Accelerating Army Tactical Innovation: A Five-way University-Military-Government-Nonprofit Collaboration to Speed Soldier-Ideated Technology Development

Matthew J. Traum; Amit Shashikant Jariwala; Christopher Aliperti; Randall A. Emert; Arwen H. DeCostanza

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Conference: 2024 South East Section Meeting
Location: Marietta, Georgia
Publication Date: March 10, 2024
Start Date: March 10, 2024
End Date: March 12, 2024
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 20
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45502
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/45502
Download Count: 30

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Paper Authors

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Matthew J. Traum University of Florida orcid.org/0000-0002-1105-0439

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Dr. Matthew J. Traum is a Senior Lecturer and Associate Instructional Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. He is PI of UF's GatorKits Laboratory and Associate Director of UF's Center for Engineering Design. Dr. Traum is also a Director of RaveBio Inc., a biotechnology startup founded by former students. Dr. Traum is an experienced educator, administrator, fund raiser, and researcher. As of early 2024, he has co-authored an Open Educational Resource (OER) engineering design textbook, a book chapter, 21 peer-reviewed research and pedagogical journal papers, 60 refereed research and pedagogical conference articles, and he has given 5 invited presentations. As PI or Co-PI, Traum has attracted over $960K in funding for research and education. A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Traum was founding CEO of Engineer Inc., an education technology social enterprise and leading STEM instructional lab kit manufacturer prior to his UF appointment.

Previously, Dr. Traum was an Associate Professor and Director of Engineering Programs at Philadelphia University. He also served on the Milwaukee School of Engineering faculty as well as co-founding the Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department at the University of North Texas – Denton.

Traum received Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, and he holds dual B.S. degrees from the UC Irvine in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

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Amit Shashikant Jariwala Georgia Institute of Technology orcid.org/0000-0002-3851-9161

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Dr. Amit Jariwala is the Director of Design & Innovation for the School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He develops and maintains industry partnerships to support experiential, entrepreneurial, and innovative learning experiences within the academic curriculum of the school. He is a Woodruff School Teaching Fellow and strives to enhance education by developing classes, workshops, and events focused on implementing hands-on, collaborative learning through solving real-world problems. He directs the operations of the Institute-wide Georgia Tech Capstone Design Expo, which highlights projects created by over 2000 Georgia Tech seniors graduating students on an annual basis. He serves as the faculty advisor for the student organization of over 100 student volunteers who all train, staff, and manage the operations of Georgia Tech’s Flowers Invention Studio – one of the nation’s premier volunteer student-run makerspace, open to all of the Georgia Tech community.

Dr. Jariwala’s research interests are in the field of makerspaces, evidence-based design education, and advanced additive manufacturing process. During his Ph.D. studies, he was also a participant of the innovative TI:GER® program (funded by NSF:IGERT), which prepares students to commercialize high impact scientific research results. He has participated and led several research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the State of Georgia, and Industry sponsors. He currently directs a cross-disciplinary Vertically Integrated Project team on SMART^3 Makerspaces focused on research and development to enable the creation of intelligent systems to manage and maintain makerspaces.

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Abstract

U.S. Army tactical innovation labs are at the forefront of addressing real-time challenges faced by frontline Soldiers. This paper explores a unique collaboration among the mechanical engineering Capstone design programs at University of Florida and Georgia Institute of Technology in partnership with the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division, the non-profit Civil-Military Innovation Institute, and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. The collaboration leverages an innovative process that sources problems directly from Soldiers and engages engineering students in short innovation cycle product development. This paper identifies underpinning elements of this partnership that led to its success to inform and facilitate future successful collaboration across organizations.

Eight aspirational features crucial for successful civilian military collaboration were identified from the literature and are further categorized into Technology, Organization, and Personal levels. The collaboration intentionally incorporates these features, ensuring dual-use technologies; shared values and goals; well-defined parameters; a central administrative entity; and deliberately planned interaction between academic personnel, Army and government civilian personnel, and students. The partnership’s success is exemplified through details of 1/6 scale vehicle camouflage deployers built by UF and GT for the Army. When tested, these systems exceeded the Army's time targets for mounting, deployment, and retraction. Illustrating the rapid product development cycle this collaboration enables, a full-scale deployer prototype was built, tested, and delivered to the Army within 12 calendar months of the project’s initial conception.

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Traum, M. J., & Jariwala, A. S., & Aliperti, C., & Emert, R. A., & DeCostanza, A. H. (2024, March), Accelerating Army Tactical Innovation: A Five-way University-Military-Government-Nonprofit Collaboration to Speed Soldier-Ideated Technology Development Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45502