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NOAA’s Third Weather Observing Satellite to Launch in Early 2022
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NOAA’s Third Weather Observing Satellite to Launch in Early 2022

The third spacecraft for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R series is set to launch in early 2022 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket.

The GOES-T satellite will lift off on March 1 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to support NOAA’s weather observation and environmental monitoring system, NASA said Tuesday.

The satellite will be renamed GOES-18 once it reaches geostationary orbit and will enter service as GOES West. It will monitor weather systems and hazards that affect the U.S. West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Central America and the Pacific Ocean.

According to NOAA, GOES-T will observe atmospheric river events, collect data for monitoring wildfire and other natural disasters, track marine heatwaves and detect potential space weather hazards.

The GOES-R series is the next generation of geostationary weather satellites built to improve the detection and observations of local weather events. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the launch.

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DOJ Issues $210M in Grants for Wide Range of Forensic Efforts; Amy Solomon Quoted
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DOJ Issues $210M in Grants for Wide Range of Forensic Efforts; Amy Solomon Quoted

The Department of Justice has awarded $210 million in grants to finance crime laboratories, research, DNA backlog reduction and efforts to find missing persons.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance and National Institute of Justice within DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs administer these funds, the department said Thursday.

The grants include over $89.6 million for DOJ’s DNA Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction Program, which supports state and local crime laboratories working on DNA analysis.

DOJ will also invest $43 million in BJA’s National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative that bolsters investigations and prosecutions based on sexual assault kit evidence.

“These awards provide critical resources that will allow investigators, crime lab professionals and forensic specialists to solve crimes, bring answers to victims and ensure that the principles of fairness and equity are fully reflected in our criminal justice practices,” said Amy Solomon, OJP’s principal deputy assistant attorney general.

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NAVAIR Program Official Tom Rudowsky Set for Deputy Commander Role; Commander Vice Adm. Carl Chebi Quoted
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NAVAIR Program Official Tom Rudowsky Set for Deputy Commander Role; Commander Vice Adm. Carl Chebi Quoted

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has named Tom Rudowsky, its deputy program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs, as the organization’s upcoming deputy commander.

Rudowsky, a long-time U.S. Navy official, will take over the vacant leadership role from Acting Deputy Commander Jerry Short in the middle of January, the naval organization said Wednesday.

The current DPEO(T) previously served as NAVAIR’s sustainment group director, assistant commander for logistics and industrial operations and air vehicle engineering department, research and engineering group director.

He was also previously director of the integrated battlespace simulation and test department at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.

“Tom is a strategic leader, with the ability to drive positive change that will have a meaningful and lasting impact on fleet capabilities and readiness,” noted NAVAIR Commander Vice Adm. Carl Chebi.

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The Albers Group Expands Aerospace Portfolio With Heritage Aviation Buy; CEO John Albers Quoted
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The Albers Group Expands Aerospace Portfolio With Heritage Aviation Buy; CEO John Albers Quoted

The Albers Group, a defense and aerospace support services company, has acquired aviation parts manufacturer and repair company, Heritage Aviation.

The McKinney, Texas-based veteran-owned small business said Tuesday the purchase of Heritage Aviation, which closed Nov. 25, 2021, is expected to augment The Albers Group’s existing core capabilities including systems engineering, manned and unmanned aviation services and aerospace manufacturing.

“Adding Heritage Aviation to our portfolio, when combined with our acquisition of Unmanned Systems, Inc, earlier this year supports the company’s overall strategy to deliver a comprehensive suite of capabilities to our partners and clients worldwide,” commented John Albers, CEO and president of The Albers Group.

Heritage Aviation, an FAA Part 145 certified avionics repair company, provides custom metal fabrication and wire assembly services for aviation, military, space and defense customers. 

The Albers Group said the business combination will advance the company’s growth trajectory in the key areas of contract logistics support and aviation maintenance as it expands its position in the aerospace market.

As part of the acquisition, The Albers Group’s employee base will grow to 174 individuals and Heritage Aviation will continue operations from its location in Grand Prairie, Texas.

The deal comes one month after The Albers Group sold certain assets to Castellum in support of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps programs.

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GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks: A Merged Physical/Digital World in 2032
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GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks: A Merged Physical/Digital World in 2032

GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks, a highly esteemed cybersecurity leader, recently published a feature for Forbes providing a look into the future of digital transformation and technology of our world well beyond 2022 and into the merged technical and physical world more than a decade from now in 2032.

“We are in the initial stages of an era of rapid and technological change that will witness regeneration of body parts, new cures for diseases, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, human/computer interface, autonomous vehicles, advanced robotics, flying cars, quantum computing, and connected smart cities,” GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks explained. “Exciting times may be ahead.”

More specifically, GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks discussed the potential paradigms as emerging technologies continue to influence the federal sector and the future in key transformation areas such as: cognitive computing, quantum computing, health and medicine and autonomous everything.

“Clearly our technological tools will greatly advance by 2032. It is evident that science and technology will continue to pave our futures at even a faster rate. How we harness for good should be our focus. As we celebrate New Year’s 2022 imagine the potential of better technological tools to come.”

You can read GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks’ full article on Forbes. 

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Magellan Healthcare Launches Digital Emotional Wellbeing Program With NeuroFlow; Jeff Bringardner, Chris Molaro Quoted
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Magellan Healthcare Launches Digital Emotional Wellbeing Program With NeuroFlow; Jeff Bringardner, Chris Molaro Quoted

Magellan Healthcare, the behavioral health division of Magellan Health, has developed a new digital wellness program, in collaboration with NeuroFlow, to help members manage stress, build resilience and improve overall health.

