Battelle Invests in STEM Education with Grant Program; CEO Lou Von Thaer Quoted
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Battelle Invests in STEM Education with Grant Program; CEO Lou Von Thaer Quoted

Battelle, a nonprofit science and technology company, has donated to create a series of extracurricular learning programs that encourage science, technology, engineering and math skills for students.

Offered via Battlelle’s STEM Grant Program, the 11 out-of-classroom initiatives are targeted toward students in central Ohio and are aimed to nurture a wave of up-and-coming, STEM-proficient young professionals, the Columbus, Ohio-based company said Wednesday.

Lou Von Thaer, CEO and president of Battelle, said the programs are designed to both stoke creativity and instill technical proficiency.

“We’re proud to support these community programs that extend STEM learning beyond the traditional classroom,” continued Baer, who is also a seven-time Wash100 Award winner.

Among the new or continuing batch of activities are a day dedicated to science experimentation and STEM career and education information for 100 middle school girls at Capital University; a Columbus Museum of Art-hosted program for students on break from school that nourishes creativity while fostering learning; and a curriculum at Highland Youth Garden that promotes STEM lessons at the outdoor agricultural center.

Additionally, Battelle’s STEM Grant Program will fund a program at the Clintonville/Beechwold Community Resources Center for students K-5 affectionately titled the Kids Club “Full STEAM Ahead” that features multi-disciplinary demonstrations to explicate STEM’s real-world applications.

Baer noted that the programs are intended to echo the work in which the company’s team of scientists and engineers is regularly immersed.

2022 marks the ninth year of Battelle’s investment in STEM education, with a proposed $500,000 for the latest programs. Throughout their near-decade of donations, the company has devoted over $4.8 million to the cause of students in STEM.

In March, Battelle conducted a survey of academics and government officials about pressing environmental concerns such as energy sources and paths for political action.

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AFS Receives $175M NASA Contract for Crowdsourcing Support, Project Enhancement; Rod Adkins Quoted
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AFS Receives $175M NASA Contract for Crowdsourcing Support, Project Enhancement; Rod Adkins Quoted

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded Accenture Federal Services (AFS) a three-year, $175 million contract to execute crowdsourcing and other crowd-based service delivery strategies.

Under the Open Innovation Services 2 multi-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, AFS will continue to assist NASA with identifying methodologies and collaborators through crowd-extraction tools in order to successfully complete projects, the company said Wednesday.

AFS Lead Technical Advisor to NASA Rod Adkins said that the crowd-sourcing technologies are able to consult “a network of best-fit industry leaders,” who AFS gathers and connects to federal agencies with a “back-log of challenges” that are uniquely suited to the problem-solvers’ expertise.

“We are thrilled to help NASA leverage innovative methodologies, including fit-for-purpose crowd-based challenges and competitions, to deliver its mission-critical products and services,” remarked Adkins.

The NOIS2 contract allows AFS to enable NASA to realize new endeavors with precision, equipping the agency with a broader range of resources and knowledge bases gained through the crowd-sourcing capabilities.

AFS’ latest win follows a series of large contracts for the company during 2022. In March, AFS landed a $199 million award from the Transportation Security Administration to modernize the department’s credentialing system.

Later the same month, the company won a $118 million contract to perform data management for the U.S. Department of State’s passport and visa network.

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Veritas Capital CEO, Managing Partner Ramzi Musallam Discusses GovCon Industry Challenges With Executive Mosaic
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Veritas Capital CEO, Managing Partner Ramzi Musallam Discusses GovCon Industry Challenges With Executive Mosaic

Ramzi Musallam, CEO and managing partner of Veritas Capital, recently participated in an exclusive interview with GovConWire, the leading publication for breaking news in the GovCon industry, to discuss the responsive approach that the private equity firm out of New York City is utilizing to better serve its customers and company strategy in the competitive federal market.

The seven-time Wash100 Award recipient also provided a look into his personal history and the significant growth that Veritas Capital has been able to achieve through key acquisitions such as Perspecta and Cubic Corp. within the last year as well as the challenges of managing the 70,000 person workforce across 13 separate companies to drive Veritas Capital into the future.

“While we are a financial firm and a private equity investor, we view ourselves and, quite frankly, are viewed by many as a strategic investor in the marketplace because we have all these companies who are engaged in a similar ecosystem,” Ramzi Musallam explained to Executive Mosaic.

