Empowering the Defense Acquisition Workforce to Improve Mission Outcomes Using Data Science

Empowering the Defense Acquisition Workforce to Improve Mission Outcomes Using Data Science
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher:
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2022-02-19
Genre:
ISBN: 9780309684934

The effective use of data science - the science and technology of extracting value from data - improves, enhances, and strengthens acquisition decision-making and outcomes. Using data science to support decision making is not new to the defense acquisition community; its use by the acquisition workforce has enabled acquisition and thus defense successes for decades. Still, more consistent and expanded application of data science will continue improving acquisition outcomes, and doing so requires coordinated efforts across the defense acquisition system and its related communities and stakeholders. Central to that effort is the development, growth, and sustainment of data science capabilities across the acquisition workforce. At the request of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Empowering the Defense Acquisition Workforce to Improve Mission Outcomes Using Data Science assesses how data science can improve acquisition processes and develops a framework for training and educating the defense acquisition workforce to better exploit the application of data science. This report identifies opportunities where data science can improve acquisition processes, the relevant data science skills and capabilities necessary for the acquisition workforce, and relevant models of data science training and education.

Envisioning the Data Science Discipline

Envisioning the Data Science Discipline
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 69
Release: 2018-03-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309465052

The need to manage, analyze, and extract knowledge from data is pervasive across industry, government, and academia. Scientists, engineers, and executives routinely encounter enormous volumes of data, and new techniques and tools are emerging to create knowledge out of these data, some of them capable of working with real-time streams of data. The nation's ability to make use of these data depends on the availability of an educated workforce with necessary expertise. With these new capabilities have come novel ethical challenges regarding the effectiveness and appropriateness of broad applications of data analyses. The field of data science has emerged to address the proliferation of data and the need to manage and understand it. Data science is a hybrid of multiple disciplines and skill sets, draws on diverse fields (including computer science, statistics, and mathematics), encompasses topics in ethics and privacy, and depends on specifics of the domains to which it is applied. Fueled by the explosion of data, jobs that involve data science have proliferated and an array of data science programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels have been established. Nevertheless, data science is still in its infancy, which suggests the importance of envisioning what the field might look like in the future and what key steps can be taken now to move data science education in that direction. This study will set forth a vision for the emerging discipline of data science at the undergraduate level. This interim report lays out some of the information and comments that the committee has gathered and heard during the first half of its study, offers perspectives on the current state of data science education, and poses some questions that may shape the way data science education evolves in the future. The study will conclude in early 2018 with a final report that lays out a vision for future data science education.

Data Science for Undergraduates

Data Science for Undergraduates
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2018-11-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309475597

Data science is emerging as a field that is revolutionizing science and industries alike. Work across nearly all domains is becoming more data driven, affecting both the jobs that are available and the skills that are required. As more data and ways of analyzing them become available, more aspects of the economy, society, and daily life will become dependent on data. It is imperative that educators, administrators, and students begin today to consider how to best prepare for and keep pace with this data-driven era of tomorrow. Undergraduate teaching, in particular, offers a critical link in offering more data science exposure to students and expanding the supply of data science talent. Data Science for Undergraduates: Opportunities and Options offers a vision for the emerging discipline of data science at the undergraduate level. This report outlines some considerations and approaches for academic institutions and others in the broader data science communities to help guide the ongoing transformation of this field.

Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States

Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2009-07-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0309142393

Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.

