Issues Analysis of Federal AI Spending

A report released by the Brookings Institution shows that the federal government is still in the experimental phase when it comes to artificial intelligence procurement given the large number of small contracts focused on research and development.

Data show that NAICS 54, which covers professional, scientific and technical services including research and development, emerged as the most frequently used North American Industry Classification System code for AI-related contracts, Brookings said Thursday.

According to the report, over 95 percent of AI-labeled contract spending are under NAICS 54.

The study revealed that the Department of Defense appears to serve as an incubator for AI-related projects given its spending on the technology. Researchers found that DOD accounts for 53 percent of AI-related contracts within the NAICS 54 code.

The report also called on the government to enhance the authority of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office to coordinate federal interagency AI activities pursuant to the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 to help bring structure to the fragmented federal AI market.

Gregory Dawson, clinical professor at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, co-authored the report with Kevin Desouza, nonresident senior fellow for governance studies at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, and James Denford, professor within the management department at Royal Military College of Canada.

1 … 722 723 724 725 726 … 2,617