RESEARCH WITH A DIFFERENCE
out at the U.S. Army Communications- Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center’s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), eventually becoming branch chief for imaging technology. In 1996 he became director of the Electronics and Photonics Technology Office at the National Insti- tute of Standards and Technology. He returned to NVESD in 2000 as director of the Science and Technology Division, then moved to ARL in 2013 as director of the Sensors and Electron Devices Direc- torate before becoming acting director of ARL in April 2016. In June 2017, “acting” was removed from his title.
ARL, based in Adelphi, Maryland, is the Army’s premier laboratory for basic and applied research and analysis. With primary laboratory sites at Aberdeen Prov- ing Ground, Maryland; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Orlando, Florida; and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, as well as dozens of other sites throughout the U.S. and in three other countries (see Figure 1, Page 102), ARL researches weap- ons and materials, sensors and electron devices, computational and information sciences, human research and engineer- ing, vehicle technology, and survivability and lethality analysis. Te laboratory consists of about 2,000 civilian and mili- tary employees with an annual budget of over $1 billion.
Among Perconti’s accomplishments at ARL are:
“ Technology
transfer is truly a contact sport, and it is through a close coordination and collaboration among
government, industry and academia that we are able to rapidly accelerate technologies and capabilities to the warfighter.
” 96 Army AL&T Magazine
• Modifying its use of cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs). CRADAs allow Army and private sector researchers to set the terms for who does what research, who gets intellectual property rights, and who gets to develop what and for how long, while involving no exchange of funding. The new CRADA model has signifi- cantly lowered barriers for cooperation, enabling ARL researchers to more effec- tively transfer intellectual property to their partners, and has boosted the number of active CRADAs from 20 in 2014 to now more than 400.
• Expanding ARL’s Open Campus, begun in 2014 by his predecessor, Dr. Thomas P. Russell, now the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for research and technology. Open Campus was designed to create a science and technology (S&T) ecosystem emphasizing interde- pendent collaborative research. Under Perconti’s leadership, ARL has lever- aged more than $70 million in in-kind
October-December 2018
contributions for Army-focused research through Open Campus initiatives.
• ARL Extended, with hubs at ARL West, at the University of Southern California; ARL South, at the University of Texas at Austin; ARL Central, at the Univer- sity of Chicago; and ARL Northeast, at Northeastern University in Boston. ARL has also established CRADAs with regional universities and partners around each hub; ARL, for instance, has one CRADA that covers the entire University of Texas system.
• Development of technology transfer, with small businesses licensing ARL intellectual property.
In an email exchange, Army AL&T asked Dr. Perconti about the future of ARL and its role in the Army.
Army AL&T: Everything we’re hearing about Army acquisition is about making it faster and more responsive. How does this new emphasis, along with the Futures Command, change ARL’s mission, if at all? Will you have to adjust Army S&T efforts to ensure quick transition of scien- tific knowledge and development of a rapid prototyping capability?
Perconti: ARL’s mission still remains the same. We’re the corporate laboratory for the Army, and our mission is discov- ery, innovation and transition of science and technology knowledge and capabili- ties that address the Army modernization priorities. We have strategically devel- oped research programs that align with the Army’s priorities and are aggressively looking to develop disruptive technologies in those key areas.
Te Army vision states the Army will be ready to deploy, fight and win deci- sively, against any adversary, in a joint,
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