U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shuu serves because the chief know-how officer of the Department of Defense. In a current discuss at MIT, she spoke of the DoD’s initiatives to construct a stronger US manufacturing base and tackle the nation’s “toughest challenges.”
President Biden nominated Shyu as undersecretary in April 2021, and she or he stepped into the position three months later. She is chargeable for supporting analysis, improvement and prototyping within the DoD.
In her speech, which was a part of the Manufacturing@MIT Distinguished Speaker Series, she touched on many areas, together with funding startups “so good ideas don’t wither away,” coaching manufacturing personnel, strengthening U.S. provide chains, getting ready for local weather change, stopping mental property theft, supporting “leap forward” applied sciences and rebuilding the US semiconductor business.
She described the not too long ago introduced DoD Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), which can present capital to assist revolutionary firms transfer from promising prototypes to scaled manufacturing, and can work with DoD companies and the personal sector. Through this method, she stated, OSC will attempt to stop promising prototypes from falling right into a “valley of death” that lies between innovation and bringing new merchandise to market. She defined that the DoD desires to do extra to assist younger firms jump-start their operations. “The government must embrace strategic public investment as an important tool to reach our full economic potential,” she stated.
The Secretary of State can be main a name for proposals for 9 regional microelectronics hubs within the United States as a part of $2 billion in CHIPS Act funding that the DoD will distribute. She described the worth of connecting regional startups, bigger firms and universities to drive innovation: “We will establish multiple regional hubs that can leverage innovative research from universities to help develop the next generation of chips.”
Smaller firms and startups, Shyu stated, typically do not know the best way to navigate the DoD. “I’m sure many of you will develop new ideas as you research here and decide to turn a technology into a startup business,” she stated. “So how do you connect to the DoD? That is quite a task!” She stated she is dedicated to fixing this by relaunching the cto.innovation.mil web site in order that firms and researchers can discover the suitable contacts within the DoD.
Shyu stated one other precedence was strengthening the US workforce. This yr, for instance, her company funded 482 Smart Scholars and plans to extend that quantity. Smart Scholars obtain free college schooling. When they graduate, they decide to working for the DoD for the variety of years the DoD coated their tuition.
MIT has led a variety of staffing packages with the DoD’s Manufacturing Technology Office, together with founding the buildyourfuture.us profession platform. MIT can be carefully related to the 9 DoD manufacturing innovation institutes that Shyu’s workplace oversees.
After the lecture, Shyu visited laboratories on campus. Eric Evans and Bob Shin of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory joined Secretary of State Shyu to listen to from Lisa Kelley, Joel Grimm and Scott VanBroeken about pupil initiatives at MIT Beaver Works and concerning the Beaver Works summer season college for highschool college students. Professor Vladimir Bulovic took her by MIT.nano and described MIT’s fabrication and characterization capabilities. She additionally visited Professor Zack Cordero’s lab within the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Professor Klav Jensen within the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Professor Chris Voigt’s lab within the Department of Biological Engineering. has supported.
The Manufacturing@MIT Working Group organized Shyu’s go to as a part of their new Distinguished Speaker Series. The collection launched within the fall of 2022 and the primary speaker was Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.
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Source: information.mit.edu