CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE – SEPTEMBER 2025

We are completing the third quarter of our 45th anniversary celebration with the culmination planned for November at the Annual Symposium in Destin, Florida. In September we hosted the Test Instrumentation Forum at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, CA. This event showcased being flexible in a challenging time; we postponed our traditional Test Instrumentation Workshop in Las Vegas and re-engineered a program to better reflect local interests and needs. By hosting it near a nexus of T&E activities, we shaped it as a more intimate and highly focused gathering. The planning committee of industry and government ITEA volunteers near Edwards AFB and China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station planned the program to ensure we had a full agenda of guest speakers, panel discussions, technical tracks, a hands-on lab, a mini course on phased arrays, and luncheon speakers who dived into subjects that kept the audience engaged. Special thanks to Dr. David “Jester” Smith, CEO at Mojave Air & Space Port, for generously providing the venue and for his energetic efforts within the community to bring together an outstanding lineup of new speakers and topics for our audience.

I am sure you have already noticed that this issue is loaded. Guest editors Dr. Madeline Stricklin (Los Alamos National Laboratory) and Ms. Victoria Nilsen (NASA) have worked closely with our ITEA Journal Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Keith Joiner, to provide 8 high quality, peer reviewed articles. For the third September in a row, we are featuring papers from the Defense and Aerospace Test and Analysis Workshop (DATAWorks), a multi-organization collaboration among the Office of the Director of Operational Test & Evaluation, NASA, the Institute for Defense Analyses, and the Section on Statistics in Defense and National Security of the American Statistical Association. Look through the issue and share the link with your colleagues.

Part of our anniversary celebration is more internal than external. The Board of Directors, driven by the Executive Committee, looked inward to understand changes required to keep ITEA current and poised for growth. We performed a complete review and update of the ITEA Bylaws, the first in several years. Bylaws establish the rules and regulations governing ITEA’s internal operations, define the rights and duties of membership, outline the structure and governance of ITEA, and ensure clarity, consistency, and accountability in decision-making.

We evaluated ITEA’s committees and identified some that should be Board functions not committees, and others that should be combined to be more effective. We also revitalized the Strategic Advisory Council (SAC), which had been dormant for entirely too long. The Council was established to support and advance the mission, goals, and objectives of ITEA and provide guidance to the ITEA Chair and the Board on matters of policy and strategic direction. We want the Council to look ahead to help us position for the future, and to look laterally to find new areas where ITEA can contribute, such as other industries, other government organizations, and other professional associations.

The Board approved the revised Bylaws and they now go to ITEA membership for a vote. I nominated and the Board approved Mr. John Frederick, the South Jersey Chapter President and recently retired from the FAA, as President of the SAC. John is now constituting the rest of the Council and developing a charter to focus Council activities. He also led establishment of two new Board-approved collaborations, one with the Digital Twin Consortium and the other with INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering). Both organizations are international and heavily invested with industry; ITEA brings a unique complement to both.

At the beginning of summer ITEA invited nominations for the newly established Member Grades; the window closes in September. The Board of Fellows and Membership Committee will review the applications and select candidates in October. Our new Senior Members, Associate Fellows, and Fellows will be recognized at the Symposium in November. Speaking of which, the program for the 42nd Annual International Test and Evaluation Symposium is set, registration is open, and hotel rooms are available in Destin. Take a look at the agenda and plan to celebrate with us on the beach: https://itea.org/event/42nd-annual-test-evaluation-symposium/.

I will wrap up this message the way I opened it – on the theme of re-engineered events. ITEA knows unequivocally how to run live events. During COVID-19 we learned and demonstrated how to successfully run all-virtual events. The interesting times of today teach us (my opinion) that we need to get serious (more than talking) about hosting hybrid events, merging live and virtual capabilities. I can’t predict the future of federal government travel policy, but senior leaders more knowledgeable than I advise ITEA to expect the status quo for the next 3 – 4 years. In the near term, ITEA is tailoring events to local audiences, without relying on national attendance. A hybrid event is the natural avenue for including global participation independently of any travel policy. Our Annual Symposium, which is intrinsically international, in fact, any ITEA event hosted in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and anywhere else, will benefit when we become proficient in hybrid events. If you have expertise that can help, please share your experience with the us at Chairman@itea.org.