Dr. Darryl K. Ahner, Dean for Research

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Dr. Darryl K. Ahner is the Dean for Research, Office of Research and Outreach, Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He is responsible for providing advice and assistance to AFIT leadership on all matters relating to research, technology transfer, strategic communications, outreach, and partnership activities, as well as managing the nearly $30 million research program. He was previously a faculty member in the Department of Operational Sciences and Director of the Scientific Test and Analysis Techniques Center of Excellence (STAT COE) at AFIT.

Dr. Ahner is a registered professional engineer (PE). He has written over 70 technical articles, made over 100 technical presentations, and has led several technical working groups. He has been a faculty member at AFIT since 2010, where his research emphasizes optimization of test and evaluation, autonomous systems, big data analytics, reliability, stochastic models, simulation, and military operations research applications.

A 1990 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Dr. Ahner retired from the US Army in 2012. During his Army career he taught for five years at the United States Military Academy at West Point and served for three years as the research director for the Army Analysis Center at the Naval Postgraduate School. 

Education

1990 Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering (Aerospace), United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.

1991 Graduate Certificate, Computer Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

1999 Master of Science, Applied Mathematics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.

1999 Master of Science, Operations Research & Statistics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.

2005 Doctor of Philosophy, Systems Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Mass.

Awards

2002   Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Fellow

2007   Wilbur B. Payne Award for Excellence in Analysis (Best Army Analysis)

2008   Special Act Award, U.S. Army

2008   Legion of Merit, U.S. Army

2012   Legion of Merit, U.S. Army

2012   Colonel Charles A. Stone Award, Air Force Institute of Technology

2013   Board of Directors, Military Operations Research Society

2014   E. Grosvenor Plowman Award for Best Paper at Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Global Conference

2015   Vice President for Professional Development Military Operations Research Society

2016   Vice President (Secretary of the Society)

2016   Military Operations Research Barchi Prize

2017   Affiliate Society Council of Dayton Outstanding Engineers & Scientists Awardee

2018-2019 Committee Member, Air Force Institute of Technology Restructuring Strategic Planning Study (appointed by University President)

2020   Air Force Analytic Team of the Year Honorable Mention

2021   Colonel Charles A. Stone Award, Air Force Institute of Technology

2021   Technical Committee Member, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Assessing the Physical and Technical Suitability of DoD Test and Evaluation Ranges and Infrastructure

2022   The Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service

Publications

RECENT SELECT PUBLICATIONS (* denotes advised student)

1. *Keith, Andrew, and Darryl Ahner. "Counterfactual regret minimization for integrated cyber and air defense resource allocation." European Journal of Operational Research 292.1 (2021): 95-107.
2. *Millar, Jeremy Robert, Douglas Hodson, Gilbert Peterson, and Darryl Ahner. "Optimizing update scheduling parameters for distributed virtual environments supporting operational test." Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience 33, no. 8 (2021): e4156.
3. *Kline, Alexander G., Darryl K. Ahner, and Brian J. Lunday. "A heuristic and metaheuristic approach to the static weapon target assignment problem." Journal of Global Optimization 78.4 (2020): 791-812.
4. *Caballero, William N., Brian J. Lunday, and Darryl K. Ahner. "Incentive compatible cost sharing of a coalition initiative with probabilistic inspection and penalties for misrepresentation." Group Decision and Negotiation 29.6 (2020): 1021-1055.
5. *Shallcross, Nicholas J., and Darryl K. Ahner. "Predictive models of world conflict: accounting for regional and conflict-state differences." The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation 17.3 (2020): 243-267.
6. Ahner, D. and McCarthy, A. "Response surface modeling of precision-guided fragmentation munitions," The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation 17, no. 1 (2020): 83-97.
7. *Keith, Andrew J., and Darryl K. Ahner. "A survey of decision making and optimization under uncertainty." Annals of Operations Research (2019): 1-35..
8. *Keith, Andrew, Darryl Ahner, and Raymond Hill. "An order-based method for robust queue inference with stochastic arrival and departure times." Computers & Industrial Engineering 128 (2019): 711-726.
9. *Kline, Alexander G., Darryl K. Ahner, and Brian J. Lunday. "Real-time heuristic algorithms for the static weapon target assignment problem." Journal of Heuristics 25, no. 3 (2019): 377-397.
10. * Kline, Alexander, Darryl Ahner, and Raymond Hill. "The weapon-target assignment problem." Computers & Operations Research 105 (2019): 226-236.
11. Ahner, Darryl K., Jennifer L. Thompson, and Karleine M. Justice. "Development of composite indices and a regional assessment framework for analyzing nation-state health." The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation 16, no. 4 (2019): 277-284.
12. * Keith, Andrew, Darryl Ahner, and Nicole Curtis. "Evaluation theory and its application to military assessments." The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation 16, no. 4 (2019): 305-322.
13. Ahner, Darryl, and *Luke Brantley. "Finding the fuel of the Arab Spring fire: a historical data analysis." Journal of Defense Analytics and Logistics (2018).
14. * Saie, Cade M., and Darryl K. Ahner. "Investigating the dynamics of nation-building through a system of differential equations." Journal of the Operational Research Society 69, no. 4 (2018): 619-629.
15. Hill, Raymond R., Darryl K. Ahner, Douglas A. Dillard, and Douglas C. Montgomery. "Examining potential reductions in wind tunnel testing requirements." Quality and Reliability Engineering International 34, no. 7 (2018): 1363-1373.
16. *Millar, Jeremy R., Douglas D. Hodson, Gilbert L. Peterson, and Darryl K. Ahner. "Consistency and fairness in real-time distributed virtual environments: Paradigms and relationships." Journal of Simulation 11, no. 3 (2017): 295-302.
17. *Garee, Michael J., Raymond R. Hill, Darryl K. Ahner, and Greg Czarnecki. "Fragment capture simulation for MANPADS test arena optimization." Journal of Simulation 11, no. 2 (2017): 75-86.
18. Hill, Raymond R., Darryl K. Ahner, Dana F. Morrill, Thomas P. Talafuse, and Jaime J. Bestard. "Applying statistical engineering to the development of a ballistic impact flash model." Quality Engineering 29, no. 2 (2017): 181-189.
19. *McGuire, Ryan M., Richard F. Deckro, and Darryl K. Ahner. "The weighted key player problem for social network analysis." Military Operations Research 20, no. 2 (2015): 35-53.
20. Ahner, Darryl K., and Richard Spainhour. "Development of Analytical Models of Blue Force Interactions with Improvised Explosive Device Incidents." Military Operations Research 20, no. 2 (2015): 5-17.
21. Ahner, Darryl K., and *Carl R. Parson. "Optimal multi-stage allocation of weapons to targets using adaptive dynamic programming." Optimization Letters 9, no. 8 (2015): 1689-1701.

BOOK CHAPTERS

1. Ahner D., Burke S, and Ramert A. A system and statistical engineering enabled approach for process innovation. Defense Innovation Handbook: Guidelines, Strategies, and Techniques. 2018.
2. Ahner D., and Sigler, G. Analytical Test Planning for Defense Acquisitions. Handbook of Military and Defense Operations Research. 2020.
3. Hill, R., and Ahner, D. Modeling and Data analytics for the Cyber Researcher. Mathematics in Cyber Research. Awaiting publication.