Laura Freeman named deputy director of the Virginia Tech National Security Institute

Laura Freeman has been named the inaugural deputy director of the Virginia Tech Nationwide Safety Institute. As deputy director, Freeman assists Eric Paterson, govt director of the institute, in persevering with the institute’s trajectory for progress and maximizing its influence on the college and the nation.

“As a knowledge scientist with deep expertise within the protection and intelligence communities, Laura Freeman brings in depth technical experience to the chief management crew of the institute,” Paterson stated. “Dr. Freeman is a direct asset as we proceed rising  the institute and work broadly throughout the college. With Arlington and Blacksburg services, I’m excited that we’ve a management crew that may successfully assist the college and our staff, college students, and sponsors in each areas.”

Freeman has been the director of the Clever Techniques Division of the Nationwide Safety Institute since its inception, the place she led analysis addressing crucial challenges in nationwide safety by leveraging information science, synthetic intelligence, and machine studying.

Along with her new place, Freeman maintains present roles as assistant dean of analysis for the School of Science within the higher Washington, D.C., metro space and analysis affiliate professor within the Division of Statistics.

“Listening to in regards to the idea of a brand new nationwide safety institute at Virginia Tech was what inspired me to take the leap from my earlier function on the Institute for Protection Analyses within the first place,” Freeman stated. “Now, I’m extraordinarily excited for the chance to function the deputy director.”

Virginia Tech introduced the formation of the Virginia Tech Nationwide Safety Institute in 2021, aspiring to change into the nation’s preeminent educational group on the nexus of interdisciplinary analysis, know-how, coverage, and expertise improvement to advance nationwide safety. The institute homes the Ted and Karyn Hume Middle for Nationwide Safety and Expertise, which serves because the hub for nationwide security-focused experiential scholar studying and workforce improvement on the college.

Freeman is keen to develop the Nationwide Safety Institute’s efforts to diversify as a office and collaboration house for the nationwide safety expertise pipeline. 

“At this time’s nationwide safety challenges require a simply, inclusive, and numerous workforce,” Freeman stated.  “Encouraging variety will increase the views that we are able to leverage to resolve the issues confronted by a contemporary nationwide safety equipment. To try this, the institute actively engages and helps equality, inclusion, and variety, whereas offering a piece surroundings that accommodates all kinds of worker circumstances and recruits from a various vary of backgrounds.”

The Nationwide Safety Institute is without doubt one of the many vessels of which Virginia Tech prepares college students for future careers within the intelligence and protection communities, and Freeman has been a longtime chief within the house.

Freeman served because the Ted and Karyn Hume Middle for Nationwide Safety and Expertise’s Clever Techniques Division director previous to the institution of the Nationwide Safety Institute. The Hume Middle’s schooling and outreach packages present alternatives for college kids to be engaged in nationwide safety by way of mentoring, internships, scholarships, and workforce improvement packages to provide college students expertise with addressing the important thing challenges professionals are prone to face when getting into federal service. She initially joined the Hume Middle in 2019 because the affiliate director of the Clever Techniques Lab.

Inside the Hume Middle, Freeman is a college adviser for the Deloitte Graduate Scholar Analysis Program on Synthetic Intelligence, which prepares graduate college students for synthetic intelligence careers by equipping them with hands-on analysis expertise and enhanced skilled and technical abilities by way of direct entry to Deloitte professionals.

She is principal investigator for the U.S. Cyber Command Cyber Management Growth Program — a results of a $1.5 million award from the Division of Protection to gas workforce improvement in cybersecurity.

Funded by the Division of Protection and directed by the Workplace of the Undersecretary of Protection for Acquisition and Sustainment, Virginia Tech is one among core establishments main the brand new Acquisition Innovation and Analysis Middle. Freeman is on the chief crew, bringing collectively increased schooling experience to extend effectivity within the U.S. Protection Acquisition System to accompany the enlargement of protection know-how.

Additionally a researcher with the Virginia Tech-led Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), Freeman’s analysis focuses on synthetic intelligence assurance and creating new strategies for the testing and analysis of rising system applied sciences, enabling their adoption. CCI connects regional nodes throughout the commonwealth, every led by an establishment of upper schooling, that are designed to be vibrant facilities of analysis, studying, and innovation tailor-made to their native ecosystem. This summer time, Freeman will have interaction with college students throughout the commonwealth as an teacher for the CCI Cyber Camp. 

Apart from the college’s present packages that concentrate on creating our scholar physique to be ready nationwide safety professionals, Freeman believes Virginia Tech additionally has a novel tradition that makes Virginia Tech a compelling chief in making a expertise pipeline to the nationwide safety house.

“Mirrored in our motto, Ut Prosim (That I Might Serve), we’ve a powerful tradition of service at this college with every thing we do,” Freeman stated. “An ingrained service mentality is core for supporting our nationwide safety, and our college students who purpose to work in nationwide safety after commencement have already internalized this mindset, on high of receiving profound data and expertise of their lessons, analysis, and workforce improvement alternatives.”

Previous to becoming a member of Virginia Tech, Freeman was the assistant director of the Operational Analysis Division on the Institute for Protection Analyses from 2010 to 2019, the place she led an interdisciplinary crew to design checks and carried out statistical analyses for packages of nationwide significance, corresponding to weapons, aircrafts, and undersea warfare programs. Freeman says this function is the place she first found her ardour for her particular analysis experience.

Freeman grew to become the performing senior technical advisor for Director Operational Take a look at and Analysis (DOT&E) in 2018. On this function, Freeman offered management, recommendation, and counsel on technical elements of testing navy programs, reviewing take a look at methods, plans, and reviews from all main protection programs.

All through her profession, Freeman has obtained quite a few awards for her analysis and contributions in take a look at and analysis because it pertains to the nationwide safety discipline, together with 4 awards from the Worldwide Take a look at and Analysis Affiliation and three from the Institute for Protection Analyses.

Freeman is a member of the Nationwide Protection Industrial Affiliation and the American Statistical Affiliation.  She is a member of the Worldwide Take a look at and Analysis Affiliation (ITEA), the place she moreover serves because the Editor-and-Chief of the ITEA journal. Moreover, she serves on the Technical Administration Committee for Technometrics and beforehand served on editorial boards for High quality Engineering and High quality Reliability Engineering Worldwide.  

Freeman is a founding organizer of DATAWorks (Protection and Aerospace Take a look at and Evaluation Workshop), a workshop for presidency companies to share new strategies, present coaching, and share greatest practices of statistical approaches to check design and information evaluation within the fields of protection and aerospace.

Freeman earned three levels from Virginia Tech: a bachelor’s diploma in aerospace engineering with a minor in arithmetic in 2005; and a grasp’s diploma and Ph.D., each in statistics, in 2006 and 2010, respectively.