“Veritas Capital uses that to the advantage of the businesses we invest in, and more importantly, their customers, in that we work from where we sit to pair companies together, to go after opportunities that they themselves would not have, or could not have been able to pursue on their own to enhance and optimize outcomes for our companies customers,” said Musallam.

Veritas Capital CEO, Managing Partner Ramzi Musallam Discusses GovCon Industry Challenges With Executive Mosaic
Ramzi Musallam, CEO and Managing Partner of Veritas Capital and a seven-time Wash100 Award winner, during an interview with Executive Mosaic.

As Ramzi Musallam talked about the future of Veritas Capital with Executive Mosaic, he made it clear that his goals are focused on “doing the right things” to deliver on the company’s mission, provide consistent and strong returns for its investors and continue to drive Veritas’ growth and momentum that has taken the federal marketplace by storm.

Visit GovConWire, to read the full exclusive interview with Ramzi Musallam and learn more about his business outlook in the highly competitive GovCon industry and his career accomplishments in Summer Myatt’s “Ramzi Musallam: The Enigmatic Titan.”

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Space Force Provides Strategic Guidance for Space Test Enterprise; Maj. Gen. Shawn Bratton Quoted
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Space Force Provides Strategic Guidance for Space Test Enterprise; Maj. Gen. Shawn Bratton Quoted

The U.S. Space Force has provided a strategic guidance for the planned integration of developmental and operational test and evaluation efforts across the enterprise.

The Space Test Enterprise Vision is meant to underscore USSF intent and share how it looks to conduct test and evaluation missions in an effort to increase warfighter input on system development, the service branch said Tuesday.

It will be used by organizations, workforce, infrastructure, acquisition and operations that made up the Space Force test enterprise.

USSF is also establishing Integrated Test Forces responsible for combining developmental and operational testing and evaluating operational suitability, effectiveness and survivability.

“USSF has a unique opportunity to build a fully integrated test and evaluation system from the outset, providing independent, credible, relevant information on vital warfighting capabilities,” said Maj. Gen. Shawn Bratton, commander of Space Training and Readiness Command. “In addition to our Space Force partners, we will look to our industry partners to help us develop the National Space Test and Training Complex into the world-class test and training complex our Guardians need.”

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Navy Medicine Leader Michael Malanoski Named DHA Deputy Director
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Navy Medicine Leader Michael Malanoski Named DHA Deputy Director

Michael Malanoski, former executive director of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, has been named deputy director of the Defense Health Agency.

He takes over for Army Maj. Gen. George Appenzeller, DHA’s assistant director for combat support who assumed the responsibilities of deputy director on an acting basis, the agency said Tuesday.

During his term at BUMED, Malanoski supported the implementation of the Military Health System Governance reforms resulting in the establishment of the DHA.

Malanoski’s active duty career in the Navy includes roles as deputy commander at National Naval Medical Center Bethesda and commanding officer of Naval Support Center Bethesda.

He retired from active duty in 2011 and continued his service in Navy medicine with BUMED serving as deputy chief of staff for futures and innovation and a liaison officer.

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Raj Iyer: Army Must Operationalize Data to Gain Decision Advantage
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Raj Iyer: Army Must Operationalize Data to Gain Decision Advantage

Raj Iyer, chief information officer of the U.S. Army and a two-time Wash100 Award recipient, wants the military service to transform how it uses data as he believes the future battlefield will be very different from what the world has seen during the past two decades, Defense News reported Tuesday.

“Our advantage in the future is going to be how well and how quickly we’re able to synthesize large volumes of data and get it into the hands of the warfighter at all echelons,” Iyer told his audience at a recent Army-hosted forum.

He said the service branch should begin to operationalize data for current missions and not wait to advance information-sharing systems for the next decade.

The Army CIO expects the branch to emphasize data utilization and platform integration at Project Convergence, the branch’s experimentation campaign to support the Department of Defense’s Joint All Domain Command and Control strategy.

Raj Iyer: Army Must Operationalize Data to Gain Decision Advantage

Raj Iyer is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at GovCon Wire’s 2nd Annual Army IT and Digital Transformation Forum on June 15. Other service officials invited to speak at the forum include Dovarius Peoples, CIO of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Nicholaus Saacks, deputy program executive officer for Command, Control and Communications–Tactical.

Visit GovCon Wire Events to sign up for the upcoming virtual forum.

