The Quantified Warrior: Monitoring the Physiology of the Human for War

Speakers: Major General Mick Ryan (Recently Retired Major General, Australian Army; Principal, Mick Ryan Solutions); Dr. William D. Casebeer (Director, Riverside Research); and Dr. David Huberdeau (AI/ML Engineer & Principal Investigator, Riverside Research Institute)

Date: 16 February 2023

Speaker Session Summary

SMA hosted a panel with Major General (Ret) Mick Ryan (Mick Ryan Solutions), Dr. William D. Casebeer (Riverside Research Institute), and Dr. David Huberdeau (Riverside Research Institute) as part of its SMA Mind-Tech Nexus Speaker Series.

Technologies that connect to a warfighter at a cognitive and physiological level collect valuable data, giving military leaders insights on their soldiers’ fighting readiness. A better understanding of the warfighters’ readiness will give these leaders an inherent strategic advantage over their adversaries. The most effective use of these technologies will be collecting data on physical traits of warfighters that can be placed into an already existent scientific model. Some of these measurable traits are sleeping patterns—which can indicate a warfighter’s readiness—or the likeliness of falls and strokes, commented Dr. Huberdeau. Traits that are hidden in the warfighters’ cognition will be much harder to quantify and map out.

Dr. Casebeer emphasized that the collection of data on the physiology of warfighters is creating a new kind of intelligence. Scientific breakthroughs occur after collecting large amounts of relevant data, which can take a long time. However, there are several near-term applications of these technologies, such as improving the efficacy of pilot training. Enabling US military personnel to do their jobs better and stay alive is crucial for the US military, because its personnel are the most expensive and important investment it has made. Ultimately, a better understanding of the physiological and cognitive well-being of warfighters will help military leaders train them both physically and cognitively. Major General (Ret) Ryan commented that the collection of this data and its uses are creating moral and ethical dilemmas for the US and other actors. 

Speaker Session Recording

Briefing Materials

Biographies:

Gen (Rtd) Mick Ryan is a highly skilled leader and strategist with more than three decades of experience working in senior roles in the Australian military and beyond. Mick’s work reaches a global audience, and he is a recognised expert in leadership, institutional strategy, technology, organisational adaptation and change management, institutional reform, as well as personnel development.  A prolific writer and speaker, Mick’s expertise in thinking about and preparing for the future is sought after by institutions in Australia, the United States and beyond. Mick has a distinctive mixture of experience and skills, underpinned by a foundation of seeking excellence in himself and those he leads. He is known for leading dynamic organisations to overcome adverse circumstances and solve challenging problems. Whether it involves leading the reconstruction efforts for an entire province in Afghanistan or managing institutional change, Mick is most comfortable when leading, or being part of, a diverse team that is focussed on solving complex problems. While he has his deep experience in institutional leadership and delivering organisational transformation, Mick’s first love over his 35-year career has been investing in people. In this technological era, many forget that it is people upon which companies and institutions are founded. To that end, Mick has a deep and abiding commitment to leading and personally investing in people, being an exemplar for continuous learning, and for being their most passionate advocate. Mick is highly sought after as an in-demand keynote speaker and he has addressed forums, conferences and educational institutions across the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Indonesia, India and Australia. Mick is also an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, and a non-resident fellow at the Low Institute in Sydney. He is the recipient of multiple awards for service and excellence from both Australian and United States military institutions. In 2008 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for distinguished leadership of the Australian 1st Reconstruction Task Force in Afghanistan.

Dr. William D. Casebeer is Director of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Riverside Research’s Open Innovation Center.  Bill’s lab uses next-generation technology to advance human-machine teaming, neuromorphic computing, object and activity classification and recognition, and defensive and offensive cyberwarfare capabilities.  Bill has decades of experience leading interdisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers to creative solutions to pressing national security problems, including Director, Senior Director, and Program Manager roles at Scientific Systems Company, Inc.,  the Innovation Lab at Beyond Conflict, the Human Systems and Autonomy Lab at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories, and at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as  program manager in the Defense Sciences Office and Biological Technologies Office. Bill retired from active US Air Force duty as a Lieutenant Colonel and intelligence analyst in August 2011 and is a graduate of the Air Force Academy, the University of Arizona, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the University of California at San Diego.

Dr. David Huberdeau is an AI/ML Engineer at Riverside Research Institute (RRI) and Principal Investigator for RRI under the NGA’s GEOCOG program. Dr. Huberdeau leads a team of engineers and scientists focused on innovation for more effective human machine synergy, including novel methods in cognitive state estimation and human-aware autonomous planning. He and his team have published in leading journals on measuring human performance and learning and using gaming environments, virtual reality, and humanoid robots to develop and evaluate human-machine synergy solutions. Prior to joining RRI, Dr. Huberdeau completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University where he studied cognitive impairments of neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s Disease. He acquired his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and has over 10 years of experience in the development and use of technology to monitor, assess, predict, and interpret human behavior.

The SMA Mind-Tech Nexus Speaker Series description and list of the other sessions in this series can be downloaded here.