Challenge gives junior engineers opportunity for hands-on experience

  • Published
  • By Patty Welsh
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  On Oct. 31, the Electronic Systems Center held a kick-off for the ESC Innovation Challenge, a competition where two teams of junior engineers will work to find the best technical solution for a warfighter need.
 
The challenge is a two-phase competition to develop and integrate technologies that address ESC technology needs and rapidly transition them to both theater and a program of record.

During the kick-off, Lt. Gen. CR Davis, ESC commander, said to team participants, ""We (the ESC community) have gotten very entrenched in the way things are done. You will not be encumbered by process, and will be allowed to focus on delivering something that works."

The idea for the challenge originated after David Rozenberg, a junior engineer at ESC, participated in the Air Force Research Lab Commander's Challenge, where each team designs, develops and demonstrates a solution to an Air Force technology need.

He, along with fellow junior engineers Zachary Rose and Yakov Salzberg, thought it would be a great idea to have a similar competition at ESC where the teams would develop a solution for a program of record's need. They presented the idea to Susan Thornton, Engineering and Technical Management Directorate director, who thought it would be beneficial to ESC and the Air Force.

"I am very excited we have a chance to do something meaningful for the Air Force and at the same time give our junior engineers a chance to get hands-on experience in providing a real capability to the warfighter," Ms. Thornton said.

EN leadership proposed the competition idea to ESC leadership, who also supported the initiative, and the ESC Innovation Challenge was born.

A call for topics was issued to find a warfighter need that would fit the criteria of the Challenge. The Administrative Board, chaired by Ms. Thornton, reviewed the submissions received from program offices for breadth of engineering disciplines, potential for multiple solutions, and solution achievability.

For 2011, the ESC Innovation Challenge topic is Theater Deployable Communications. TDC provides the warfighter with flexible, lightweight modular, scalable and integrated deployable communications and some of the challenges include size, limited bandwith, set-up time and flexibility.

The objective for the challenge is to develop a solution for the TDC community to ensure network connectivity for communications equipment including Wi-Fi/WiMAX enabled devices. (WiMax is the ability to enable wi-fi for large geographic areas.)

"We could see benefits for all participants," said Deanna Michalowicz, EN staff engineer, who serves on the Challenge's Administrative Board. "The young engineers bring innovative ideas and a fresh perspective. Participation in the Challenge will provide them with a chance to get hands-on experience and directly support the warfighter. For the program office, it allows an opportunity to utilize organic talent to obtain nonproprietary solutions more quickly and at a lesser cost."

After a call for Challenge participants in September, two teams of six junior engineers were chosen based on their background, skill sets and how they would integrate together. Civilian participants are GS 7-11s while officers are first or second lieutenants.

After the kick-off, the teams, working full-time, have a six-to-eight month development period and a set budget to design, build and demonstrate a prototype. Supporting each team on a part-time basis will be a senior mentor, cost estimators and acquisition support, along with representatives from the program office. After demonstrations, the winning team will be chosen based on criteria such as meeting requirements, innovation, fieldability, sustainability and team professionalism.

According to the Administrative Board, there will be a fly-off of the demos in May 2012, followed by a one-month period for the winning technology to transition to the program office. Up to two of the winning team's engineers may join the sponsoring program office o ensure a quick and efficient transition.

"This is called an "innovation" challenge for a reason - it provides an opportunity to deliver capability in a new way," said General Davis.

Organizers hope the Challenge will become an annual event.