Summit at UCF provides MS&T experts with info to innovate and develop solutions

By Shane Klestinski, Associate Editor

 

Professionals from throughout Central Florida’s modeling, simulation and training (MS&T) community – and beyond – gathered at the University of Central Florida (UCF) for the Military Virtual Training & Simulation Summit, Feb. 5-6.

 

Held by the Defense Strategies Institute, this summit’s eighth iteration occurred in UCF’s Fairwinds Alumni Center, which provided a forum for industry, academia and military representatives (among other stakeholders) to share insights and address issues relevant to MS&T technologies that prepare warfighters and decision-makers for tomorrow’s conflicts.

 

Keynote presentations and panel discussions featured senior military leaders, including representatives from Team Orlando’s local Defense Department agencies, for an audience comprised largely of industry representatives.

 

“These presentations are explaining what the services need to do, how they need to create an operational environment that is realistic and will allow our warfighters to train, so when they have to execute for real, they will have gotten a lot of ‘reps and sets’ under their belt using live, virtual and constructive training,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Maria Gervais, the summit’s moderator. “The [service] presenters are highlighting what they need. The audience is understanding where the services need help, and where they can bring their expertise to bear to help solve those challenges.”

 

During her military career, Gervais served as deputy commanding general/chief of staff at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Earlier in her service, she was also the director of the Synthetic Training Environment – Cross Functional Team in Orlando.

 

Gervais said the intended takeaway for the audience centered on the “tough, complex challenges that need to be solved,” due to emerging technology, an understanding of what national security threats look like in the present, and how they will manifest in the future. She went on to explain the need to capitalize on new technology to improve warfighter training going forward.

 

“That understanding is absolutely essential because when [attendees] walk away with that, they can understand how MS&T can be used to help, not just to train, but to develop leaders and build readiness for the services,” Gervais said. “That translates to being able to defend our nation.”

 

Gervais pointed out that many presenters were UCF alumni who got their simulations degrees from UCF, which helped attract experts from across the country to what is recognized as a center of excellence “hub” for modeling and simulation.

 

“They can understand what we’re trying to do, and they can collaborate to solve those challenges,” Gervais said. “We know our competitors are on a very aggressive timeline, what we’re seeing is emerging technology, and we need to understand how that emerging technology can be utilized. We need to bring it in and integrate it from an aspect of being able to deliver it to the warfighter as quickly as we can. Our number one pressing concern is time.”

 

Ronald Kornreich, a former Air Force fighter pilot and current senior associate at Aerospace Business Development Associates, is a veteran of Central Florida’s MS&T conferences. He noted that the summit’s value was primarily informational, and he considered the updates from Space Force personnel particularly interesting because, “the Space Force is new and a lot of what they’re doing is evolving – and it’s new to them.”

 

Kornreich also emphasized the significance of the summit as an opportunity to connect and reconnect with others in the MS&T field, especially since that community relies so heavily on collaboration to develop solutions.

 

“You’ve got a lot of folks here who are retired military,” Kornreich said. “I’ve been in the industry 25 years after [my military] retirement, and we tend to have a very collegial atmosphere. There are companies here who are competitors [on one contract] and then will team up on the next contract. It’s a nice networking environment.”

 

Gervais recognized the efforts made by the Defense Strategies Institute and UCF for planning and executing the event, which provided added value to the bigger picture of innovation and forward movement in the MS&T field.

 

“Summits like this are so important,” Gervais said. “They show the power of collaboration and… we have so much expertise. It doesn’t matter how difficult the problem is, or how complex we think it is. When you challenge this community, it’s amazing how quickly they deliver and how quickly we make progress – but we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t have summits like this.”