8:30 Am
PANEL III: information dominance and national defense
Securing Superiority in the Age of Digital Warfare
In today’s rapidly evolving battlespace, information is a weapon, and dominance in the digital realm is key to national security. This panel will delve into the strategies and technologies that enable the United States and its allies to gain and maintain information superiority. Topics will include cybersecurity, intelligence operations, space-based surveillance, and the role of AI in modern warfare. Thought leaders from the DoD, defense contractors, and academia will discuss how the U.S. can stay ahead of adversaries in an increasingly contested information landscape.
submit your questions for the information dominance and national defense panel
Brian Delong
moderator
Chief Technology Officer, Battle Management Command, Control and Communications (BMC3) United States Space Force
A transformative technology leader with over two decades of innovation excellence, Brian DeLong drives breakthrough advancements at the critical intersection of strategic vision and technological capability. His career spans an extraordinary range of achievements—from pioneering the world class endurance coaching industry and Olympic anti-doping paperless programs to revolutionizing NFL-caliber virtual reality training and professional fantasy sports platforms. Brian's exceptional talent lies in his ability to translate complex technical capabilities into decisive competitive advantages, bridging the often challenging divide between business leadership and engineering excellence.
As Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Battle Management Command, Control and Communications (BMC3), Brian infuses commercial innovation methodologies and startup agility into military technology modernization. His distinctive approach empowers teams to operationalize emerging technologies for decision advantage through disciplined adaptation and strategic implementation.
Brian's commitment to fostering innovation extends beyond traditional boundaries through his creation of unique engagement initiatives. His signature "Waffles on Wednesday (WoW!)" gatherings, iconic brown bag Wisdom Sessions, and accessible Office Hours have become legendary within the defense technology community for reimagining collaboration with Science and Technology (Futures), Industry, Commercial, and Non-Traditional partners.
Learn more about Brian's initiatives and insights at thecto.space
Major Sean P. Allen
panelist
17 yrs in Space Domain Awareness, Space Defense, OPIR, & SATCOM. Created the SDA TAP Lab to accelerate battle management solutions and stir innovation across industry, academia, and government. Inspired adoption of data science best practices & algorithm benchmarking for space. Established a globally deployed daytime LEO-tracking telescope program – R&D concept turned Presidentially directed program. Highly Qualified Mission Director at National Space Defense Center (NSDC). Led scientists, developers, and hardware experts building orbital threat warning applications, sensor network scheduling and orbit determination algorithms at various classification levels.
ASSIGNMENTS: Born in Omaha, Nebraska. Graduated from the University of Hawaii at
Manoa in 2008. Commissioned into the United States Air Force in 2008.
Chief, SDA TAP Lab US Space Force
Associate Professor, Sociology
Director, Warfighter Effectiveness Research Center
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership
United States Air Force Academy
Rick Neimeyer, PhD panelist
Richard E. Niemeyer, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the United States Air Force Academy’s Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership and the Director of the Academy’s Warfighter Effectiveness Research Center. After graduating from the University of California, Riverside, in 2011 with a Ph.D. in sociology, he co-founded the UC Riverside Institute for the Applications of Mathematics and Integrated Science, serving as its deputy director until 2013. Since then, he has organized numerous transdisciplinary meetings, workshops, and panels on the sociobiological determinants of health, the mathematical modeling of social conflict, and the neuro-sociological foundations of deviant behavior. His current research explores cognitive security and social processes in isolated, confined, and extreme environments from a transdisciplinary and mechanistic perspective. Dr. Niemeyer is also a Co-Investigator on a five-year AFOSR-funded MURI grant to develop a theoretical framework for reducing susceptibility to mis/dis/malinformation.
Dr. Shouhuai Xu
panelist
Gallogly Chair Professor in Cybersecurity, Department of Computer Science University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS)
Dr. Shouhuai Xu is the Gallogly Chair Professor in Cybersecurity, Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS). He has a broad research portfolio in cybersecurity, including space cybersecurity. His research has won several awards, including 1st place at the 2019 Worldwide Adversarial Malware Classification Challenge organized by the MIT Lincoln Lab, the 2023 USCYBERCOM CyberRecon Analyst Award, the 2024 USCYBERCOM CyberRecon Hunter Award, and 1st place at the 2024 NSIN/UC2 Cyber Innovators Challenge (Topic 3). His research has been funded by AFOSR, AFRL, ARL, ARO, DOE, NSA, NSF and ONR. He is the Technology Pillar Lead of an NSF Regional Innovation Hub (Phase 1), which focuses on making space infrastructures and systems resilient. He co-initiated the International Conference on Science of Cyber Security (SciSec) and is serving as its Steering Committee Chair. He has served as Program Committee co-chair for several international conferences. He is/was an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (IEEE TDSC), IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security (IEEE T-IFS), IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering (IEEE TNSE), and Scientific Reports. More information about his research can be found at https://xu-lab.org.
