Photo By Carlee MacPherson | 250224-N-UR074-1011 (VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) -- Lindsay White, software engineer at Naval...... read more read more
By Carlee MacPherson, NSWCDD Dam Neck Activity Public Affairs
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Lindsay White, software engineer in the Software Development Branch of the Integrated Training Systems Division at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) Dam Neck Activity (DNA) was named the winner of the inaugural DNA Innovation Challenge held Feb. 24.
An innovation challenge is a competition designed to promote the expression of new ideas to solve existing problems. This challenge was specifically modeled to follow the popular television series “Shark Tank,” with presenters tasked with finding engaging ways to convince a panel of judges that their ideas held merit both for the organization and for the Warfighter.
“I was so pleasantly surprised by how much people embraced the format,” said Joanne Pilcher, chief scientist at NSWCDD DNA. “It was free-form, and I wasn’t sure if everyone would; but I saw the spark of creativity, and I think it went really well.”
Lindsay White was one of four participants and submitted four out of the seven pitches presented to the panel. Her project titled “ChatDOD” received first place, and another one of her proposals also took second prize.
“ChatDOD is a large-language model trained on, and designed specifically for, DOD-specific documentation,” explained White. “Paperwork is such a prominent thing within government work and as one of the judges pointed out, it’s not unnecessary; but it can become tedious and repetitive. Many of us are engineers and want to be doing the actual engineering work, so I came up with this idea to help speed up the process.”
White has worked at NSWCDD DNA for the last four years, first as an intern in the NREIP and SSEP programs and then as a full-time civilian employee after graduating from Virginia Wesleyan with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. White later went on to earn a Master of Science in Modeling and Simulation Engineering from Old Dominion University.
“Lindsay’s pitch hit the criteria we were looking for completely,” noted Pilcher. “It was something that was achievable, solved a problem, improved efficiency, and filled a Warfighter gap.”
Participants in this challenge will work with mentors from the panel to turn their pitches into proposals for various research and development funding opportunities across the Naval Research and Development Establishment (NR&DE) such as Naval Innovation Science and Engineering (NISE) projects. According to Pilcher, these proposals will then be submitted when funding opportunities emerge during the year, thus better preparing DNA to respond to calls for projects they otherwise wouldn’t have time to explore and develop.
While this event was the first of its kind at NSWCDD DNA, Pilcher hopes to provide more opportunities like it to foster innovation and talent within the workforce.
“I think challenges like these are important,” said White. “There’s a famous quote from Admiral Grace Hopper that says something to the effect of, ‘The most damaging phrase in the English language is ‘we’ve always done it this way.’ I think that’s so true. These types of challenges offer people the chance to share the out-of-the-box ideas they have to better utilize new technology to support the Navy.”
“DNA has talent,” added Pilcher, “and we need to continue to foster it.”
NSWCDD DNA is home to the Navy’s cutting-edge fleet training systems development, as well as resident experts in cyber and intelligence engineering, fleet readiness and fleet support operations across all surface Navy programs.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.13.2025 15:32 |
| Story ID: | 492794 |
| Location: | VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 222 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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