AFRL Researchers Honored at Women of Color STEM Awards

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  • By Laura Dempsey
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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Two Air Force Research Laboratory researchers were honored during the 16th annual Women of Color, STEM Technology Conference, Nov. 3-5 in Dallas, Texas. The conference honors exceptional minority women who have paved their way in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields.

One of the conference's highest honors and major awards was given to AFRL's Ms. Gail Forest. Ms. Forest was honored with the Professional Achievement Award, focusing on her accomplishment as an innovator and leader within the Air Force. Ms. Forest, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the director of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Plans and Programs Directorate..

"She is my right hand for strategic direction of $5 billion of annual investment funding, spanning 10 subordinate technology directorates, leading 6,400 research programs, employing 10,800 scientists, engineers and support staff, for 47 core technology focuses, at 40 operating sites worldwide." said Major General William McCasland in his introduction of Ms. Forest at the event's gala, where the audience of 2,500 included flag officers from the Army, Navy and Marines.

Ms. Forest began her career as a manufacturing engineer with Buick Motor Division, General Motors Corporation. In 1982, she entered federal civil service as an engineer in the Maintenance Directorate at Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command. She has held numerous engineering, logistics and acquisition program management positions. Prior to her current assignment, Ms. Forest was AFRL's Associate Director for Air Platforms. In that position, she was responsible for the corporate integration of hypersonic, fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft technologies throughout the Air Force science and technology portfolio.

1st Lt. Roashelle Rose was named a Technology Rising Star by the organization for her leadership in the development, testing and evaluation of hardware optimization. Lt. Rose is currently stationed at AFRL's Munitions Directorate (AFRL/RW) in Eglin, Florida. She is currently the Kinetic Kill Vehicle Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulator (KHILS) facility manager. Prior to her current assignment, Lt. Rose was an Advanced Flight Motion Simulation Engineer. She was honored at the Technology All Star and Technology Rising Star luncheon.

"Lt. Rose has made exemplary contributions to AFRL since her arrival three years ago," said Michael K. Deiler, AFRL Munitions Directorate Acting Chief, Integrated Guidance Simulation Branch AFRL/RWGG. "She has superbly led the research and development effort in developing target models and scenarios to support a very high profile distributed test of multiple weapon systems under development in the Munitions Directorate. Her efficiency cut development time, resulting in over $200K in cost savings.

"Lt Rose has consistently demonstrated impressive leadership potential," he continued. "She was appointed operation and technical lead for a $120M state-of-the-art weapon simulation facility. This facility is key for developing test technology and conducts tests of the Directorate's highest priority research areas as well as Missile Defense Agency ballistic missile defense system concepts."

"The Air Force Research Laboratory is honored to have these two individuals has part of our team. Ms Forest and Lt. Rose represent our best and brightest. We are very fortunate to have such outstanding leadership." said Joe Sciabica, Executive Director of the Air Force Laboratory.

The Women of Color conference is the only venue to honor the accomplishments of minority women in the STEM fields. "It can't be stressed enough what important role models these talented ladies are to the STEM community" said Richard Butler, Vice President of Career Communications, event organizer. In addition to honoring distinguished professionals, the three-day conference provides professional development seminars for college level to senior managers in academia, industry and government along with a day-long K-12 STEM workshop for future scientist and engineers. The goal is to make the STEM profession much more accessible to the country's underrepresented communities.