PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. - Kelly DiCristina, a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) graduate student, recently completed a Department of Defense (DoD) Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholar Internship at Picatinny Arsenal, allowing her to continue her education towards a fully-funded PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) degree, and providing her with a job opportunity at the northern New Jersey military installation’s U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center upon completion of the program.
DiCristina is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate through NJIT, with a focus on Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurophysiology. Her biomedical engineering degree made her a prime candidate to conduct her internship at the Armaments Center’s Tactical Behavior Research Laboratory, or TBRL, during four consecutive summers.
It was at the TRBL that DiCristina would be fully engaged in the research and development of programs that are in line with several of the Chief of the Staff of the Army’s priorities of warfighting, continuous transformation, strengthening the Army profession, and delivering ready combat formations. These priorities are interconnected and aim to ensure the Army remains a lethal, disciplined, and adaptable force capable of meeting current and future challenges.
The TBRL provides analytical verification and validation of Soldier-Armament System integration for effectiveness. Essentially, researchers design and conduct experiments in virtual battlefield environments (lab and field) to assess Soldier-Armament system performance and evaluate operational effectiveness, utilizing quantitative and qualitative analysis.
The TBRL team involved DiCristina in a host of activities, including supporting analysis of data collected during Soldier Touch Points at Ft. Benning, and assessing trust in lethal autonomous systems such as Collaborative Networked Armaments Lethality Technology (CNALT); reviewing knowledge gaps with regard to weapon system injury mechanisms, with a focus on blast overpressure (BOP); and working design efforts on integral helmet battery technologies for special operations forces, with a focus on ergonomics and human factors considerations.
“Kelly was asked to analyze survey responses from Soldiers that operated CNALT during the Army Expeditionary Warfighter Experiments at Maneuver Battle Lab at Ft. Benning,” said Gladstone Reid, a Supervisory Program Manager at the TBRL.
“This work was critical to help evaluate CNALT’s performance during force-on-force exercises. Kelly was able to utilize a newly acquired software to complete the analyses and document findings in a report,” Reid said.
The harm to Soldiers from frequent exposure to weapons that cause BOP when fired has gained increasing attention, prompting Congress to pass a broad set of directives related to blast exposure and brain health.
Congressional mandates to the Pentagon include setting new safety limits for troops’ blast exposure, characterizing “Tier 1” weapon systems including the suite of ammunition for BOP and brain health impact and developing material solutions if required for current and future weapon systems.
According to the Army’s Medical Command, organs most susceptible to BOP include the middle ear, lung, brain, and bowel. The command notes that many of the long-term effects are still not well understood.
The DEVCOM Armaments Center is one of the main players in the collective effort to mitigate BOP because its engineers are involved in the design, development, fielding, and sustainment of many systems that have been identified as contributing to BOP: howitzers, mortars, shoulder mounted weapons, 50 caliber weapons, along with demolitions and breaching charges.
“Kelly was asked to conduct literature reviews of the gaps in knowledge surrounding injury criteria and terminal effects of weapon systems,” Reid said. “She developed an annotated bibliography of 15-plus papers on injury criteria, effects of blast weapons and mitigation strategies.”
During her time at the TBRL, DiCristina also performed center of gravity analysis on different various models of helmets and worked with engineers to develop potential solutions for balancing the weight of the helmet to mitigate neck strain on Soldiers.
“Working on different projects that are a priority to the Chief of Staff of the Army was both an enriching and fulfilling experience, especially working on blast overpressure,” DiCristina said of her internship. “Since my freshmen year of college, I have worked in a lab focusing on Traumatic Brain Injury and this has become a research passion of mine.”
As part of the agreement under the DoD SMART Scholarship, DiCristina will be employed at the Armaments Center for a minimum of five years upon completion of her degree.
“I am very excited to join TBRL and in a greater capacity help ensure Soldier safety in this area,” she said. “I am excited to take my knowledge from the past nine years and apply it to help U.S. Soldiers and contribute to advancing the priorities of the Army.”
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