The Digital Emotional Wellbeing program, available Jan. 1, 2022, provides members with evidence-based videos, articles, digital cognitive behavioral therapy (DCBT) programs and personalized activities to help address a wide array of health and wellbeing issues, Magellan Healthcare said Tuesday.

Jeff Bringardner, senior vice president and general manager of commercial behavioral health for Magellan Healthcare, noted that the new program builds on the company’s established history of providing DCBT offerings recognized by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“We are excited to put our clinical expertise in the palms of our members’ hands and meet them where they are in their healthcare journey,” Bringardner said. 

The new program will utilize Magellan’s clinical support and evidence-based resources, including its FearFighter and MoodCalmer DCBTs, along with NeuroFlow’s cloud-based platform to provide members with a confidential, secure application and website for improving their overall wellness.

NeuroFlow’s data shows that of the 80 percent of individuals who complete an initial assessment, 61 percent of users continue the program during the first month and 78 percent of users report symptom reduction.

“The possibility of a lifetime of improved mental health awareness can start with a single assessment, and we’re proud to collaborate with Magellan on a solution that empowers users to take an active role in their wellness,” commented Chris Molaro, CEO of NeuroFlow.

The new program announcement follows Magellan Healthcare’s launch of its elderly adult companionship and support program, in collaboration with DUOS, earlier this month.

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Susan Hubbard Named Oak Ridge National Lab Deputy for Science & Tech
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Susan Hubbard Named Oak Ridge National Lab Deputy for Science & Tech

Susan Hubbard, a scientific leader and researcher, will assume the role of deputy for science and technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on March 1st. 

She will oversee ORNL’s research portfolio, including environmental and biological research, computing and computational sciences, energy science and technology, materials science, national security sciences, isotope research and development, neutron sciences and fission and fusion energy, the national lab said Monday.

Hubbard is associate lab director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Area. She is also a senior scientist at Berkeley Lab and a full professor adjunct within the department of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California in Berkeley.

She has published over 150 papers on hydrogeophysics and started her national lab career as an earth scientist.

Hubbard said Oak Ridge National Lab has a breadth, depth and history of fundamental scientific discoveries, tech advances and innovative platforms aimed at addressing the challenges facing the country and that she is excited to have opportunity to help shape ORNL’s future and its contributions to the Department of Energy’s mission.

Hubbard is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union.

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Brian Goodger: NITAAC Seeks Ways to Manage Expectations With Federal Partners on IT Task Orders Amid Supply Chain Issues
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Brian Goodger: NITAAC Seeks Ways to Manage Expectations With Federal Partners on IT Task Orders Amid Supply Chain Issues

Brian Goodger, acting director of the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC), said NITAAC held a listening session to identify the supply chain challenges facing contract holders and come up with a roadmap that will enable the center to manage expectations, understand roadblocks and establish timelines with agency partners.

In an open letter published Dec. 20th, Goodger wrote that NITAAC aims to inform agency partners how long an IT task order will take to facilitate the inclusion of a fulfillment timeline in acquisition planning.

“Additionally, if supply chain disruptions persist, we are committed to meeting with our contract holders on a consistent basis to receive updates and other pertinent information that we will then use to inform our conversations,” he noted.

Goodger said that NITAAC is committed to advancing transparency and addressing supply chain issues to ensure that agencies get the IT products and services they need to meet their missions.

The open letter was issued as federal IT task orders across contracting vehicles face delays as a result of supply chain disruptions.

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IARPA to Host Proposers’ Day for HIATUS AI System Development Program
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IARPA to Host Proposers’ Day for HIATUS AI System Development Program

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) will hold a proposers’ day on Jan. 19th to provide stakeholders information on technical requirements and objectives of a program that intends to develop novel artificial intelligence systems to help protect author privacy and attribute authorship through identification and use of explainable linguistic fingerprints.

The Human Interpretable Attribution of Text using Underlying Structure (HIATUS) program seeks to advance the development of “novel techniques to generate representations that capture author-level linguistic variation and will use these representations to build human-interpretable algorithms to perform authorship attribution and ensure author privacy,” IARPA said Friday.

IARPA said technical approaches selected through the HIATUS program will be scalable across languages, genres and topic domains. Interested stakeholders have until Jan. 14th to register for the event.

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Ted Davies Named Senior Advisor, Board Member for Easy Dynamics; Poupak Afshar Quoted
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Ted Davies Named Senior Advisor, Board Member for Easy Dynamics; Poupak Afshar Quoted

Ted Davies, former Altamira CEO and a previous Wash100 Award winner, has been added to the advisory board at Easy Dynamics Corporation and will serve as senior advisor to the company’s CEO.

In his new role, Davies will help efficiently scale the McLean, Virginia-based technology services company and will report directly to Easy Dynamics CEO Poupak Afshar. 

Afshar welcomed the new board member and senior advisor, and she said Davies “has already become a voice that we can lean on as we enter the next phase for Easy Dynamics.”

“His alignment with our vision and core values, combined with his experience, both at the large and mid-sized markets, will be invaluable for our team over the next several years as we scale our human capital management, operations and service delivery,” Afshar added of Davies.

Previously, Davies served as CEO of Altamira Technologies Corporation for over six years and led the company through a growth period which culminated in Altamira’s sale to ClearSky in 2019.

Prior to his time at Altamira, Davies was the president of federal systems at Unisys, where he served civilian, defense and homeland security customers. His career also includes 17 years as a partner at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Davies currently serves as lead board member and senior advisor for CodeMettle and is the immediate past chair of the industry advisory council for the American Council for Technology, where he is now the chair for the executive collaboration forum. 

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