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Jessica Rosenworcel Highlights FCC’s 5G Agenda, Ideas to Expand Commercial Use of Spectrum
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Jessica Rosenworcel Highlights FCC’s 5G Agenda, Ideas to Expand Commercial Use of Spectrum

Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, noted five agency initiatives that support the fifth generation of wireless technology in a speech at the 2022 5G Summit in Washington D.C.

She said the FCC is developing a broadband data collection system as part of efforts to address the digital divide and determine how 5G services will reach communities.

The agency also helps households secure internet connections under the Affordable Connectivity Program, promotes the Open Radio Access Network technology and works with federal partners as part of the Spectrum Coordination Initiative.

According to Rocenworcel, the FCC has granted more than 4,000 wireless service licenses through mid-band spectrum auction events and is scheduled to start its next auction of airwaves in July.

The chairwoman also presented several ideas for FCC and Congress to further expand the availability of spectrum for commercial innovation.

She proposed updating the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act to add funding mechanisms for agencies that relocate to new spectrum bands.

The government should also consider developing incentive programs to maintain a supply of spectrum for new applications in the wireless technology sector, Rocenworcel added.

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CISA, FBI Link Russian State-Backed Actors to Cyberattacks on Satcom Networks
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CISA, FBI Link Russian State-Backed Actors to Cyberattacks on Satcom Networks

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have issued an updated advisory attributing the cyberattacks on satellite communication networks to Russian state-backed malicious cyber actors.

Russia initiated cyberattacks on commercial satcom networks in late February to cause disruption on Ukraine’s command and control in support of its invasion and such actions extended to other countries in Europe, CISA said Tuesday.

CISA is working with Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative and international partners to build up cybersecurity resilience and respond to malicious activity.

The FBI and CISA are urging private and public sectors to assess and implement guidance included in several cyber advisories, including the one issued in March.

Under the advisory titled Strengthening Cybersecurity of SATCOM Network Providers and Customers, the agencies are calling on satcom network providers to adopt secure methods for authentication, enforce principle of least privilege, implement encryption, monitor logs for suspicious activity and ensure robust patching and system configuration audits, among other measures.

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Avril Haines Talks Intell Community’s Global Threat Assessment at Senate Hearing
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Avril Haines Talks Intell Community’s Global Threat Assessment at Senate Hearing

Avril Haines, director of national intelligence and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday to discuss the threats posed by Russia, China, Iran and terrorist organizations, DOD News reported Tuesday.

Haines said the intelligence community considers China an unparalleled priority and that the East Asian country is challenging the U.S. across the military, technology and economic areas.

She noted that Russia is deterring the U.S. and the West from providing military aid to Ukraine by using the nuclear rhetoric.

“And if Putin perceives that the United States is ignoring his threats, he may try to signal to Washington the heightened danger of its support to Ukraine by authorizing another large nuclear exercise, involving a major dispersal of mobile intercontinental missiles, heavy bombers [and] strategic submarines,” Haines told the Senate panel.

“We otherwise continue to believe President Putin would probably only authorize the use of nuclear weapons if he perceived an existential threat to the Russian state or regime.”

Haines also noted North Korea’s expansion of its nuclear and conventional capabilities and the focus of IC’s assessment on transnational and global threats, including global health security, migration, climate, destabilizing technologies and transnational organized crime.

Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, joined Haines during the Senate hearing.

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ITI Asks SEC to Delay Implementation of Proposed Cybersecurity Rule
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ITI Asks SEC to Delay Implementation of Proposed Cybersecurity Rule

The Information Technology Industry Council has called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to delay the implementation of its proposed cybersecurity rule to provide the SEC with enough time to deconflict its rule with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s rulemaking to implement the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022.

ITI said Monday delaying the implementation could prevent the proposed rule from creating additional security risks.

In March, SEC solicited comments on proposed rules to improve and standardize disclosure by public companies regarding cybersecurity risk management, incident reporting, governance and strategy.

“While we understand the objectives of the rule are to improve investor awareness of cybersecurity-related factors, we are concerned that it may in fact serve to undermine cybersecurity if not appropriately calibrated,” ITI wrote in the comments to the proposed SEC rule.

“We encourage the SEC to delay implementation of the proposed rule until CISA has further implemented its own rulemaking pursuant to CIRCIA 2021, so as to have a more fulsome understanding of the cyber incident reporting landscape,” the organization added.

ITI also recommended that SEC avoid directing disclosure of incidents encountered by third-party vendors and include safe harbor provisions for national security, law enforcement and cybersecurity interests.

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