2017's Special Events

Industry Keynote: A Changing Technology Landscape With Value Drivers for Modeling & Simulation

Dr. Pieter Mosterman, Chief Research Scientist and Director, MathWorks Advanced Research & Technology Office (MARTO) and Adjunct Professor, McGill University

Dr. Pieter Mosterman

Miniaturization in electronics has liberated design of complex functionality from the impeding form factor of a physical implementation. The size and power constraints of an integrated circuit allow embedding complex functionality in devices such as smartphones, televisions, and watches as well as machines such as washers, automobiles, and humanoid robots. With computational power exploding, these systems are rapidly evolving to span all phases of decision making, which Colonel John Boyd identified as a cycle of (i) observe, (ii) orient, (iii) decide, and (iv) act (the OODA loop). Over the past decades, the automation of observation followed by determining an action based on perception and a given control strategy has been the province of automatic control. More recently, automation of orientation (e.g., by means of deep learning) has enabled strategies that interpret a given situation and adapt to it. Additionally, automation of decision allows reasoning about a given situation and is at the core of autonomy. Beyond individual systems becoming more adept at all phases of the OODA loop, exploiting ensembles of systems has opened up otherwise unattainable areas of the design space. Ensembles of automatic control have brought about distributed control, adaptive ensembles support cooperation, and ensembles of autonomous systems are becoming collaborative. This presentation will give an overview of the changing landscape along the various axes and highlight some emerging value drivers to advance the use of Modeling & Simulation in the engineering of such emerging systems.

Government Keynote: Innovative Applications of Modeling and Simulation in IARPA Test and Evaluation

Dr. Paul Lehner, Chief, Test and Evaluation, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)

Dr. Paul Lehner

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) engages in high risk/high payoff (IARPA-hard) research to address critical challenges in the Intelligence Community. A required element of every IARPA research program is a Test and Evaluation (T&E) plan where progress can be rigorously and independently measured. When addressing IARPA-hard problems, achieving rigorous T&E can itself be a hard challenge, requiring innovation. Imagine for example a program to improve analytic accuracy, where rigorous T&E might require quantitative measurement of the accuracy of causal claims in complex unstructured domains such a geopolitical analysis. This presentation will examine some innovative applications of modeling and simulation to addressing hard T&E challenges.

The Simulation Century: Bringing Big Data to Life

In our session we will show how big data was used to resurrect and animate Victor Hugo and Alexander Hamilton. Can we animate and get inside the heads of adversaries? Build better teams? Don’t miss this segment!

This year the Simulation Century Panel presentations will focus on technologies that help make big data come to life and be actionable, such as machine learning and simulation. These brief, high impact presentations will envision how 21st century technologies will shape humanity’s future.

Moderator: Mr. Richard Boyd, CEO, Tanjo, Inc.

Panelists:

  • Jennifer Arnold, Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton
  • Jeff Frazier, Managing Director, Special Projects Office of the Chairman, Cisco Systems
  • Kevin Clark, Senior Venture Partner, 1 World Venture Partners
  • Anthony Cerri, Director, Data Science, Models, Simulations; TRADOC G27 OE Training Support Center (OE TSC)

Senior Leader Panel

Senior leaders within both Government and Industry will share the role that M&S has in their organizations, their perspective on the issues and impact of M&S, and discuss gaps that M&S can fill in the future. Following the opportunity to hear their insights, attendees will be able to ask questions and gain a better understanding of the issues facing these leaders; issues that M&S technology transformation can potentially address.

Moderator: RADM James Robb, USN (Ret), President, NTSA

Panelists:

  • Jill Marlowe, Director, Research Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center
  • Marty Vozzo, Distributed Training Branch Head, NSWC Dahlgren Division/CDSA Dam Neck
  • Jesse Citizen, Director, DoD Modeling and Simulation Center Coordination Office
  • Frank DiGiovanni, Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel (Invited)

Technology Showcase

The Technology Showcase allows attendees to learn about the latest technologies and tools being developed by M&S companies first hand. These short, focused briefs, conducted in sequence, will highlight M&S products and services, address state-of-the-art technology implementations, and describe how consumers and customers may benefit from these technologies.

Technology Showcase Moderator: Rex Wallen, Modeling and Simulation Systems Engineer, Newport News Shipbuilding

Innovation Corner: Virtual and Mixed Reality Showcase

Experience how innovative Virtual and Mixed Reality applications are currently being used to deliver transformative experiences in training, education and healthcare. A rotating selection of applications will expose attendees to the VR and MR technologies and teams pushing these mediums into a variety of verticals.

  • C-130 Demo: Oculus Rift (Vertex)
  • Descension: Gear VR (Janus Research)
  • F/A-18 Demo: Oculus Rift + HoloLens (Bohemia Interactive)
  • SHARD: HTC Vive (Plas.md)

Meeting of the Big Data and M&S Cabal

Interested members of the M&S and BD communities are meeting to continue a nascent dialogue already showing exponential growth. Goals include: integration of capabilities, creating a previously impossible approach to supporting all the 450K E1s through O10s, and all the folks who support them with training, experimentation, testing and the like, networking to assist the communities finding weld points, discussion of ongoing initiatives, discussion on how to make MODSIM and I/ITSEC a 1 - 2 step punch to keep the momentum and update on the I/ITSEC 2017 Big Data Special Event.

All are invited. If you are not already engaged: come, listen and determine how you fit. Anyone who is aware of an ongoing effort SHOULD attend in order to update the growing compendium of work; let's not reinvent the wheel.

