NITRD NATIONAL COORDINATION OFFICE (NCO)

The NITRD National Coordination Office (NCO) provides day-to-day support to the NITRD Program, the NITRD Subcommittee, and its IWGs by providing technical staff expertise, planning, coordination, point of contact, physical and virtual meeting venues, and administrative assistance for Program activities. The NCO continuously seeks to enhance its ability to be a catalyst for collaboration, exchange of information, and outreach to foster knowledge, methods, R&D, technology transfer, and innovation for U.S. global leadership in networking and information technology and their applications. The budget for the NCO is set by the NITRD Subcommittee.

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LEADERSHIP

Dr. Craig Schlenoff

Dr. Craig Schlenoff, Director

Dr. Craig Schlenoff is the Director of the National Coordination Office (NCO) for the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program. Dr. Schlenoff served as Deputy Director for the NITRD Program since September 2023. Dr. Schlenoff joins the NITRD NCO from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he served as the Group Leader of the Cognition and Collaboration Systems Group and the Program Manager of the Measurement Science for Manufacturing Robotics Program in the Intelligent Systems Division. He also served as a co-chair for the NITRD Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Interagency Working Group.

While at NIST, Dr. Schlenoff led the Agility Performance of Robotic Systems project and co-led the Embodied AI and Data Generation for Manufacturing Robotics project. He has also led multiple million-dollar projects, dealing with performance evaluation of advanced military technologies and agility performance of manufacturing robotic systems. Previously, Dr. Schlenoff served as the Program Manager for the Process Engineering Program at NIST and the Director of Ontologies at VerticalNet. Dr. Schlenoff is the Associate Vice President for Standardization within the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and the vice chair of the IEEE Robot Task Representation Working Group.

Dr. Schlenoff has research interests in knowledge representation/ontologies, intention recognition, and performance evaluation techniques applied to manufacturing robotic systems. He has published over 150 journal and conference papers, guest edited three journals, and written three book chapters.

Dr. Schlenoff received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland and Master of Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, both in Mechanical Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Burgundy, France.

Dr. Schlenoff succeeds Kamie Roberts and will become the 15th Director for the NITRD Program.

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PRIMARY FUNCTIONS OF THE NITRD NCO

Key NCO Activities on behalf of the NITRD Program and in cooperation with its oversight and participating bodies are as follows:

  • Prepare and disseminate the NITRD Supplements to the President’s Budget, which provides annual budgetary and program summaries for agency research activities planned and coordinated through NITRD, as required by law.
  • Prepare and disseminate other NITRD documents and resources, such as multiagency strategic plans, workshop reports, recommendations on specific R&D topics, and Federal agency resource guides in specific areas of interest to the Nation’s IT community.
  • Maintain the NITRD website, including its electronic publications librarynews updates about current NITRD activities, and the Federal IT resource guides and inventories.
  • Support external reviews by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) of the NITRD Program, transmit the results of these evaluations to Congress, and undertake to effect positive changes in the Program in response to the reviews.
  • Hold public meetings and provide expert presentations on IT topics, as appropriate.

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NITRD NCO MISSION, VISION, AND GOALS

NCO Mission Statement: The National Coordination Office (NCO) supports the national Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program by providing technical expertise, planning, and coordination and by serving as the Program’s central point of contact.

NCO Vision Statement: The National Coordination Office (NCO) continuously seeks to enhance its ability to be a catalyst for collaboration, exchange of information, and outreach to foster knowledge, methods, R&D, technology transfer, and innovation for U.S. global leadership in networking and information technology and its applications.

NCO Goals:

  • Support NITRD strategic planning and assessments.
  • Enhance and expand participation in the NITRD Program.
  • Enhance coordination among organizations with NIT R&D activities.
  • Enhance collaboration among NITRD agencies and with the private sector.
  • Support NITRD goals for technology transfer.
  • Enhance outreach efforts and increase awareness of the NITRD Program.
  • Support the NITRD Program through effective IT capabilities.
  • Enhance, maintain and attract a high performing workforce.
  • Seek opportunities to support NITRD interests and goals in the international arena.

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CONTACT AND FINDING THE NCO

  • Mailing Address: NCO/NITRD, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
  • Physical Address: 490 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Suite 8001, Washington, DC 20024, USA
  • Tel: 202-459-9674
  • Fax: 202-459-9673
  • Email: nco@nitrd.gov
  • Directions and Procedures
  • Lodging Information

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