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The chapter hosted its annual December holiday party for members and guests at the Hanscom Air Force Base Minuteman Commons. Maj. Kate Stowe, USAF, vice president, Young AFCEANs, acted as master of ceremonies, welcoming distinguished guests and narrating presentation of the chapter's Unsung Hero awards, which recognize the outstanding contributions that recipients made to their respective organizations during 2014. Steve Falcone, chapter president, joined Maj. Gen. Craig Olson, USAF, program executive officer (PEO) for C3I and Networks; Scott Kiser, director of contracting, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC); Col. Dale VanDusen, USAF, deputy leader, battle management director; Col. Michael Vogel, USAF, commander, 66th Air Base Group; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jesse Boyd, representing the Massachusetts National Guard, in congratulating the awardees. Honorees included Claire Delrle, AFLCMC/PKXB; Debbie Powers, 66th Air Base Group; Patsy Rawnsley, AFLCMC/HNJ; Ray Boucher, AFLCMC/HBMI; Sgt. Joseph Hernandez, Army National Guard; and Marie McClanahan, past chair of the chapters Diversity Committee and perennial volunteer. Gen. Olson concluded by thanking the chapter for its stalwart support and numerous contributions to the Hanscom Air Force Base community throughout the year.
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) Officers' Club in New London, Connecticut, hosted in October the second annual Southern New England Young AFCEANs luncheon where Thomas Michelli, USCG, deputy assistant commandant for C4IT and deputy chief information officer, presented "The USCG's Role in Cybersecurity." He discussed the vision and mission of USCG cyber as well as the collaboration and coordination of USCG Cyber Command, C4IT Service Center and CG-6 Assistant Commandant for C4IT in combating cyber threats. More than 100 people attended the event, including USCGA faculty/staff, cadets, USCG tenant commands, chapter members and industry partners. Lt. Cmdr. Steven Myers, USCG, vice president of Southern New England Young AFCEA, coordinated the event.
In October, the chapter's Education Foundation awarded a robotics donation of $5,000 to the Wetumpka High School Robotics Team. The team accepted the donation presented by Charisse Stokes, director, Education Foundation. Led by Dr. Virginia Vilardi, the team is a diverse group of more than 50 high school students ranging from freshmen to seniors. Most recently, the team participated in the War Eagle BEST robotics competition, placing first in the overall competition and taking home eight more awards. The team is now preparing for the second round of BEST competition, South's BEST, at Auburn University at Montgomery. The chapter's Education Foundation is proud to support this hard-working group of students and looks forward to watching the team build on its already-impressive STEM-driven skill sets.
The chapter hosted its annual December holiday party for members and guests at the Hanscom Air Force Base Minuteman Commons. Maj. Kate Stowe, USAF, vice president, Young AFCEANs, acted as master of ceremonies, welcoming distinguished guests and narrating presentation of the chapter's Unsung Hero awards, which recognize the outstanding contributions that recipients made to their respective organizations during 2014. Steve Falcone, chapter president, joined Maj. Gen. Craig Olson, USAF, program executive officer (PEO) for C3I and Networks; Scott Kiser, director of contracting, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC); Col. Dale VanDusen, USAF, deputy leader, battle management director; Col. Michael Vogel, USAF, commander, 66th Air Base Group; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jesse Boyd, representing the Massachusetts National Guard, in congratulating the awardees. Honorees included Claire Delrle, AFLCMC/PKXB; Debbie Powers, 66th Air Base Group; Patsy Rawnsley, AFLCMC/HNJ; Ray Boucher, AFLCMC/HBMI; Sgt. Joseph Hernandez, Army National Guard; and Marie McClanahan, past chair of the chapters Diversity Committee and perennial volunteer. Gen. Olson concluded by thanking the chapter for its stalwart support and numerous contributions to the Hanscom Air Force Base community throughout the year.