With over 27 years dedicated to Federal Sales, Sajji currently serves as a Senior Sales Engineer for Collibra's Federal Sales team. For the past five and a half years at Collibra, Sajji has specialized in the data sciences, focusing on the critical areas of data governance and AI governance. Sajji's extensive portfolio of clients includes key federal entities such as the Veterans Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense, US Army, SOCCOM, HHS, OPM, and the Federal Reserve. Sajji resides in Northern Virginia along the Occoquan River and is a long-time musician, having played bass guitar in numerous Irish bands for over 28 years.
Sajji Hussain
panelist
Sales Engineer, US, Occoquan, Virginia
9:45 Am
interactive activity: nate swagle
lego modeling activity
Sr. Design Lead, AF CyberWorx
Nate Swagler
Expert-level knowledge of creativity, design, and innovation methodologies applied as a process facilitator, instructor, and consultant for clients in industry, academic, military, corporate, and start-up environments.
ABOUT ME
Obsessed with creativity and creative problem solving since childhood
Cleared military contractor (TS/SCI) specializing in complex problem-solving facilitation
Analog astronaut (HI-SEAS alum); NASA HERA finalist (campaign #7, 2024)
BA Psychology; MSc Creativity & Change Leadership; MS Entrepreneurship in Applied Technologies
Current: Sr. Design & Innovation facilitator and site lead (contractor), US Air Force Academy, CyberWorx – responsible for accelerating the development of novel technological capabilities to meet complex warfighter requirements in the Department of the Air Force (Air & Space) and across Combatant Commands.
Previous: US Space Command, Strategic Innovation Group (SIG), and US Special Operations Command, acting Team Lead for the Design and Innovation Group within Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) – responsible for J-Directorate and Sr. Executive-level support, curriculum development, faculty-led instruction, and workshop / operational planning team facilitation.
Tailored creativity, design, and innovation programs provided for: US Space Command Joint Directorates and Command Team, US Special Operations Command HQ (USSOCOM), global Theater Special Operations Commands (TSOCs), and CONUS-based US SOF Components: US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC), Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), and Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC). In this role Nathan also executed international experiences leading military design and innovation and creative problem-solving programs in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Denmark, Israel, Jordan, Georgia and Somalia, and his signature design activities are used to train elite military units around the world.
In addition to expert-level facilitation skills across a portfolio of Creative Problem Solving methodologies (Design Thinking, TRIZ, Synectics, Lateral Thinking, Bio-Mimicry, Osborn-Parnes CPS), Nathan is also a certified practitioner of LEGO Serious Play, and is a certified administrator of both the Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile and the creative problem solving preference measure, FourSight, and he has applied these tools and methods to map and interrogate complex adaptive systems of interest to combatant commanders and joint directorate leadership.
Prior to his employment within the defense and security community, he co-founded the world’s first creativity and innovation services laboratory from within a major art museum – the Salvador Dali museum – where he designed and developed programs to leverage the unique qualities and attributes of the master surrealist’s paintings to drive insights and innovations for corporate clients.
11:00 Am
featured speaker: chandra donelson
Chandra Donelson was appointed in April 2024 as the Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer (acting) for the U.S. Department of the Air Force. In this role, Donelson is responsible for developing and implementing DAF-wide strategies for enterprise data management, analytics, digital transformation, and responsible/ethical artificial intelligence to optimize performance and drive innovation in and across all missions and operations.
Donelson previously served as Space Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer for the U.S. Space Force. Prior, she served as the Deputy Chief Data Officer, G-2 at Headquarters Department of the Army (HQDA). She also was previously an OSINT Data Manager for the G2, where she led HQDA G-2 and Defense Intelligence Mission Area (DIMA) Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) portfolio modernization efforts. She earlier served as a Data and Analytics Officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Donelson earned her MBA, Information Technology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Science in Data Science & Analytics from Univ. of Missouri – Columbia. She has held several leadership roles – including Chapter Lead and Strategic Advisor – in the DMV Chapter of Women in Data.
USSF Space Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer
Chandra Donelson
12:00 pm
closing remarks: dr. dan Hirleman
Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University Director of the Data Mine of the Rockies
dr. dan hirleman
Dan Hirleman is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University and Director of the Data Mine of the Rockies. He is committed to creating and scaling models for experiential learning that provide transformative opportunities and a margin of excellence for students beyond traditional university curricula. The Data Mine of the Rockies and the Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education (GEARE) are case studies.
Hirleman previously served as Purdue’s: inaugural Chief Corporate & Global Partnerships Officer; Executive Director for International Advancement; Senior Intellectual Property Officer; and Senior International Officer. Prior to that, and beyond faculty appointments, his academic assignments included: Associate Dean for Research as well as Chair of the Mechanical & Aerospace Department at Arizona State University; the William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue; and the 2nd Dean of the School of Engineering at the University of California, Merced.
Hirleman has over two hundred publications, seven U.S. patents, and presented eighty invited lectures in fourteen countries. His teams developed ten technologies that are licensed and/or are deployed in commercial products. He received the Hon. George Brown Award for International Scientific Cooperation and the ASME Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award (given annually for outstanding achievement in mechanical engineering) and chaired the Advisory Board of Engineers for a Sustainable World. He enjoys spending time with his family and playing racquetball.