Advancing and Scaling Human Performance Optimization Through Technologies, Tools, and Transition
Abstract
West Virginia UniversityTruth I as described by Special Operations Command (SOCOM) states that Humans are moreimportant than hardware. People not equipment make the critical differencei. Despite this,the lions share of DoD funding goes into equipment development and fielding, while only afraction into human performance optimization of military personnel throughout their careers.Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) recently awarded a 5-year contract for $500MMiito provide comprehensive human performance services to all of SOCOM, which serves over67,000 Special Operators. While this is a great step forward, this contract that directly servesTruth I of SOCOM is equal to the estimated cost of 6 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Now imaginescaling human performance from 67,000 Special Operators to active duty Navy (~319,000) andMarines (~184,000)iii.New initiatives like the Close Combat Lethality Task Force (CCLTF), stood up by Secretary ofDefense Mattis in 2018iv, are beginning to take a human performance optimization focus totraining and performance in one of the most important applications of military operations.Through programs like POTFF and CCLTF, human performance is beginning to take a front seatin discussions of lethality and scalability, but research, development, and fieldable technologiesmust now rise to the demand.The Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) at West Virginia University was officially formedin 2017 with the core mission to Drive advances in science and innovation to improve humanperformance. The RNI has developed an approacge into fieldable products andtechnologies. However, the most unique aspect to this mission are the communities that arepartnered with the RNI, which we call AMP2. AMP2 represents the Athletics, Military, Patient,and general Population communities. While each of these communities certainly has specificneeds, there is an intersection in health, wellness, performance, and longevity that crosses over toall. We are all after improved performance, this is just simply defined uniquely across thecommunities.The elite side of AMP2 partners are NCAA and professional athletes and Special Operators /Active Duty Marines in the US Military. Through previous years of research by the RNI team inDoD laboratories, the link between athletes and Special Operators has become clear, where bothgroups operate at a very high physical and mental level, and undergo significant stressors in bothdomains as well. In many cases, athletes have become a surrogate population for study in theSpecial Operator community due to the improved availability of access, schedules, andquantifiable performance metrics for analytics. The RNI currently works directly with SpecialOperations Command (SOCOM) under a Collaborative Research and Development Agreement(CRADA), the United States Marine Corps at School of Infantry East (SOI-E) and West VirginiaUniversity Athletics. Additional MOUs are being drafted with 3 other Special Operations Unitsfor direct research and development relationships.The RNI utilizes the Measure-Analyze-Optimize strategy to human performance optimizat recovery science. Key applications include injury (heat andmusculoskeletal) surveillance and reduction, accelerated recovery from injury, optimizedperformance, and career longevity. With this strategy and these applications in mind, the ultimatelitmus test is the field-ability and scalability of these tools.This proposal covers critical equipment needed to allow the RNI to develop these field-able andscalable tools and directly deliver them to the Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research,SOCOM, and immediat
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 08, 2020
- Source ID
- N000142012472
Entities
People
- Joshua A Hagen
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- West Virginia University