Anthony Cerri, Director, Data Science, Models, Simulations; TRADOC G27 OE Training Support Center (OE TSC)

"Digital Manufacturing Revolution" Panel

The continued growth in capabilities of both the Internet of Things (IoT) as well as Big Data toolsets has led to a revolution in the manufacturing industry. As systems begin to generate more and more data, and companies are faced with transforming from traditional manufacturing practices to processes driven by software and analytics, Modeling and Simulation will play a key role in driving this next industrial revolution. This panel will discuss the ways in which three large manufacturers are adapting to the Digital Manufacturing revolution. Panelists will share ways their companies are adopting modeling and simulation driven technologies to drive exponential business returns.

Panelists:

  • Troy Hartwig, Staff Engineer, Simulation and Modeling Center of Excellence Leader, Honeywell
  • Chris Heard, Modeling and Simulation Software Engineer, Newport News Shipbuilding
  • Dr. Vukica Jovanović, Assistant Professor of Engineering Technology in Mechanical Engineering Technology Program, Old Dominion University

“Defending the Infrastructure with Modeling, Simulation and Training” Panel

U.S. forces are applying cyber as an integrated component of combined operations, with cyberspace as a warfare domain. The 2015 DoD CyberStrategy makes clear that the cyber domain extends from the forward edge of battle to the heartland, and that cyber operations encompass strategic and tactical operations, as well as operations needed for mission continuity. The need for cyber training arrives at a time when our nation is under consistent, pervasive threat of cyber-attack upon everything from everyday connected devices to our political process. Our need for cyber warriors has never been greater, and modeling, simulation and training lies at the forefront of the DoD's strategic mission to strengthen the skills of cyber mission planners and operators. This panel brings together key cyber leadership in industry, government and academia to discuss mission critical aspects of cyber operations, and present modeling and simulation innovations underway to defend our nation's government and commercial infrastructure.

Moderator: Samuel Visner, Senior Vice President/General Manager for Cybersecurity and Resilience, ICF International

Panelists:

  • COL Scott D. Lathrop, USA (Ret), Director of Secure Autonomy, SoarTech

  • Dr. Deepinder Sidhu, President and CEO, Cyberspace Analytics Corporation

  • Dr. Misty Blowers, Senior Fellow and Vice President of Cyber Research, ICF International

“Modeling and Simulation in Support of Nuclear Energy Operations” Panel

Though the nuclear industry is positioned to support some of the nation’s energy needs, ensuring the technology and power sources are safe, clean and secure presents many challenges. This panel will discuss how the Department of Energy is working to provide safe solutions to the nuclear energy challenge, as well as ensuring the safe and secure disposal of legacy nuclear materials. Panelists will discuss how Modeling and Simulation is supporting the operation of nuclear processing facilities and research into the future of nuclear power.

Panelists:

  • Nick Miller, HB-Line Deputy Facility Manager, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC.

  • Dr. Cristian Rabiti, Department Manager, Idaho National Laboratory

  • Russ Shaffer, Systems Modeling and Simulation Engineer, Newport News Shipbuilding

“Navigating the Virtual and Mixed Reality Landscape of Today and Tomorrow” Panel

The number of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality platforms have exploded over the past three years, providing simulation developers with a new canvas on which to create experiences that fundamentally change verticals including Defense, Healthcare, Education and more. Join us for a wide ranging panel where we will look at available VR/AR/MR platforms and best practices for leveraging these powerful new tools in simulation.

Panelists:

  • Vance Souders, Founder and CEO, Plas.md

  • John Grant, Technology Innovation Manager, HT-JCOE

  • Dr. Vaughn Whisker, Research Associate, Penn State Applied Research Labs
  • Shane Tabor, Creative Director, ECS Orlando
  • Kishan Shetty, Engineering Lead, JANUS Research
  • John Burwell, Director Business Development, Bohemia Interactive

“Use and Advancement of M&S Technologies for Defense and Security” Panel

The moderated panel discussion will highlight the innovative use of technology and data to facilitate:

  • Complex decision making in areas such as cyber and energy security, spectrum management, acquisition and interoperability

  • Advanced training & education, including blended and distributed learning

The discussion will explore advances in big data, artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and the "internet of things".

Moderator: LCDR Chris Davidson, Royal Australian Navy

Panelists:

  • Ellen Purdy, Office of Deputy Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering (Invited)

  • Tom Noble, Director, Navy International Agreements, Navy IPO (Invited)

  • Mike O’Neal, Director, S&T/M&S for MARCORSYSCOM

  • Dennis Reed, M&S Deputy, Department of Navy

  • Dr. Jeffery Temple, Senior Engineer, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD)

MODSIM STEM Event

The MODSIM STEM event provides the conference a unique opportunity to contribute directly to the school experience of the youth who are just beginning to formulate their dreams for the future. The US Department of Commerce projects that growth in STEM occupations, like those in modeling and simulation (M&S), will outpace the growth in other occupations at nearly twice the rate. Developing solutions for climate change, energy sustainment, infrastructure, biomedicine, epidemiology, national security, and more requires STEM literacy. To become our nation's future innovators, our students need to not only understand technology but also embrace science, engineering, and math. STEM needs to excite and inspire our digital natives. During the MODSIM STEM event, approximately 125 area high school students will get the opportunity to see firsthand the world of M&S. Students will rotate through hands-on M&S demonstrations provided in the exhibit hall to see STEM in action.

External Event: Modeling and Simulation Coalition (NMSC) Workshop

The National Modeling & Simulation Coalition (NMSC) is an unincorporated, voluntary, nonprofit coalition sponsored by and composed of government, industrial and educational organizations and professional societies having a common interest in promoting and leveraging M&S to better the human condition and to strengthen the National well-being. The mission of the NMSC is to create a unified national community of individuals and organizations around the M&S discipline and professional practice and to be the principal advocate for M&S. This event is a meeting of the NMSC. Please join us even if you are not already a member!

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