With the assistance of the Lexington-Concord chapter, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) stood up its Screaming Eagles chapter, officially recognized by AFCEA International in spring 2014. Evan Taylor, president, presides over the Screaming Eaglesnamed after its Air Force ROTC detachment mascotcomprised of Air Force ROTC cadets and civilian student members. In the fall, the chapter partnered with the UNH Military Youth and Family Program to assist with its Yellow Ribbon events. It also worked with children of New Hampshire Army National Guard members preparing for deployment and assembled dolls for its Hero Dolls (aka Give-a-Hug Dolls) program. Hero Dolls are camouflage-clad dolls with a clear window on the face inserted with a picture of the deployed parent. Whenever the kids are especially missing their parent(s), they can give a hug to the doll. In November, Shannon Sullivan, AFCEA regional vice president and Google executive, addressed the chapter, offering advice on effective leadership traits, communication skills, collaboration and maintaining a personal balance.
The chapter welcomed two new corporate members in December: Renaissance Electronics Corporation and Microwave Components Inc.
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Thomas F. Gannon, Ph.D., professor of practice, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, provided a four-hour tutorial in December titled "Introduction to Concepts of Systems Engineering." He discussed systems engineering as a multifaceted discipline involving human, organizational and various technical variables that work together to create complex systems. This tutorial provided a brief introduction and overview of the methods and disciplines that systems engineers use to define, develop and deploy systems. Topics covered included: systems engineering as a discipline; structure of complex engineered systems; system environment, building blocks, interfaces and interactions; systems engineering models and standards; and systems engineering throughout the system life cycle.
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Thomas F. Gannon, Ph.D., professor of practice, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, was the guest speaker for the December chapter meeting. Gannon provided an overview and critique of systems engineering architecture development, design, trade-off study analysis and illustrations of associated architecture product views created as part of graduate coursework in systems engineering architecture and design using a real-world systems example. Gannon will help develop the chapters C4I Systems Engineering Certificate Program.<br>
Thanks to CDW-G, a chapter sponsor, the first-year CyberPatriot team at Ramstein High School in Germany has four new laptops to use in its upcoming annual competition. The students will get hands-on networking experience while developing coding and server programming techniques that would not be otherwise allowed on their school computers or network. They work with local mentors for five hours a week and eight hours one Saturday a month to train for the CyberPatriot challenge, which culminates with state, regional and national finals each year.
In December, the chapter's Education Foundation donated $18,408 in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related funding to the Macon County School System. Charisse Stokes, director of the chapter's Education Foundation, presented a $5,000 robotics donation and a $13,408 Chapter Initiative Grant to Macon County Schools during a presentation at Tuskegee Institute Middle School (TIMS). Students from TIMS' Future Business Leaders of America club as well as March Knight, computer essentials teacher at TIMS, William Graham, TIMS principal, and Dr. Melvin Lowe, educational director for Macon County's Career and Technical Education Center, attended the presentation. The robotics donation will support the 37-student Macon County robotics team, which plans to compete in the BEST Competition series, among other robotics competitions. The Chapter Initiative Grant will fund the purchase of new Dell computer systems and monitors as well as finance an upcoming STEM-driven competition for Macon County students. The chapter has provided continuous support to the county throughout the years, providing more than $50,000 in STEM education-related funding and donations over the past three years alone. The chapter is proud to continue supporting the hard-working students and teachers of Macon County and looks forward to watching their future successes.
The chapter's Young AFCEAN Advisory Council (YAAC) hosted its final installment of the 2014 Business Over Breakfast series in December, bringing in guest speaker Col. Michael Jiru, USAF, senior materiel leader and chief of the Enterprise Logistics Systems Division, Business and Enterprise Systems Directorate, Maxwell Air Force Base-Gunter Annex. Col. Jiru shared his thoughts on leadership with a crowd of professionals from industry, military and government. He began the discussion by referencing his early years in the Air Force working at the Sacramento Air Logistics Center as a structure engineer for F-111 aircraft. During this first assignment, he learned the importance of the trust subordinates must have in a leader. Good leaders also know their personality traits, as determined through a Myers-Briggs test, Col. Jiru said. In addition, they listen to those with more experience and find senior mentors to look up to who can help enable growth and prosperous leadership. The colonel advised attendees to combine their technical expertise and passion for their respective fields to inspire and lead others to the best of their abilities. He said open, effective communication and transparency with employees, when appropriate, can build trust and maintain integrity. Col. Jiru mentioned that good leaders genuinely care about the well-being of their people and make an effort to connect with them on a human level to build solid foundations of partnerships essential for successful mission execution. He underscored the necessity of using principles from management and leadership together for long-term success and taking the initiative to mentor others to mold them into potential leaders. Col. Jiru said staying up to date on technical knowledge allows leaders to engage as well as build essential credibility to influence decisions vital for mission success. Overall, he said people can learn something every day and should strive to seek ways to amplify their strengths and compensate for weaknesses to help them lead more effectively. A brief question-and-answer session followed Col. Jiru's presentation, and the audience actively engaged in discussion. The chapter's YAAC thanks Col. Jiru for donating his time and looks forward to planning the Business Over Breakfast series for 2015.
