Faculty and staff from the Air Force Institute of Technology won awards at the Air Education and Training Command level. Award winners will next compete at the Air Force level.
 

2023 Air Force Association Outstanding Air Force Civilian Employee of the Year, Senior Manager Category - Mr. Eric Meiers, Director, Air Force Nuclear College at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, School of Strategic Force Studies.

This award annually recognizes the outstanding achievements made by AF civilian appropriated funded employees. Nominations are evaluated on criteria such as nature of the achievement, development of techniques or procedures which significantly increased mission effectiveness and breadth of impact.

Mr. Meiers provided premier professional development to over 5,250 Airmen in support of nuclear-related missions defending the homeland from adversary attack. Additionally, he led AFIT’s first-ever micro-credentialing program to support talent management and development benefitting more than 34,000 Airmen assigned to the nuclear mission. His initiative propelled Department-level efforts to sustain, modernize, and recapitalize nuclear weapons, systems and support equipment over the next two decades.

2023 Air Force Association Lisa S. Disbrow Outstanding Civilian of the Year - Mr. Craig DeBeni, Engineering Management Instructor, The Civil Engineer School.

This award is given to a civilian who exemplifies the professionalism and dedication of duty of former Under Secretary Lisa S. Disbrow. Disbrow was pivotal in driving rapid acquisition of new technologies and capabilities for our warfighters, and increased funding to the top modernization programs that balanced out the readiness for a high-end fight today with modernization for tomorrow. During her tenure, she exhibited outstanding leadership and service focusing on total force integration, wounded warriors, as well as ensuring the USAF remained a leader in the space and cyber realms.

Mr. DeBeni advanced the Secretary of the Air Force’s Resilient Basing Operations Imperative by leading the first ever Air Force control systems cybersecurity course. His efforts garnered $1.2M in continuing control systems cybersecurity education for 250 technicians every year. As the course director for energy management, he initiated a new energy management credentialing program that provides on-demand credentialing for 80 energy managers per year.

74th Annual Arthur S. Flemming Award, Applied Science and Engineering Category - Dr. Willie Harper, Jr., Professor of Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

This award is sponsored by the Arthur S. Flemming Awards Commission in partnership with George Washington University. It honors outstanding federal employees who have made significant and extraordinary contributions to the federal government. The award's purpose is fourfold: to recognize outstanding and meritorious achievement while working for the federal government; to encourage the highest standards of performance in the federal service; to enhance appreciation of our form of government and the opportunities and responsibilities it presents; and to attract outstanding individuals to a career in federal service.

Dr. Harper’s research has revealed new insights related to the removal of high consequence bio contaminants and toxic chemicals from water. His career as a faculty member spans 20 years. He has taught a variety of related courses and has executed over $2.5 million dollars in federally-sponsored research grants. His research record includes 80 publications, including 53 peer-reviewed journal articles, and he has been honored with numerous several distinctive awards.

2022 Air Force Weather Officer of the Year – Maj. Peter Saunders, PhD, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

For the award cycle of October 2021 through September 2022, Saunders was responsible for obtaining $87k in grants, bolstering the atmospheric science program’s research capability for machine learning and modeling studies. He is pioneering global lightning mapper optical energy studies through analysis of regional frequency distribution peaks and applying cutting-edge vector autoregressive moving average modeling to machine learning processes. Additionally, he advised six master’s students and served as a PhD committee member for students in the Graduate School’s Engineering Physics Department. In January 2022, he presented his research on lightning modeling techniques at the 102nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, furthering expertise in space-based lightning detection and characterization.

2022 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Awards

John L. McLucas Basic Research Award - Dr. Meir Pachter, Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

The John L. McLucas Basic Research Award, named for the former Secretary of the Air Force, recognizes individuals that make outstanding contributions through scientific efforts and achievements of in-house basic research activities (budget activity 6.1 or equivalent) in the Department of the Air Force.

Dr. Pachter’s research led to the development of optimal strategies for air combat maneuvering in many-on-one encounters, swarm operations, and beyond visual range engagements. Additionally, his research has successfully transitioned to the Air Force Research Laboratory, evaluated in flight test campaigns, and tested at multinational exercises.

