Dynamics and Control Basic Research Manager Chooses Florida as Next Assignment

  • Published
  • By William J. Sharp
  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research here retired its director of mathematics and information sciences directorate recently after 20 years of honorable service to the Air Force.

Lt. Col. Sharon A. Heise, who also served as program manager for AFOSR's Dynamics and Control Research portfolio, has an official retirement date of Oct. 31. On Nov. 1 she begins work as associate director of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, Fla., a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the Florida university system.

"IHMC focuses on research and development in all aspects of augmenting human performance, a personal technical interest of mine," Heise said. Senior leaders throughout the Air Force said Heise's expertise will be missed.

"Sharon Heise is superb, both as a technical leader and as a scientific manager," said Dr. Brendan B. Godfrey, AFOSR director. "She took an already strong program in dynamics and control and moved it to new heights. While doing so, she built excellent ties with other Air Force Research Laboratory directorates and with leading university scientists. The center of excellence she oversees at the Ohio State University is a model for AFRL university centers. So, I immediately chose her as the interim director of math and information sciences after Cliff Rhoades retired. I certainly have not been disappointed. She has done a superb job."

Prior to joining AFOSR, Heise managed programs in the information exploitation, information technology, information systems and tactical technology offices of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. She has also served with the National Reconnaissance Office's Advanced Systems and Technology Directorate, with the aeronautics and astronautics faculty of the Air Force Institute of Technology, and with the AFRL Air Vehicles Directorate. She earned a doctorate degree in control engineering from Cambridge University, England. She is an associate fellow of the American Institute or Aeronautics and Astronautics and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Among her accomplishments at AFOSR, Heise executed more than 100 grants and contracts for high-payoff basic research in dynamics and control valued at more than $45 million dollars. She facilitated the transition of lightweight micro air vehicles for man portable reconnaissance for Air Force Special Operations Command. She transitioned new adaptive autopilot technology to the Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition and sponsored biologically-inspired uninhabited vehicle control algorithms that Newsweek named "one of ten innovations that may change the way we live."

"Lieutenant Colonel Heise has been a true technology leader and visionary for the Air Force Research Laboratory," said Maj. Gen. Ted F. Bowlds, AFRL commander. "Her contributions in areas such as adaptive autopilot technology, micro air vehicles, and command and control will benefit the entire Air Force for decades to come.

"Her leadership and dedication have led to the successful testing and transition of adaptive control technologies in numerous domains. Technology areas from missiles to medical clinics are positively benefiting from her work," Bowlds said. "She is a marvelous tech leader, sterling program advocate, and has done an overall fantastic job in a very tough position. Her leadership and technology contributions will bear fruit for decades."

In her final year at AFOSR - she arrived in July 2003 - she assumed duties as mathematics and information sciences director. In this role, she orchestrated a major shift in the directorate's focus toward information dominance and also played a key role in AFRL's planning of focused long term challenges.

"To my mind, Colonel Heise has simply been the epitome of the Airman scientist," said Dr. Mark Lewis, chief scientist of the Air Force. "A scholar and an outstanding Air Force officer, Colonel Heise has made an indelible mark on the international controls community through her programs and management at AFOSR. She managed programs in control sciences at AFOSR that harnessed and directed the very best minds in the country to work on problems of significant impact to the Air Force mission. The shear volume of high quality work that came from her programs, and the energy with which she has approached her topic areas, have been awe inspiring.

"She has been a leader at AFOSR in connecting our basic research programs to the other AFRL directorates," Lewis said. "Her partnership with the AFRL's Air Vehicles Directorate set the standard for inter-directorate cooperation and has demonstrated how effective basic research can be when it is coupled to more applied activities."

"Lieutenant Colonel Heise has been a premier program manager and senior technical leader at AFOSR," said Dr. Thomas A. Cruse, AFRL chief technologist. "During her tenure (at AFOSR), she forged a strong alliance between the extramural research community and the research leaders inside AFRL in a wide area of critical technologies. (These efforts) have advanced the Air Force fundamental research programs in advanced controls, small vehicle flight conditions, command and control software engineering, and embedded software."