ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) virtually hosted this year’s 59th Army Operations Research Symposium (AORS) Sep. 14 and 15, via Microsoft Teams.
Approximately 483 participants took part in the two-day event, designed to provide the Army analytic community an opportunity to network with their colleagues, present their work, and to exchange professional knowledge, experiences, and insights.
ATEC’s Executive Technical Director/Deputy to the Commander James Amato selected this year’s theme, ‘Modernization and Analytics at the Speed of Need,’ since timely analysis, using state-of-the-art analytic tools with operational expertise will be essential to modernizing the Army.
“In order to achieve a Multi-Domain Operations capable force by 2028, our processes must provide Army decision-makers with expedited information leveraging faster and more capable data analytics along with secure commercial capabilities such as cloud migration,” said Amato.
The first day consisted of the ATEC G1 team hosting a “virtual job fair” with 13 government and industry organizations. Each organization provided an organizational overview, career opportunities and job openings, and one-on-one discussions with the participants.
Dr. David M. Markowitz, deputy chief information officer (acting) and chief data officer and analytics officer, served as the keynote speaker for the event. In his address, he discussed the Army’s initiatives in creating data infrastructures, advancing data analytics, improving cybersecurity and moving data to the cloud. He entertained questions from the Operations Research Systems Analysis (ORSA) community on how Army analysts can benefit from these initiatives.
Managers of Career Program 36 and Functional Area 49 provided the participants an update on what is new and exciting in the career field.
The second day consisted of a panel discussion with senior members from the Army and/or organizations, to include: Amato; Pamela Blechinger, director of the Research Analysis Center; Steven A. Stoddard, director of the Center for Army Analysis; Krystyna M. Kolesar, Headquarters, Department of the Army assistant deputy chief of staff G-8; and Pat O’Neill, director of the Combat Capabilities Development Command Data and Analysis Center.
During the discussion, the panel members had an opportunity to address data management issues and how it impacts future modernization efforts. The panel presentations concluded by fielding questions from the audience.
For the second half of both days, 89 participants had the opportunity to present their ORSA projects. “We have organized these presentations across nine working groups, spanning advances in operations research to multi-domain operations,” said Amato.
Each year, AORS inducts historically distinguished U.S. Army operations research practitioners into the ORSA Hall of Fame. The ORSA Hall of Fame honors those individuals who have contributed significantly to ORSA over a sustained period, have significantly influenced the ORSA through doctrinal or technical accomplishment and innovative development, and have demonstrated outstanding personal leadership and noteworthy achievements that inspired others in the area of operations research.
The following awards were presented throughout the event:
U.S. Army Analysis Awards:
- AORS 2020 Best Presentation – Temporal Behavior in Network Traffic as a Basis for Insider Threat Detection, Lt. Col. Jarrod Shingleton
- Operational Analysis Award Winner – Modeling and Analysis Support to USMA’s Operation Resilient Knight; US Military Academy’s Modeling and Simulation Team -- Col. Paul Evangelista, Col. Matthew Dabkowski, Lt. Col. Nicholas Clark, Maj. Courtney Razon, Maj. Stephen McCarthy, and Ian Kloo
- Dr. Wilbur B. Payne Award Winner – Center for Army Analysis COVID-19 Data Analysis Project; CAA Study Team – Maj. Chad Chapman, Maj. Maxine Drake, Maj. Trey Harvey, Collin Henley, Maj. Sandra Jackson, Maj. Scott Lynch, Kyle Minor, Lt. Col. Matthew Pacheco, Maj. Dusty Turner, Robert Ward, Michael Warme, and Michaela Zuber
- 2021 U.S. Army Junior Analyst Award - Ian Kloo (Civilian) and Maj. Sean Clements (Military)
2021 ORSA Hall of Fame Inductees - Dr. William Forrest Crain and Ms. Margaret Fratzel
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