Harold Brown Award - Autonomy and Navigation Technology (ANT) Center Team. Team members: Dr. Clark Taylor, Maj. Aaron Canciani, PhD, Maj. Joseph Curro, PhD, Dr. Robert Leishman, Dr. Aaron Nielson, Dr. Frank van Graas, Dr. John Raquet, Taylor Lee, Daniel Clark, Mitchel Hezel, Luke Bergeron, Josh Hiatt, Jonnathan Bonifaz, Evelyn Boettcher, and Jeremy Gray. Dr. Aaron Nielsen accepted the award for the team.

The Harold Brown Award, named for the former Secretary of the Air Force, recognizes significant achievement in research and development by an individual or team that led to or demonstrated significant promise of a substantial improvement in the operational effectiveness of the Department of the Air Force.

The ANT Center team developed and transitioned revolutionary positioning capability: magnetic anomaly-based navigation enabling aircraft to fly long distances in a contested environment without GPS while maintaining positioning, whether over water, land, or low-earth orbit.

Air Force Science and Engineering Award, Advance Technology Development Category – Center for Space Research and Assurance (CSRA) Orbital Warfare Research Group. Team members: Maj. Costantinos Zagaris, PhD, Lt. Col. Bryan Little, PhD. Lt. Col. Robert Bettinger, PhD, Lt. Col. David Curtis, PhD, Lt. Col. Rachel Derbis, Maj. David Spendel, Maj. Jeremy Kaczmarek, Maj. Nicholas Yielding, Maj. Kullen Waggoner, Capt. Mark Mercier, Capt. Andrew Vogel, Capt. Charles Carr, 2d Lt. Kyle Williams, 2d Lt. Brendan Hennessey Rose, 2d Lt. Joseph Canoy, 2d Lt. Nathan Cundiff, David Meyer, Thomas Fay, and Nathan Boone. Center Director, Col. Nathan Terry, PhD, accepted the award for the team.

The Air Force Science and Engineering Award, Advance Technology Development Category award is given for noteworthy achievements in areas of advanced technology development. Emphasis is on improving the technology readiness level, transitioning into acquisition programs, or direct fielding to operational forces.

The CSRA Orbital Warfare Research Group develops organic Guardian expertise in orbital warfare, formulates algorithms for autonomous satellite proximity operations, and manages an orbital engagement training simulation. The team received $1.3M in grants and published 24 research papers.

DAF Outstanding Scientist/Engineer, Mid-Career Military Category – Maj. Peter Saunders, PhD, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

The Department of the Air Force Outstanding Scientist/Engineer Awards recognize the efforts and achievements of the top U.S. Air Force scientists or engineers who make noteworthy and/or significant contributions to technology, engineering and/or solving technical problems in development, sustainment, testing, training, or advancement of Air Force systems.

Maj. Saunders’ critical research had a direct and lasting impact to the warfighter. An example of his work includes enabling the Center for Technical Intelligence Studies and Research to employ the Air Force’s first physics-based image-chain model used to generate synthetic electro-optical and infrared sensor data with realistic lightning properties.

DAF Outstanding Scientist/Engineer, Senior Military Category – Maj. Richard Dill, PhD, Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

The Department of the Air Force Outstanding Scientist/Engineer Awards recognize the efforts and achievements of the top U.S. Air Force scientists or engineers who make noteworthy and/or significant contributions to technology, engineering and/or solving technical problems in development, sustainment, testing, training, or advancement of Air Force systems.

Maj. Dill secured $800k in Department of Defense research funding to support sensor fusion, wargaming, and mobile network security efforts. A subject matter expert in sensor data, his efforts led to the novel detection of drones through phone acoustic sensors as well as improved disaster recovery capabilities.

DAF Outstanding Scientist/Engineer, Junior Civilian Category - Dr. Scott Nykl, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

The Department of the Air Force Outstanding Scientist/Engineer Awards recognize the efforts and achievements of the top U.S. Air Force scientists or engineers who make noteworthy and/or significant contributions to technology, engineering and/or solving technical problems in development, sustainment, testing, training, or advancement of Air Force systems.

Dr. Nykl developed a novel vision recognition algorithm which automates cross-DoD aerial refueling. His efforts led to deployed technology on the KC-46 and MQ-25 for the Air Force and Navy leading to a savings of over $10M annually and significant air dominance improvements in contested environments.

DAF Outstanding Scientist/Engineer, Mid-Career Civilian Category - Dr. Scott Graham, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

The Department of the Air Force Outstanding Scientist/Engineer Awards recognize the efforts and achievements of the top U.S. Air Force scientists or engineers who make noteworthy and/or significant contributions to technology, engineering and/or solving technical problems in development, sustainment, testing, training, or advancement of Air Force systems.

