WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (February 5, 2025) – On Jan.31, New Mexico State University hosted White Sands Missile Range employees enrolled in the five-week Classified Ready Employment Workforce program through Chieftain Elite Consulting to present their final class presentations.
The Improving Developmental Testing with Artificial Intelligence course is part of the partnership between the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, WSMR, and NMSU’s Physical Science Laboratory. These partnerships fall under the Classified Ready Employment Workforce program through the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office headquartered at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The objective for this course was to design and propose an AI-powered solution to optimize testing operations for a theoretical weapon system, leveraging Generative AI prompting techniques and process integration taught in the course.
The final day of the class involved WSMR employees delivering their AI-focused optimization and development testing group projects which included a 10-page report and 20-minute presentation. Their work was presented to a panel of industry leaders and addressed key interests such as how AI can enhance the test planning process for complex weapon systems, reduce costs and improve overall test setup efficiency, integrate with current infrastructure and protocols, and improve the accuracy of technical reporting. Their projects ultimately demonstrated the potential of AI-powered solutions in revolutionizing testing operations for next-generation weapon systems, contributing to advancing military capabilities and national defense.
"The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command and New Mexico State University are strategic partners who are pushing beyond the technological edge to deliver transformational capabilities for Army 2030 and Army 2040," said WSMR Commander Brig. Gen. George C. Turner. "More specifically, the Physical Science Laboratory is leveraging the Defense Leadership Certificate Program to develop Artificial Intelligence warriors to meet today's and tomorrow's global security challenges."
The course involves ATEC-wide employee participants and examines topics such as the command’s current AI-specific skills and capabilities, critical talent gaps in AI and how to address them, and how to prioritize upskilling its current workforce to meet AI capability needs. In the pursuit of advancing military capabilities, the Army is continually seeking innovative solutions to optimize testing operations for cutting-edge weapon systems. As part of this endeavor, class projects aim to design and propose an AI-powered solution that leverages the latest advancements in Generative AI prompting techniques and process integration.
“I was extremely impressed with each team's ideas and how they were quickly able to come together as a team during this culminating one-week onsite. We have some very smart teammates with great ideas to start taking advantage of the tools we already have available.
This Defense Leadership Certificate Program was sponsored by NMSU PSL and CDAO and was delivered online through NMSU’s Global Campus. I would like to give special thanks to both the White Sands Test Center Technical Director Tristan Gilbert and White Sands Test Center Chief Data Officer Adrian Perez for their tireless effort to get this course off the ground. Tristan has been working to develop this course for the past two years and today I can tell you it paid off,” said WSMR Test Center Commander Col. Matthew D. Johnson.
“Today was such an amazing opportunity to see many of the ATEC subordinate organizations come together and learn about new tools and ways to solve problems. I am so excited to be working with NMSU and CDAO on this partnership to accelerate digital transformation for the enterprise. Watching our nation's best and brightest solve challenging problems in new and interesting ways is one of the best parts of my job and I look forward to the next iteration of the course,” said WSMR Test Center Technical Director Tristan C. Gilbert.
Social Sharing