Category: Uncategorized

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has appointed LaTreace Harris as senior science adviser and programmatic deputy branch chief. Harris has almost 20 years of experience as a senior public health scientist, with extensive knowledge in pandemic and routine vaccination surveillance, data innovation and interoperability and complex problem solving. The scientist previously served as deputy for the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force under CDC's Data Monitoring and Reporting Section, Forum Insights reported.

Verition Fund Management has appointed Seth Morrison as a portfolio manager. Before joining Verition, Morrison served as executive director at Morgan Stanley and at JP Morgan. He was a director at Deutsche Bank and a manager at HSBC. Morrison earned a degree in economics and statistics at University College London, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Department of State has stopped working on an artificial intelligence project that sought to test the connection between the activities of overseas social media and violent extremist organizations. According to the agency, the AI tool was designed to predict outcomes using statistical models. The pilot project was also applied to COVID-19 cases and violent incidents linked with social media posts, the department added. Notably, the State Department did not say how the experimental AI tool was designed or tested and why the project was halted, FedScoop reported.

A team of Department of Energy researchers has used a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory-developed software on Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Frontier supercomputer to develop power grid-control strategies under weather-related emergency scenarios. As part of the DOE Exascale Computing Project’s ExaSGD initiative, the researchers ran the HiOp open-source grid optimization solver on Frontier nodes to simulate over 100,000 possible grid failures and weather scenarios. The team includes representatives from LLNL, ORNL, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, LLNL said.

Lockheed Martin has announced the successful validation of designs for all elements of the Next-Generation Interceptor with the Missile Defense Agency. According to Lockheed, a series of preliminary design reviews has proven the design maturity of all NGI major subsystems. The program is headed to its next major review, the All Up Round PDR, which will see MDA assessing if the program is ready to advance in the acquisition process through Knowledge Point number one and ultimately on to the critical design review. The first NGI is expected to be delivered as early as fiscal 2027, Lockheed said Monday.

The Central Bank of Honduras has begun a two-month consultation period for its potential retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), emphasizing financial inclusion. The central bank also wants to focus on cross-border payments, particularly remittances, during the CBDC consultation period. The International Monetary Fund is helping Honduras with its CBDC research and has brought up Brazil and India as possible models for its CBDC development. The central bank, with the IMF, has published a paper on future money and payments, Ledger Insights reported.

The U.S. Army Reserve has partnered with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to conduct studies, pilots and demonstrations in a bid to accelerate the adoption of new and emerging technologies for protecting critical energy and water infrastructure and facilities. According to Col. Martin Naranjo, head of the Army Reserve Installation Management Directorate, the technologies will help address potential threats such as cyberattacks, climate change impacts and increasing natural disasters. Naranjo said the directorate is planning and securing funding for various partnerships that advance the Army of 2030, Defense Visual Information Distribution Service reported.

Content restricted behind a paywall.

AECOM reported revenues of $3.7 billion in the third quarter of 2023, up 13 percent from the same period last year. The company ended the period with a 10 percent jump in the design business backlog, driven by a continued high win rate. AECOM CEO Troy Rudd said collaboration, consistent execution and focused allocation of resources to highest-returning opportunities led to the strong quarterly performance. The third quarter results also headline accelerating organic net service revenue growth, margin expansion, double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth and strong cash flow, AECOM said.

A U.S. Air Force official said earlier plans to retire the B-1 Lancer in the early 2030s had been dropped. According to Brig. Gen. William Rogers, program executive officer for bombers at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, the military service has a multi-pronged strategy to ensure that the fleet can remain operational until its more modern replacement, the B-21, comes online. Parts obsolescence is one of the key concerns of the AFLMC with all aging platforms. Rogers is focusing on ensuring the aircraft can sustain operations and eventually retire gracefully, Air and  Space Forces Magazine reported.