Applying Big Data to Address the Social Determinants of Health in Oncology

Applying Big Data to Address the Social Determinants of Health in Oncology
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2020-08-14
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309679060

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held the workshop Applying Big Data to Address the Social Determinants of Health in Oncology on October 28â€"29, 2019, in Washington, DC. This workshop examined social determinants of health (SDOH) in the context of cancer, and considered opportunities to effectively leverage big data to improve health equity and reduce disparities. The workshop featured presentations and discussion by experts in technology, oncology, and SDOH, as well as representatives from government, industry, academia, and health care systems. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Statistical Challenges in Assessing and Fostering the Reproducibility of Scientific Results

Statistical Challenges in Assessing and Fostering the Reproducibility of Scientific Results
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2016-03-29
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0309392020

Questions about the reproducibility of scientific research have been raised in numerous settings and have gained visibility through several high-profile journal and popular press articles. Quantitative issues contributing to reproducibility challenges have been considered (including improper data measurement and analysis, inadequate statistical expertise, and incomplete data, among others), but there is no clear consensus on how best to approach or to minimize these problems. A lack of reproducibility of scientific results has created some distrust in scientific findings among the general public, scientists, funding agencies, and industries. While studies fail for a variety of reasons, many factors contribute to the lack of perfect reproducibility, including insufficient training in experimental design, misaligned incentives for publication and the implications for university tenure, intentional manipulation, poor data management and analysis, and inadequate instances of statistical inference. The workshop summarized in this report was designed not to address the social and experimental challenges but instead to focus on the latter issues of improper data management and analysis, inadequate statistical expertise, incomplete data, and difficulties applying sound statistic inference to the available data. Many efforts have emerged over recent years to draw attention to and improve reproducibility of scientific work. This report uniquely focuses on the statistical perspective of three issues: the extent of reproducibility, the causes of reproducibility failures, and the potential remedies for these failures.

Reproducibility and Replicability in Science

Reproducibility and Replicability in Science
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2019-10-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309486165

One of the pathways by which the scientific community confirms the validity of a new scientific discovery is by repeating the research that produced it. When a scientific effort fails to independently confirm the computations or results of a previous study, some fear that it may be a symptom of a lack of rigor in science, while others argue that such an observed inconsistency can be an important precursor to new discovery. Concerns about reproducibility and replicability have been expressed in both scientific and popular media. As these concerns came to light, Congress requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conduct a study to assess the extent of issues related to reproducibility and replicability and to offer recommendations for improving rigor and transparency in scientific research. Reproducibility and Replicability in Science defines reproducibility and replicability and examines the factors that may lead to non-reproducibility and non-replicability in research. Unlike the typical expectation of reproducibility between two computations, expectations about replicability are more nuanced, and in some cases a lack of replicability can aid the process of scientific discovery. This report provides recommendations to researchers, academic institutions, journals, and funders on steps they can take to improve reproducibility and replicability in science.

Enhancing Urban Sustainability with Data, Modeling, and Simulation

Enhancing Urban Sustainability with Data, Modeling, and Simulation
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 109
Release: 2019-09-24
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0309494141

On January 30-31, 2019 the Board on Mathematical Sciences and Analytics, in collaboration with the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems and the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, convened a workshop in Washington, D.C. to explore the frontiers of mathematics and data science needs for sustainable urban communities. The workshop strengthened the emerging interdisciplinary network of practitioners, business leaders, government officials, nonprofit stakeholders, academics, and policy makers using data, modeling, and simulation for urban and community sustainability, and addressed common challenges that the community faces. Presentations highlighted urban sustainability research efforts and programs under way, including research into air quality, water management, waste disposal, and social equity and discussed promising urban sustainability research questions that improved use of big data, modeling, and simulation can help address. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

Strategies for Acquisition Agility

Strategies for Acquisition Agility
Author: Philip S. Anton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2020-08-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781977404367

The authors analyze various approaches to speed acquisition of military capabilities and keep pace with evolving threats, assess these approaches' suitability for different conditions and acquisition types, and identify implementation issues.

The Department of Defense Posture for Artificial Intelligence

The Department of Defense Posture for Artificial Intelligence
Author: Danielle C. Tarraf
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-01-30
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9781977404053

In this report, the authors assess the state of artificial intelligence (AI) relevant to DoD, conduct an independent assessment of the Department of Defense's posture in AI, and put forth a set of recommendations to enhance that posture.