National IGE Report: September-October 2024

New “AI” IGE Project; Engaging with Ukraine

AME’s latest National IGE Project, approved by the Executive Committee in July, will address the usage in the federal engineering and national defense sectors of artificial intelligence (AI).

With the rapid advancement of AI technologies, sitting by and waiting for adoption is not an option for government or the industry firms that support it. There is a pressing need for structured engagement between the military, public, private, and academic sectors to ensure the effective and ethical implementation of AI in engineering projects, particularly those with military applications.

Inclusive Task Force. The new project, “AI: Knowledge Sharing, Security Concerns, Implementation Guidelines, and Best Practices,” seeks to assemble a task force comprised of individuals from industry and key stakeholders from government to examine the role of AI and its use cases, and to address the need for a formalized platform to facilitate collaboration between industry and government entities. It is important to have a broad perspective of participation, to ensure the myriad opportunities available through AI are considered by those who will benefit from them (but also to be able to mitigate risks).

The AI IGE project team has developed an initial priority list of topics for consideration and discussion.

  • Facilitating knowledge-sharing between industry and government, and government to government.
  • Addressing security concerns related to AI integration.
  • Discussing guidelines for AI implementation in military engineering projects.
  • Promoting best practices for ethical AI usage.

The conversations facilitated through the project will be educational and based on experiences. The lack, currently, of coordinated efforts and standardized guidelines poses risks related to security, efficiency, and ethical considerations. All products, platforms, and capabilities of firms participating will only be used to reference implementation and lessons learned.

Assessing Next Steps. The primary goal for this IGE effort, initially, is focused on establishing a common space to discuss AI integration that enhances project delivery outcomes, improves security, and upholds ethical standards between industry-to-government and government-to-government. Further goals could include the publication of a “State of AI Within the DOD A/E/C” or other white papers outlining standardized guidelines and best practices, policy recommendations for government and industry stakeholders, reports on the state of AI integration in military engineering projects, or training materials and program outlines for knowledge-sharing.

The AI IGE project will be led by Victoria Mechtly with TranSystems. Other team leads include Pooja Jain, WSP; Ben Graf, Matrix Design Group; and Mike Ramos, Raymond.

Overall, SAME’s National IGE Projects draw on the multidisciplined strength of the Society to assemble teams that cut across government, industry, and academia and focus on some of the toughest challenges facing the profession. The national-level organization also allows for a structured collaboration with benchmarks and sufficient resourcing.

Interpersonal, Internationally

SAME’s support of industry-government engagement extends beyond projects, to include relationship-building. Over the past year, several members, including those with the Ukraine Work Group of the Warfighter Engineering COI, and now leaders of the Poland Field Chapter, have engaged with the Ukrainian State Special Transport Service to build relationships that can help support the country as it works toward an eventual rebuilding effort.

This summer, members of the State Special Transport Service attended a meeting of the Poland Field Chapter, where some of its leaders are taking a hands-on role in assisting their fellow engineers as they look into the possibility of starting an SAME-like organization in Ukraine (including Adam Nowicki, President; Chris Wilks, Vice President; and Sylwia Januszczak, Secretary; as well as Europe RVP, Chief Master Sgt. Adam Boubede, F.SAME, USAF).

This engagement opportunity followed a meeting between the State Special Transport Service and USACE North Atlantic Division, held in July at the SAME National Office outside Washington, D.C. (photo above). The location offered a venue for the military organizations to talk through mutual areas of interest relating to engineering and infrastructure.

IGE Projects: Progress Update

Progress continues on other ongoing National IGE Projects, including for a pair of initiatives focused on education that over the summer held webinars aimed at increasing the body of knowledge for practitioners in their fields.

The “Avoiding PFAS Information Overload: Targeted Training for Operational Entities” project, now headed by Lisa Kammer, Weston Solutions held two webinars on PFAS. The first, held in July, focused on analytical approaches for PFAS, with a discussion on differences and advantages/limitations for each method. The second, held in August, focused on PFAS 101, with an introduction to the chemicals of concern and the federal response.

Also in July, the “Addressing the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Challenge” project, headed by Norm Campbell, F.SAME, with Siemens, hosted a webinar that focused on EV charging considerations for power system studies, a key area of focus with growing investment in EVs.

Article published in The Military Engineer, September-October 2024

Bringing Industry and Government Together

As the cornerstone of the Society’s founding in 1920, industry-government engagement remains mission-essential for the organization a century later. By leveraging our unique, inclusive platform that brings together members from across the entire infrastructure lifecycle, public and private, SAME is driving solutions for some of the toughest engineering challenges facing the A/E/C industry and our national security. Learn more about SAME’s IGE efforts.