ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Nov. 27, 2017) -- The U.S. Army has selected Patrick J. O'Neill to serve as the director of its Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC.
O'Neill comes to CERDEC from Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, where he served as the Chief Technology Officer, or CTO, for the U.S. Army Materiel Command, or AMC. He is the tenth overall director for CERDEC, and his selection fills the position left open in the wake of Henry J. Muller Jr.'s retirement on March 31.
"Mr. O'Neill brings more than 30 years of DoD experience to this position. I am pleased to have him filling such a key role within our command," said Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins, commanding general of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, or RDECOM.
"I also thank Mr. Gary Blohm and Dr. Donald Reago Jr. for the dedication and leadership they demonstrated while serving as acting directors for CERDEC; they will continue to serve in key roles for CERDEC and the greater Army," he added.
As an Army applied research center under AMC, CERDEC strives to make a positive difference in the daily lives of Soldiers through research, advanced technology development and systems and sustainment engineering in eight core technology areas across command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or C4ISR, technologies' and systems' lifecycles.
More than 4,000 Department of Army civilians, military service members and contractors make up CERDEC's workforce of scientists, engineers and business support professionals who enable information superiority for the joint warfighter.
CERDEC works with Defense Department and national research organizations and labs to influence research investments and to adopt, adapt and mature relevant scientific breakthroughs. From its vantage point, CERDEC can foresee trends and opportunities, rapidly leverage technological breakthroughs and shape future capabilities that support Army Modernization priorities.
O'Neill, who was appointed to the Senior Executive Service Corps in March 2011, assumed the duties of AMC CTO in 2014 where he established the vision for technology development and provided four-star level science and technology strategic oversight across the command.
Prior to that, he served in various leadership positions across the U.S. Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity, including technical director from July 2013 to September 2014.
In addition to publishing numerous papers in national and international Operations Research and military forums, O'Neill has been recognized for his service, receiving the Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 2011 and 2015, the Department of the Army Wilbur Payne Systems Analysis Award and multiple AMC Systems Analysis Awards.
He holds Master of Science degrees in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington D.C., and in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Maryland; he also earned a Bachelor of Science from Loyola University, Baltimore Maryland, with a double major in Mathematics and Computer Science.
"I am excited to lead CERDEC and this team of scientists, engineers and technical experts who are the foundation of our Army's communications and electronics R&D enterprise; they are key to enabling the Army's ability to execute Multi-Domain Battle," said O'Neill.
"The Network and C3I are crucial components of the Army's Modernization priorities as they enable our forces to fight cohesively while maintaining maneuver and mobility capability. Our goal is to ensure that regardless of the environment or the adversary's efforts to disrupt our communications, our Soldiers have assured Network and C3I capabilities that will provide the critical information they need to think and act decisively on the battlefield. I look forward to engaging with our workforce to ensure our S&T investments and outputs support the Chief of Staff of the Army's Readiness and Modernization priorities."
Related Links:
U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command
U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command
U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center
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