The chapter hosted its December Young AFCEAN Power Breakfast speaker series at First Watch. The speaker was Ramona Vikan of the Ahrens Consulting Group (TACG), who spoke about being a go-getter vs. go-giver. Claire Revalee, chapter co-chair, said more than 20 members attended the ongoing networking event. The event sponsor was Segue Technologies Inc.
The chapter held a ceremony for the opening of the 2014-15 academic year in December at the aerospace sciences department of the University of Beira Interior, Covilha, Portugal. Several entities were represented in the ceremony, including AFCEA Portugal, NAV Portugal, the Portuguese Air Force, the Portuguese Order of Engineers, Instituto Superior Técnico and Tecmic. New students in aeronautical engineering were welcomed, and Rear Adm. Mario Durao, PRT NA (Ret.), chapter president, along with Fernando Moreira, Tecmic's chairman of the board, honored Diogo Sousa with the AFCEA Portugal Student Award. The award recognizes the highest-ranked student in the previous year (licentiate's degree). Pedro Albuqerque, Ph.D. student and first vice president of the Covilha Student Club, promoted the groups activities and invited new members to the club.
In March, the chapter welcomed Col. Michael Finn II, USAF, director of communications and chief information officer (CIO), Headquarters Pacific Air Forces. He discussed the merger of command and control and cyber operations. This merger facilitates mission assurance and is the path to information dominance and protection in cyber space.<br><br>The chapter expressed its gratitude and thanks to outgoing chapter directors and officers for their excellent work and dedication. In addition, it welcomed incoming directors and officers whose term starts April 1.<br><br>The chapter was honored to recognize March awardees: February Senior Government Leader of the Month Linda Newton, Pacific Fleet N-6; Students of the Month Kami Yamamoto of St. Francis High School, and Keane Kouchi of Aiea High School; Young AFCEAN of the Month Master Sgt. Jon Douglas, USAF, Defense Information Systems Agency Pacific; Senior Government Leader Mark Wong, CIO/director of information technology, city and county of Honolulu; and Executive of the Month Garret Yoshimi, vice president for information technology and CIO, University of Hawaii.
The chapter hosted its annual Winter Tech Expo in February and welcomed a record of more than 40 vendors. In addition to the many excellent vendor booths, this year's event included seminars focused on collaboration solutions and cybersecurity, with presentations including: How Avaya Application Driven Networking will transform DoD UC service delivery; Cisco's Collaboration Solutions for DoD; Raytheon: An Interconnected Approach to Cyber Situational Awareness; and Tech Now: Cyber Situational Awareness (SA) Seminar. Thank you to all the participants and attendees that contributed to making this year's Winter Expo a recording breaking event!
The chapter hosted dozens of business and civic leaders at the chapter's first ever Smart Cities Initiative Mobile Enablement Symposium in February at Bossier Parish Community College in Bossier City, Louisiana. The symposium demonstrated how organizations can take advantage of mobile phones, applications and features to empower a business and a community.<br><br>On hand to share new practices that have helped their businesses grow were representatives from Bossier Parish Community College; Twin Engine Labs, an application developer; Red Ball Oxygen, a provider of welding supplies and equipment; KTBS Inc., a local television station; Thermopylae Sciences + Technology, an IT company; and import2, a data moving company. Breakout sessions allowed for questions and answers about mobile strategy execution, data integration and how to develop cities into "Smart Cities."<br><br>The symposium aimed to teach decision makers what mobile enablement does for ROI, the next steps for building a mobile strategy and relevant opportunities on which others have capitalized. Chapter member 1st Lt. Joey Arora, USAF, of the 2nd Operations Support Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, coordinated the event. He said the event was successful in that "people and businesses walked away with a better understanding of how to build a mobile strategy." The biggest challenge overcome was "educating business about the event and getting them to commit to showing up."<br><br>In a short, emailed survey following the event, attendees offered praise as well as constructive criticism, which will be used to guide the chapter in development of future events.
