Colonel Hatfield Officially Assumes Command of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Published July 27, 2007 By Vicki Stein AFOSR Public Affairs ARLINGTON, Va. -- Colonel Michael Hatfield officially assumed command of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research July 27 during a change of command ceremony. Air Force Research Laboratory Vice Commander Colonel Scott Coale led the official party into the event room and presided over the morning ceremony, handing the AFOSR flag to the newly appointed commander of AFOSR. A reception welcoming Colonel Hatfield to AFOSR was held immediately following the ceremony. The AFOSR is one of the 10 directorates that comprise the Air Force Research Laboratory. The office has a staff of 200 people and an annual working budget of $400 million that support more than 5,000 worldwide basic research projects critical to the defense of the United States. Col. Hatfield will be responsible for the technical planning, external AFOSR relations, and personnel management for AFOSR and its two foreign technology offices in London and Tokyo. Col Hatfield comes to AFOSR from his position as assistant Deputy Commander of the 607th Air Operations Group, 7th Air Force at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea. He assisted the 7th Air Force Director of Operations in the direction of armistice, crisis action, and combat em¬ployment of over 9,000 members of the Combined Forces Command's Air Component Command during contingencies. He previously served as Chief of the Operations Support Division leading 7th Air Force exercises, the Korea Air Operations Center train¬ing and standardization/evaluation program, and the Korea Air Simulation Center. Col. Hatfield was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He graduated from Ohio Northern University in 1984 and was commissioned through Officer Training School as a distinguished graduate. Col. Hatfield has served in a variety of operational, staff, and command positions. He began his career as a Developmental Engineer supporting acquisition of major weapons and training systems. He has been stationed at the Air Force Academy twice throughout his career, serving on both the Dean of Faculty and Commandant of Cadets. Prior to his assignment as Assistant Deputy Commander of the 607th Air Opera¬tions Group, he served as the Deputy Base Commander for Mission Support at an air base in northern Iraq. Col. Jeffrey Turcotte, the AFOSR outgoing commander, will return to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio to become the Director of Information Technol¬ogy at Headquarters, Air Force Research Laboratory where he will be responsible for the orchestration, facilitation, and coordination of information management, information technology, strategic planning, information assurance, infrastructure management and development of Enterprise Business Systems supporting the development and transition of Air Force science and technology programs. Col. Turcotte served in three different management positions at AFRL's Air Vehicles Directorate prior to assuming command at AFOSR in July 2004. As a vital component of the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFOSR supports Air Force's mission of control and maximum utilization of air and space. Many of the technological breakthroughs enjoyed by millions today, such as lasers, GPS, and the computer mouse trace their scientific roots to research first funded by AFOSR