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Associate Professor Dawn Tilbury jumps from a 34-foot tower at Fort Bragg during activities with the Defense Science Study Group.
(Photo courtesy of North Carolina State University Professor Annie I. Antón) |
It's not everyday that Associate Professor Dawn Tilbury travels in a KC-135 with an F-14 Tomcat escort. Or that she rides in an armored vehicle at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina or jumps from a 34-foot tower at Fort Bragg. For a participant in the Defense Science Study Group, however, such unusual experiences are the norm, she has come to learn.
Under the auspices of the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency, the DSSG was designed to introduce young faculty to issues of national defense. Members spend more than 20 days over the course of eight sessions learning the ins and outs of national security. They interact with senior officials from the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies, including the Department of Energy, intelligence agencies and the U.S. Congress. They tour military bases, defense laboratories and industrial facilities to gain insight into defense-related research, development and manufacturing.
In 2004-2005, 14 faculty representing institutions around the United States covered a lot of territory, stopping in ten states from Alaska to Washington, D.C. Tilbury and colleagues boarded the USS Saipan, a Norfolk, Va.-based amphibious assault ship; took target practice with the Army National Guard at the Battle Command Training Center at Fort Leavenworth; flew a Super Cobra helicopter simulator; and toured the Naval Submarine Base in Kings Bay, Georgia, and missile launch control facilities at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, among other activities.
"Granted, participating in the DSSG took a lot of time out of an already busy schedule, but we all learned so much about how the Defense Department works," said Tilbury. "It's a very large and complex organization. We were able to meet with generals, colonels and sergeants as well as civilians who work with the military, and talk with them about the challenges they face. Getting to know the other 13 professors from a wide range of science and engineering disciplines only added to an incredibly valuable experience."