SBIR@Connect Spotlight:
Meet the Navy’s Program Offices
Tactical Networks | Communications & GPS Navigations
Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NAVWAR
Through a partnership with the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, NIWC Pac, SBIR@Connect hopes to promote economic growth in our region by fostering connections between government, industry, and academia.
Join us to meet two of the NAVWAR program offices that participate in the development of SBIR/STTR topics and learn what the Navy is working on, their capability gaps, and more!
Thursday, April 29th, 2021
1pm – 2pm
This month’s workshop will spotlight two different Program Offices at the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NAVWAR.
The Tactical Networks Program Office, PMW 160, mission is to Deliver and Support innovative agile and secure networks and IT services to enable warfighter mission success with the vision to provide secure, reliable networks to enable information dominance from any platform, anywhere. PMW 160’s APM S&T, Carlo Molina, will present on this program office and their focus areas.
The Communications and Global Positions System (GPS) Navigations Program Office, PMW 170’s, mission is to provide and support interoperable, cost-effective communications and Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services to enable information warfare for maritime forces. PMW 170’s APMs S&T, McLaina Oum and Bill Joo, will share some of their initiatives, as well as their technological requirements and capability gaps.
The objective of the workshop is for innovators to meet the Assistant Program Managers for Science & Technology (APM S&T) of two of the various program offices under the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence and Space Systems, PEO C4I and Space Systems, to better understand the needs of the government, specifically NAVWAR.
This workshop will shine the light on the two Program Offices, with program announcements by Shadi Azoum.
Workshop Agenda:
Meet the Speakers
Shadi Azoum
NAVWAR SBIR/STTR Program Manager
Mr. Shadi Azoum is the current Program Manager for the NAVWAR Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), and Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) Program Management Offices. He has served in this position since June 2016. Prior to this position, Mr. Azoum led the Science and Technology (S&T) portfolio for PEO C4I, PMW 130 (Information Assurance and Cyber Security Program Office) as the Assistant Program Manager (APM) for Science and Technology (S&T) since May 2011. Mr. Azoum has Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computer Science and Master of Science (MS) in Information Security from Florida State University.
Carlo Molina
Assistant Program Manager for Science & Technology (APM S&T) and acting Technical Director (TD) for the Tactical Networks Program Office (PMW-160) in PEO C4I
Mr Molina began his career in 2004 with the US Air Force as a development engineer officer at Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base. From 2004 to 2014, he held positions at Edwards Air Force base from testing and evaluating C2 software for RQ-4A/B Global Hawk and the Mission Systems Avionics of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. More recently, he was the lead software/systems engineer for the Special Projects branch of MQ-9 Reaper where he was responsible for developing and sustaining MQ-9 Unmanned System for the Program Office detachment in Poway, CA.
Mr Molina joined NIWC Pacific in 2020 where he worked as an engineer in GPS-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing Service (GPNTS) providing technical expertise in testing and integrating of GPS and PNT equipment with other Navigation, Combat, and C4I across various classes of Navy surface ships. He is still serving the Air Force in the reserve capacity as the strategy team chief for the Air Operations Center (AOC) in the Korean peninsula.
Mr Molina has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from San Diego State University and a Master’s Degree in Systems Engineering from Southern Methodist University. He attended Air Force’s Squadron Officer School, Air Command Staff College and received numerous awards including Exemplary Civilian Service Award. He is DAWIA SPRDE-SE Level II, Test and Evaluation Level III, and Program Management Level II certified.
McLaina Oum
PMW/A 170 S&T Assistant Program Manager
Ms. Oum is the current Assistant Program Manager (APM) for Science and Technology (S&T) for the Navy PEO C4I, PMW/A 170 (Communications and GPS Navigation Program Office). In this position, she coordinates S&T activities across the PEO C4I Program Offices and serves as an advocate for PMW/A 170’s technology needs and requirements internally within the DoD, as well as externally with industry and academia. She has supported PMW/A 170 since 2012, working with the Technical Director and Wideband Anti-Jam Modem (WAM) teams prior to her current role. Ms. Oum graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 2012. She resides in Alpine, CA with her husband (Steven) and chocolate lab (Sawyer).
Bill Joo
PMW/A 170 Special Projects Engineer
Bill Joo reports to U.S. Navy Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific in San Diego, California, and is “embedded” in PEO C4I PMW/A 170 as a Special Projects Engineer. His primary role is to identify emerging technologies in the communications and navigation domains; foster and develop these technologies to address Navy and DoD’s capabilities needs; and transition them in to the various programs of record. Bill Joo also works very closely with organizations throughout DoD, other Government organizations, and commercial entities to develop new technologies such as Interference Excision Systems (IES), Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) constellations, digital radio frequency distribution systems, and highly resilient waveforms.
Bill Joo possesses Bachelor and Master degrees in Electrical Engineering. Bill Joo also possesses DAU certificates for Engineering Level III and PM Level III. Prior to his current assignment, Bill Joo has served as the Science & Technology APM for PMW/A 170 for the past 7 years; Chief Engineer and Deputy Program Manager for Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) Reference Implementation Laboratory (RIL); Principal Networking and Distributed Systems Engineer at the MITRE Corporation; and Electrical Engineer at U.S. Army’s Satellite Communications Agency.
Gretel von Son
Connect SBIR/STTR Director
Gretel von Son is the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Director at Connect, a position created to support the SBIR/STTR Program by helping make connections between government, industry and academia, more accessible. Gretel previously supported the NAVWAR SBIR/STTR Program Office, and has experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. She has published work in Advanced Materials, ACS Nano and Nature Communications. Gretel has earned a Bachelor’s in Chemistry, and a Master’s in Business Administration.
This event has ended, but was recorded and is viewable below.
Watch the Recording
SBIR@Connect Spotlight: Meet the Navy's Program Offices
This month's workshop will spotlight two different Program Offices at the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NAVWAR, that develop SBIR/STTR topics based on their capability gaps for small businesses to propose solutions to.
SBIR@Connect is Connect’s new program to drive innovation through collaboration with government agencies.
In partnership with the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC Pac), SBIR@Connect hopes to promote economic growth in our region by fostering connections between government, industry, and academia.
The Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Program aims to bring non-dilutive funding to eligible companies to help address government research and development needs, while striving for innovation and the commercialization of products/efforts. Although there are multiple agencies that participate in the SBIR/STTR Program, the DoD makes up a large percentage of participation. SBIR@Connect’s partnership focuses on the Navy, specifically, the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NAVWAR.
To boost interactions and promote collaboration — SBIR@Connect is developing a set of workshops introducing the various programs and opportunities to work with the Navy.
For more information, please visit the SBIR@Connect page.
