PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- General Engineer Stephen M. Leong discussed aspects of the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center's partnerships with academia before a tour on Sept. 28 of several Picatinny laboratories.
Leong spoke with Don Shields, University of Pittsburgh Associate Vice Provost for Research Initiatives, and David A. Vorp, Associate Dean for Research.
Through its Educational Partnership Agreement with the University of Pittsburgh, ARDEC obtains research from engineering students that supports ARDEC's weapons development initiatives, said Leong. ARDEC has 10 EPA agreements.
Educational institutions who enter into EPAs seek to enrich the educational experience for their students by providing them opportunities to do research and engineering work on real-world challenges. "The students will be doing research anyway," said Leong. "Why not have that research support an Army goal?"
ARDEC and the University of Pittsburgh joined in an educational partnership agreement in March that has already yielded progress in evaluating technologies for potential military application, according to Leong, who manages the Pitt-ARDEC partnership.
Research and developmental areas already underway with Pitt include characterizing boron carbide nano-powders and prototyping a laser pointer that will be evaluated with higher caliber machine guns.
Tony Pezzano, Director of ARDEC's Business Interface Office, discussed how ARDEC is organized, its competencies and the unique aspects of its military armaments research, development and engineering mission. He also provided information about the specific technologies ARDEC is pursuing that are intended to help U.S. warfighters attain overwhelming capabilities through technology.
With information on ARDEC's goals, university representatives can take that knowledge and perform a detailed comparison to their universities' ongoing research areas.
Through such interchanges with academia and industry, ARDEC culls technologies and innovative ideas that allow ARDEC to succeed in its mission, explained Pezzano.
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The Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to develop technology and engineering solutions for America's Soldiers.
RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. AMC is the Army's premier provider of materiel readiness -- technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, and sustainment -- to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, eats it or communicates with it, AMC provides it.
Related Links:
U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) homepage
U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) homepage
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