Dr. Robert Cherinka is a Senior Principal Information Systems Engineer for the MITRE Corporation, located in Tampa, Fl. His expertise is in software and process engineering, with a focus toward XML-based web service and agile development technologies. Bob is currently a Department Head for Agile Engineering and Interoperability, leading a distributed team of IT professionals located at 7 MITRE locations in developing and applying emerging technologies that enable information services and interoperability across several major US Government domains. Dr. Cherinka earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in computer science from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, leading research in static analysis and testing techniques for component-based systems. In addition, he earned a B.S. in computer science in 1987 from the University of Pittsburgh. After 6 years in the US Air Force, he joined MITRE in 1993.
Mr. Joseph Prezzama is currently the Associate Department Head for the MITRE Tampa Operations facility. Mr. Prezzama has supported the Department of Defense for over 20 years in the areas of tactical communications and strategic enterprise planning. In 1996, Mr. Prezzama earned a Masters of Science in Software Engineering from Monmouth University, Eatontown, New Jersey. Prior to that, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Trenton State College, Ewing, New Jersey. He is a member of and has been published in AFCEA, and is a senior member of the IEEE, IEEE Communications Society.
Federal agencies are seeking new ways to innovate, procure and enhance enterprise capabilities. In this presentation, we will be discussing the utility of bringing interdisciplinary collaboration to real world problems. Modern organizations are facing similar diverse challenges every day. They are coping by: Their Leaders setting sound strategic visions; utilizing Infrastructures and test-beds for information sharing, experimentation & prototyping; embracing interdisciplinary sources that are open to the communities (such as government agencies, academia, SMEs & industry; and by partnering, teaming and integrating with industry & academia. The goal is to have a rich set of innovative interdisciplinary resources at our disposal to utilize, tap into, and to meet our goals. This could result in diverse partnering and teaming arrangements and for creating new ways of thinking, thinking about: collaboration, innovation, teaming, competition, open communication and transparency. Competitions are one tool that federal agencies can use to drive innovation and solve mission-centric problems—whether technical, scientific, or creative. In this presentation we will examine several approaches to foster open innovation through challenges and competitions in support of key business operations in the workforce. We highlight specific examples of their use in “real world” environments and provide an assessment of applicability, benefits and challenges for implementation in large organizations.