Col. Troy Brashear, USAF, is the director of the Advanced Systems and Development Directorate at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, and the commander of Space and Missile Systems Center's (SMC's) Detachment 1 at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The directorate's mission is to deliver responsive space capabilities to users across the national security space community and conduct developmental planning, science and technology, and presystems acquisition for the SMC. Col.Brashear leads a combined team of more than 740 military, government civilians and contractors in four geographically separated units responsible for development, acquisition, demonstration, launch, test and operations of Defense Department and civil space systems. Col. Brashear discussed the challenges of blending two organizations together to form the Air Force's premier center for advanced systems and developmental planning when he spoke to the chapter in February. He reviewed the organization's core functions and strategic objectives in order to achieve these goals.
As part of the chapter's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) efforts, it participated in the North Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair (NARSEF) held in March at the University Fitness Center on the University of Alabama Huntsville Campus. AFCEA member Kat Devirgilio of Adtran participated as a judge for the event. The following students were given $125 cash prizes for their submissions: Hunter Phillips of Covenant Christian Academy (Development of novel unmanned aerial vehicle [UAV]: Nanoscale traverse tilt-rotor helicopter); Erin Wallace of Muscle Shoals Middle School ("Be Strong" I whispered to my Wi-Fi signal); Garret Lawrence of Covenant Christian Academy (Newer, Better, Faster?); and Alexis Hereford of Rainbow Elementary (Why no Wi-Fi?). The chapter congratulates the winners and hopes to see more great work from them in future STEM events!
The chapter's Diversity Committee, led by Kim Cranson, in coordination with the Hanscom Air Force Base African American Heritage Committee, led by Capt. Yolanda Obey, USAF, hosted a luncheon in February at the Minuteman Commons, Hanscom Air Force Base, to commemorate African American History Month. Steve Falcone, chapter president, presided as master of ceremonies. Special guest speaker, Robert Curbeam Jr., vice president, mission assurance, quality and Raytheon Six Sigma, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, and a retired naval aviator and NASA astronaut, discussed leadership with those attending. Capt. Obey followed providing some history on African American Heritage Month.
The chapter hosted FireEye to discuss Cyber Analytical Methods at the March Technology Over Bagels (TOB). More than 25 government and contractor personnel gathered at Praxis Engineering to hear Tom Topping from FireEye providing insight into FireEye's approach. The presentation and lively discussion touched on many topics such as: transforming raw cyber event data into threat actor identification; real-time cyber indicator sharing; and FireEye's threat actor intelligence reports. With a variety of products and over 50 tier-three cyber threat experts, FireEye supports five of the six largest telecommunications companies and large companies in the financial industry. The chapter's TOB topic and presenting company changes with each event, and is held monthly at Praxis Engineering in the National Business Park, Annapolis Junction, Maryland.
A panel of senior Air Force officials discussed where the Air Force is headed in cybersecurity and information technology initiatives at the March chapter luncheon. The panel discussed the challenges facing the service and some of the programs being developed to address those issues and to satisfy Air Force cyber and IT requirements. Brig. Gen. Sarah Zabel, USAF, the Air Force's director of cyberspace strategy and policy for the Office of Information Dominance and chief information officer, said cybersecurity and information technology solutions should be better integrated and not seen as separate programs and solutions. In addition to Zabel, who moderated the panel, other speakers included: Peter Kim, deputy director, Cyberspace Operations, U.S. Air Force; Maj. Joel Silk, USAF, chief, future cyber ISR capabilities, U.S. Air Force; and Jeff H. Stanley, associate deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for science, technology and engineering. The luncheon was held at the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City/Arlington. The chapter's monthly luncheon series draws between 350-400 senior officers and IT professionals from across the Department of Defense, armed services, intelligence and civilian agencies to discuss topics of interest to the government IT community.