Dr. Juanita Harris was selected for Senior Executive Service in February 2015. She accepted the position of acting Executive Deputy to the Commanding General, U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command effective Sept. 5, 2017.
She serves, full-time, as Director of the Weapons Development and Integration Directorate (WDI), U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) at Redstone Arsenal, AL.
Dr. Harris began her career as an electronics engineer with Boeing in St. Louis, Mo., from May 1985 to May 1986, then moved to New London, Conn., as a software engineer with Mystech Associates and Structured Technology from Nov. 1986 to May 1988.
She moved back to St. Louis to become a senior electronics engineer with Boeing (formerly McDonnell Aircraft Company) from May 1988 to June 1991, then moved to Huntsville, Ala., as Senior Lead Engineer, Comanche Systems/Software Engineering & Integration with General Dynamics Advanced Information Services (formerly Veridian).
From April 2004 to January 2005, Dr. Harris served as Principal Systems/Integration Engineer for the Cruise Missile Defense System, Program Management Office, CAS, Inc., in Huntsville. She then became the Principal Systems/Integration Engineer for the UAS Program Management Office, supporting the Extended Range/Multi-Purpose UAVSDI Inc., from Jan. 2005 to Feb. 2007, in Huntsville.
She served as Director and Engineering Analysis Directorate, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), Huntsville, from Feb. 2007 to Sept. 2008, then became the Technical Management Division Chief, Project Management Office for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (PM UAS), PEO Aviation, Huntsville.
Prior to her present position, Dr. Harris was Deputy Director for the Aviation Development Directorate, AMRDEC, from Aug. 2012 to February 2015.
Dr. Harris earned her doctorate in Management in Organizational Leadership from the University of Phoenix in 2011. She earned a Master of Science degree in Computer Resources and Information Systems Management from Webster University in 1994, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1985.
She completed training in the Defense Acquisition University Executive Leadership Program in 2013; Leadership Huntsville/Madison County, Leadership 25 in 2012; and Corporate Leadership Development with Veridan at the Bolger Center in 2003.
Dr. Harris is certified by the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, Level III, Systems Engineering Acquisition, and the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, Level I, Program Management.
She received the Alumni Leadership Award, Black Engineer of the Year Award, in May 2012, and was named a STEM Science Spectrum Trailblazer by the Black Engineer of the Year Award in Dec 2011.
Dr. Harris published her doctoral dissertation, a Mentorship Study of Women in the Department of Defense Acquisition Sector, in the Proquest Database. She authored "Eyes Beyond the Horizon" in the Technical Management Division Corner, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office, Quarterly Magazine from 2009 to 2012. She also wrote the Comanche Software Management Indicators Tutorial for the Rail Company in 1994 and co-authored RAH-66 Comanche Hardware and Software Processing Architecture, for Army RD&A in May--June 1997.
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