The 2024 T&E Professional Awards Ceremony

Named after Dr. Allen R. Matthews, founder and first president of ITEA. It is presented to an individual for a lasting, significant contribution to the field of T&E, such as the cumulative effect of a distinguished career. The Allen R. Matthews award is the highest award bestowed by ITEA.

WINNER: Dr. Eileen A. Bjorkman

Dr. Bjorkman was commissioned through Officer Training School in 1980 and served nearly 30 years in the Air Force, retiring as a colonel. During her military career, she served as a Flight Test Engineer, Instructor and Test Squadron Commander. She was a Senior Non-rated Aircrew Member and flew more than 700 hours as a Flight Test Engineer in more than 25 different aircraft, primarily the F-4 Phantom IaI, F-16 Fighting Falcon, C-130 Hercules and C-141 Starlifter. She also held multiple staff and director positions involving modeling, simulation, analysis and joint testing, retiring from active duty as the Chief of the Modeling and Simulation Policy Division, Warfighter Systems Integration and Deployment. Dr. Bjorkman was appointed as a Senior Leader Executive in January 2010, and entered the Senior Executive Service in 2015. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she was Executive Director, Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California. She served as principal deputy to the AFTC Commander on all matters under the cognizance of the Commander. She had extensive authority for broad management, policy development, decision-making and effective program execution of the AFTC’s developmental test and evaluation mission. Her role as Executive Director involved long and short-range planning, policy development, the determination of program and center goals, including those involving scientific and technical matters, and the overall management of the AFTC enterprise. A lifetime member of ITEA with an expansive reach as a volunteer in several leadership positions within the organization, Dr. Borkman continues to remain engaged in its successes. It is with enthusiasm that we recognize Dr. Eileen A. Bjorkman with the prestigious Dr Allen R. Matthews Award.

The Board of Directors Award is voted on by the sitting Directors and is presented to an individual who has contributed to the growth, development, goals, and mission of the Association.

WINNER: Terry Murphy, Department of Homeland Security, T&E Directorate

Terry Murphy has spent his career in various forms of service. He was an active-duty Marine officer for 26 years. He served as served as T&E Lead for Joint Project Manager – Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear, Individual Protection programs, and T&E Manager for Combat Support Equipment, Marine Corps Systems Command. Terry was Senior Analyst in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Developmental Test and Evaluation and in 2015 joined the DHS Office of Test & Evaluation, providing key support to the Director in engagement with major acquisition programs, T&E Workforce Development, development and staffing of T&E policy & guidance, chairing the DHS T&E WIPT, interactions with GAO & Congressional Staffers, and overseeing resources in support of the Office of T&E. He currently serves as Deputy Director of T&E. He is a dedicated ITEA member and active participant in conference planning, teaching tutorials, chairing panels, organizing panels, soliciting speakers, and tirelessly working to make ITEA stronger and a professional destination for early career scientists and engineers. He is CTEP certified, has been an ITEA Advisor for 2 years, and has a dedicated team he calls upon to support ITEA. The ITEA Board of Directors appreciates Terry’s tireless efforts in contributing to its mission and is pleased to recognize him as the recipient of this award.

The Chairman of ITEA personally acknowledges an individual who is deemed worthy of recognition and who has supported them in their leadership role.

WINNER: Tim Morey

Tim Morey has been an active and core member of the test community for decades. He brough that experience and his ability to work across a diverse group of people in his leadership role within ITEA. As the 2024 Chairman I took a great deal of solace knowing that I had been preceded by a stabilizing force of personality who was always willing to provide wise counsel. Tim was instrumental in driving the need for strategic planning in the association and although the full weight of the planning has not been realized, the intent has been felt across the many sub-committees resulting in improvements in growth, the journal and the way we operate for our members. This year, being the 41st year of our symposium and another milestone for growth, I would like to present the Chairman’s award to Tim for his service to the Association and his continued support as a mentor and leader in the T&E community. Thank you, Tim.

This award is given for an exceptional special act of achievement in T&E, such as the solution of a major problem, or a notable project success for which there is evidence that tangible benefits have accrued.

