On 13 May 2010 Dr. Jeffery K. Cochran was awarded the Civilian Meritorious Service Award by AFIT Commandant Brig. Gen Walter D. Givhan in recognition of his exemplary leadership and professional excellence as Department Head, Department of Operational Sciences, Graduate School of Engineering and Management from 2 July 2007 to 30 December 2009. The citation noted that through his exemplary leadership and relentless energy, Dr. Cochran “has completely revolutionized the organization and culture of the Operational Sciences Department. His incredibly high standards have been the driving force behind significant changes in staffing, faculty development, student involvement, and institutional outreach. He has motivated through ‘leadership by example’ the 22 ENS faculty to be more effective as educators and researchers, significantly and positively impacting both the students attending AFIT as well as the sponsors of departmental research.”
Dr. Cochran developed, with the support, input, and collaboration from the faculty and staff, the first-ever ENS Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan outlines the six departmental goals: Aim Higher, Align Faculty Research and the Center for Operational Analysis toward AF and Partner Needs, Continuously Improve Our Curriculum, Increase Mentoring and Collaboration, Reduce and Redistribute Department ‘Extra Duties,’ and Publicize our Excellence. The Strategic Plan, which explicitly defines 41 metrics within ENS, has been held up as a benchmark example for other academic departments.
Reflective of his passion with respect to graduate level research, he immediately identified the need for a dedicated Center Director for the Center for Operational Analysis (COA), adjusted faculty workload and responsibilities to address this need and hired the first-ever, full-time Center Director for ENS. From FY05-FY08, ENS had averaged approximately $500K annually in externally funded research grants. This number sky-rocketed to $2.5M in FY09 and is expected to exceed $4.5M in FY10. The increased research funding has allowed ENS to make significant impacts to the DoD through transitional support to assist organizations with implementing leading edge research and solution methodologies into their units.
Equally passionate about the students, faculty, and staff of his department, Dr. Cochran quickly asserted a positive impact upon them as well. Recognizing a lack of formal faculty mentorship, he took decisive action with support from the full professors within the department to establish a rigorous mentoring program within ENS. He was personally selected as a mentor by over half of the faculty in the department. In addition, Dr. Cochran established the first-ever ENS Student Council. This forum has been highlighted by the students as being absolutely critical to improving their education and experience while at AFIT. Further, Dr. Cochran completely overhauled departmental staffing with respect to positions, structure, and job responsibilities, effectively realigning duties to better support unit needs while capitalizing on the potential of each staff member.
The Award nomination concluded by noting: “Dr. Jeffery K. Cochran has been a visionary leader for ENS, a tireless proponent of positive change, and an exemplary role model within AFIT. He has made a substantial positive impact on the department and on the entire school in executing its mission to provide top-tier graduate education and high-quality research. He has created an environment where success is expected, provided the tools necessary for the faculty, staff, and students to excel, and then championed the remarkable results for others to emulate.”
