FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. -- Prior to the invention of the calculator, it often took longer for one to perform mathematical functions by hand. The technology provided a more efficient means to get the job done.
The Fort Huachuca Engineering Directorate of the U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command, under the direction of Jennifer Mills, plays a similar role to the Army’s success as the inventor of the calculator did with math.
Among the directorate’s responsibilities is to provide improvements in IT infrastructure, such as cloud services, network capabilities and enterprise systems to Soldiers that make them more efficient.
Before the implementation of cloud computing, it was more difficult for Soldiers to access their information if they were traveling away from their workstations. Now, with the implementation of cloud computing thanks to the ISEC directorate, the information can be accessed anywhere in the world in a secure setting.
“Cloud computing allows you to have the data at any time, anywhere, at your fingertips,” Mills said. “Not a lot of people realize how important it is until you lose your hard drive, you lose your data, or you cannot find it or cannot access it.”
Mills likens her directorate’s work in improving command and control systems to programming the human brain. It’s one of her favorite parts of her job.
Her team of about 90 can be working on 25 to 35 projects at a given time to provide these capabilities for several organizations within the Army and, in turn, enhance Army readiness.
“Without the brain, you can't do anything and we are delivering the brain capabilities for the Army, so the Army can be prepared for the future,” she said.
Mills, who was born in South Korea and moved to the United States while in high school, started working for the government in 2005 and became director of the Fort Huachuca Engineering Directorate in January.
Mills received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science in 2001 and Master of Science in Information Systems and Master of Business Administration both in 2003 from Hawaii Pacific University. She completed the Joint Military Professional Education from Naval War College in 2006 and received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Systems Engineering from the George Washington University in 2017.
In her role with ISEC, Mills’s area of responsibility encompasses the continental United States, South Korea, Germany, and Hawaii. She is also responsible for designing, developing, and deploying telecommunications and IT infrastructure for Army, Department of Defense, and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance facilities and providing engineering capabilities to directly support the Army readiness by delivering cloud services, network capabilities, and Enterprise Information Systems.
This is Mills’s second stint with the Army, as she previously worked as the chief engineer for Program Executive Office Soldier.
It was at PEO Soldier where Mills was first exposed to Army culture, and it was something she said she came to enjoy because she felt it was more inclusive than her previous government experiences.
“To me, in my view, the Army doesn't look at you as who you are, where you're from, what kind of ethnicity, nationality, but the Army looks at you as a person,” she said. “I felt that was eye opening.”
ISEC commander Col. Osvaldo Ortiz said Mills brings a tremendous wealth of technical, project management and leadership experience to the table, and that her previous government assignments provide “a new, much needed external perspective on C5ISR systems engineering and support not only to ISEC but to CECOM.”
Ortiz pointed out Mills’s roles in supporting some of the command’s most important C5ISR systems engineering projects, including the expansion of the Army Futures Command headquarters in Austin, Texas; enabling the IT infrastructure for the Army’s newest headquarters – V Corps – in Fort Knox, Kentucky; and oversight over the Army’s Enterprise IT as a Service pilots at AFC, Camp Roberts, California, and Fort Polk, Louisiana.
“Dr. Mills is an extremely intelligent, inquisitive, energetic and, more importantly, positive leader who genuinely cares for her workforce,” he said. “In the five months she has been with ISEC, I am yet to see her without a smile on her face.”
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