SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – Air Mobility Command continued its push to foster more digitally adept Airmen with its participation in a recent “Hackathon” competition.
The competition helped forge partnerships with the National Security Innovation Network, industry, academia and other intelligence community partners. It also introduced AMC to the value of open source and geospatial data.
“At AMC, we’re responsible for airlift, cargo movement and aeromedical evacuation,” said Melinda Meek, AMC intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance deputy director. “Open source information allows people at the source to communicate the severity of the situation they are experiencing. That helps us identify how to get in there and deliver resources to help them out.”
The team, led by Matthew Hanks, AMC chief of geomobility, was charged with locating and predicting developing wildfires through social media that are not found within any authoritative data.
“The ‘Hackathon’ was a great event to experiment with new techniques, discover inventive ways to analyze and manipulate data, build teamwork and communication, and learn from our industry and mission partners,” said Hanks.
Developing digitally adept Airmen is one of the pillars that AMC is striving toward as part of the strategy laid out by Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, AMC commander, in her keynote address during the Airlift Tanker Association convention in October 2020.
“Digitally adept Airmen thrive at solving complex problems and developing advanced capabilities by combining technologies with innovative process,” said Van Ovost. “We must build awareness of the digital environment and bring those capabilities into our problem-solving processes.”
She added that digitally adept Airmen will enable the warfighter and the command to operate faster, smarter and to make better-informed decisions by fusing data, analytics, artificial intelligence and emerging technology with innovative thinking and processes.
More discussion about digitally adept Airmen can be found at https://www.amc.af.mil/About-Us/AMC-Strategy/.