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PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Ruben Cruz says he has been fascinated by science and engineering since he was a young school student.
“I love learning about new technology,” he said, adding that’s part of what drove him to the Army’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force, located at the National Robotics Engineering Center in Pittsburgh.
Cruz is no data scientist or algorithm developer though; he’s an attorney specializing in contracts and acquisitions. The Army civilian employee joined the task force in June as its procurement analyst.
“One of the things I do is sit down with the team and try to see where they’re headed,” Cruz said, explaining that he then tries to proactively provide the support they will need.
He prepositions for the team a variety of procurement mechanisms such as collateral agreements with universities, financial grants for researchers, and contracts with small businesses.
Since much of the AI Task Force work is advanced technology in its early stages, he said financial assistance for researchers is more common than traditional contracts.
“We’re still in the early phases of trying to find these ideas and testing them out and seeing how they could apply,” Cruz said.
“It’s revolutionary,” he said of the AI projects.
“It’s a burgeoning field,” he said of artificial intelligence in general. “It’s getting increased emphasis throughout the federal government and industry as a whole.
“Getting in on the ground floor is very exciting and makes such a dynamic environment to come into every morning.”
Less than a year old, the Army AI Task Force has already been developing artificial intelligence for tasks ranging from automated recognition of images to aircraft maintenance protocols to talent management of personnel.
The task force was formed through a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University. The CMU staff put together an AI Hub to support the Army and help the task force collaborate with researchers.
“They already have clout within the industry,” Cruz said of CMU, which developed the first computer program with artificial intelligence and now boasts a Robotics Institute with over 1,000 researchers.
Cruz said CMU experts help keep the Army informed of the latest developments in artificial intelligence from both industry and academia, and the AI Hub facilitates that.
“So they help us bring on academic partners from other universities to help us with the different problems we have with Army modernization,” he explained.
Cruz also reaches out to potential academic partners. In fact, much of his job is to coordinate with researchers from academia and industry to facilitate their collaboration with the task force.
“It’s my job to figure out how to bring them into the fold,” he said, adding that he considers himself an “enabler.”
Cruz also reaches out to small businesses. He often works with individuals and companies that have never done business with the government before.
It used to be that Army acquisition was focused primarily on large “prime” contractors, said his supervisor, Col. Doug Matty, the AI Task Force deputy director. Now the Army is looking to engage with startups, small businesses and mid-level companies, he said, through the Army Futures Command, the task force’s parent organization.
Cruz uses the term “technology incubators” for the small organizations he deals with.
“If there are certain businesses or people whom we feel have innovative technology … we talk to them,” Cruz said.
Cruz is a former Air Force officer. After leaving active duty, he served in the Air Force Reserve until 2011, while working for the Department of Labor and then for the Centers of Disease Control.
He and his wife both worked for the CDC’s Pittsburgh office. Then he attended law school at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh before getting the job at the Army task force.
“It feels good that I can be back here helping the Army,” Cruz said. He described the officers on the task force as brilliant and said he feels fortunate to work with them.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to be a part of this task force,” he said. “We’re working on some innovative solutions to modernizing the Department of the Army.
(Story originally posted Aug. 29, 2019 at https://www.army.mil/article/226461.)
| Date Taken: | 08.29.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 12.27.2019 15:35 |
| Story ID: | 357431 |
| Location: | PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 34 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Civilian helps keep Army’s AI Task Force on cutting edge, by Gary Sheftick, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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