Dr. Graham developed an advanced hardware security encryption which prevents adversary reverse engineering, improving the security of deployed military systems. Further, his advanced multi-channel communication protocol ensured that next-generation avionics networks operate both efficiently and securely.

Science and Engineering Manufacturing Technology Award - Nuclear Expertise for Advancing Technologies (NEAT) Center. Team members: LTC Andrew Decker, PhD, Dr. Juan Manfredi, LTC Christina Dugan, PhD, Maj. James Bevins, PhD, and Dr. John McClory. Dr. Juan Manfredi, Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering, accepted the award for the team.

The Science and Engineering Manufacturing Technology Award is given for significant achievements in improving the technology to manufacture Air or Space Force systems by reducing cost or complexity of manufacturing. Achievement benefits are specific and quantifiable.

The Nuclear Expertise for Advancing Technologies Team’s critical research had a direct and lasting impact to the warfighter. An example of their work includes the development of novel fast photo-curable scintillator resins that polymerize in minutes, greatly accelerating radiation detector manufacture time while reducing cost.

DAF Outstanding Science and Engineering Educator Award – Maj. Daniel Emmons, PhD, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

The Air Force Outstanding Science and Engineering Educator Award recognizes the efforts and achievements of the top Air Force instructor in science and engineering fields whose contributions and performance best characterize the principles of excellence in science and engineering education.

Maj. Emmons’ demonstrated excellence in teaching and researching space physics. In addition to his appointment as a Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Professor, he advised two doctoral and three master’s students resulting in a total of four peer-reviewed journal articles during the award period. Additionally, he secured $950K in space weather research funding while directing the Department of Defense’s only graduate level space weather program.

DAF Outstanding STEM Outreach Champion Award - Dr. Mark Reith, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

The DAF Outstanding STEM Outreach Champion Award recognizes the efforts and impact of Department of the Air Force personnel who are active in STEM education and outreach programs. These programs may include volunteering to assist teachers in the classroom, starting a new student robotics team, or introducing STEM education activities into programs that have not traditionally included STEM.

Dr. Reith architected and developed the AVOLVE education platform hosting over 4,000 Department of Defense users and publishing over 2,000 content items on cyberspace, artificial intelligence, and software engineering. Dr. Reith also led the development of Hangar 18, an Air Force software factory promoting rapid prototyping solutions organizations across Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. His efforts have been recognized by many leaders including the USNORTHCOM/J7 Chief, Joint Education Branch, and in an Air Force Materiel Command Focus Week article.

AFIT Systems Engineering Award - M-BASED Team, Graduate School of Engineering and Management. Team members: Capt. Charles Caines, Capt. Igor Gertsman, Capt. Jacob Hatzinger, and Capt. Christopher Reed. Capt. Charles Caines accepted the award for the team.

The AFIT Systems Engineering Award recognizes AFIT students or teams for outstanding achievements in furthering systems engineering understanding in the Department of the Air Force.

The M-BASED team supported the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Munitions Directorate by contributing novel research in autonomous systems development, modeling, and simulation. They designed, implemented, and tested a methodology to model behaviorally complex autonomous munitions using systems modeling language and coded middleware to translate the system requirements to the advance framework for simulation, integration and modeling environment. They applied rigorous analysis from over 200,000 trial runs to determine the optimal level of cooperation versus payload lethality for autonomous munitions during wide-area search.
 

Air Force Science and Engineering Award, Engineering Achievement Category - 2d Lt. Conor Wisentaner, Trainee, 14th Flying Training Wing, Columbus AFB, Miss.

The Air Force Science and Engineering Award, Engineering Achievement Category award is given for noteworthy achievements in engineering resulting in new applications of existing, mature technology or improved design of components, subsystems, or complete systems for the Department of the Air Force.

2d Lt. Wisentaner devised new event based observing techniques for the space domain awareness mission. He was the first to demonstrate a capability using commercial neuromorphic sensors to detect, track, and identify resident space objects and solve for their orbits. His innovative techniques reduced data overhead by seven times, increased observation rates by 67 times, and improved orbit determination accuracies by 500%. He re-designed the experiment, removing known limitations, paving the way for employment with USSF assets.