WINNER: The Joint Strike Fighter Operational Test Team, Joint Simulation Environment, Initial Operational Test and Evaluation Accreditation and Execution Team

The Joint Strike Fighter Operational Test Team (JOTT) Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) Accreditation and Execution Team distinguished itself through its actions in support of the global F-35 enterprise between July 2023 and June 2024. The multi-national, multi-service and multi-disciplinary Team comprised of pilots, engineers and analysts from the United States of America, United Kingdom, and Australia, planned, executed, and reported on test and evaluation activities, which led to the accreditation of the $400 million JSE facility at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. The Team demonstrated exemplary leadership, determination, and adaptability by directing and integrating with Industry and Government software developers and the simulator accreditation authority. The Team planned and executed the JSE Test-the-Test Event, which resulted in JSE accreditation in August 2023, and the JSE Runs-for-Score Event, which supported F-35 Block 3F IOT&E completion in December 2023. The JSE has become an invaluable warfighter integration capability, providing pilot-in-the-loop high threat, high density test and training benefits, and the Team’s innovative and efficient test and evaluation approach has potential to be adopted across broader test programs. ITEA is pleased to recognize the JOTT JSE IOT&E Accreditation and Execution Team with the Special Achievement Award.

This award recognizes an individual or group for outstanding achievement in applying instrumentation, information technology, modeling and simulation, time-space-positioning information, electro-optics technology, or other T&E technology to cause a test and evaluation program to be better, faster, and less expensive.

WINNER: Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Aircraft Instrumentation Division’s Cast Glance Team

The Team is made up of experts in aircraft instrumentation, including civilians and contractors with almost a century of combined experience.

A team of professionals from the Prototyping, Instrumentation, and Experimentation Department’s Aircraft Instrumentation Division—part of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division—successfully developed new test capabilities to obtain an interim flight clearance for Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 and the installation of the specialized Cast Glance camera system on their recently acquired NC-20G Gulfstream. Despite technical hurdles, the team successfully completed this project in under three months, introducing innovative calibration methods to monitor low-output strain measurements and temperature variations. The critical data provided supported the approval of the Cast Glance system interim flight clearance by the NAVAIR Flight Clearance Releasing Authority. The system integration, under the supervision of AIRWorks, will provide essential optical data monitoring during critical phases of ballistic missile testing like launch, stage separation, and impact. This achievement highlights the Aircraft Instrumentation Division’s significant contributions to the project’s success and represents a notable advancement for the test and evaluation community through the development of new techniques. ITEA is pleased to acknowledge the Cast Glance Teams accomplishments.

The Award recognizes outstanding contributions to test and evaluation literature. Given for original works in a book, technical paper, or article that improves or increases the body of knowledge and understanding of T&E.

WINNER: Testing Machine Learning: Best Practices for the Life Cycle article from the ITEA Journal

Author Dr. Jaganmohan Chandrasekaran, Virginia Tech, Research Assistant Professor, along with co-authors, Tyler Cody, Nicola McCarthy, and Erin Lanus

The team’s recent article, “Testing Machine Learning: Best Practices for the Life Cycle,” published in the Naval Engineers Journal, provides a timely, extensive, and rigorous overview of test and evaluation (T&E) best practices for machine learning for the defense community. Perhaps its most distinguishing characteristic is its framing of best practices using the machine learning lifecycle, which includes operational T&E, operations and sustainment. This point of view was not present in the literature before, making the team’s contribution especially impactful for test engineering. The team’s work represents is the result of a concerted effort to address gaps in T&E frameworks and methods for machine learning from the point of view of the defense acquisition process. ITEA is pleased to acknowledge the accomplishments of this Author and Co-Authors.

Named after a pioneer and expert in the fields of aviation technology and systems engineering, Dr Felder was the 15th and longest-serving Director of the Federal Aviation Administration, William J. Hughes Technical Center, the nation’s leading air transportation system research laboratory. This award recognizes a professional who, during his or her first 5 years of practicing in the T&E field, has accomplished a significant achievement(s) which enhances and strengthens the T&E profession.

WINNER: Chanté Baker, from the 780th Test Squadron and Air Force Test Center

Ms. Chante Baker distinguished herself as Squadron Operations Research Analyst and Digital Engineering Lead, 780th Test Squadron, 96th Test Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. Ms. Baker revolutionized the 780th Test Squadron’s roles in DT&E with innovative test design and modeling techniques. She directly impacted the test and evaluation approach for two ACAT I programs by delivering rigorous test designs and digital T&E models which provide real-time access to accurate program information. Furthermore, Ms. Baker was pivotal in modernizing the 4th generation fighter tactics development process with cutting-edge analytic techniques; she provided our warfighters superior options for lethality and survivability against emergent threats. The distinctive accomplishments of Ms. Baker reflect great credit upon herself and the United States Air Force. ITEA is proud to recognize Ms. Chante Baker for her accomplishments.