Our People

Program Office

Testing & Evaluation 

Modeling 

 Standards & Requirements 

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 Audio Quality

Video Quality 

 Prize & Challenge 

 

 

Dereck Orr:

Dereck Orr is the Division Chief for the Public Safety Communications Research Division at NIST’s Communication Technology Laboratory, and has held that position since December 2002. In that role, he leads the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program that serves as an objective technical advisor and laboratory to FirstNet, the Department of Homeland Security, and public safety to accelerate the adoption and implementation of the most critical public safety communication standards and technologies. From October 2003 until October 2004, Mr. Orr was detailed to the Department of Homeland Security to serve as the Chief of Staff of the SAFECOM Office within the Science and Technology Directorate, to help establish the new program. Prior to working at NIST, Mr. Orr served as a professional staff member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, and Related Agencies under Senator Fritz Hollings. In that position, Mr. Orr was responsible for the appropriations accounts relating to state and local law enforcement issues. Prior to that, Mr. Orr served four years at the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) at the Department of Justice. Mr. Orr received a Masters in Public Policy from the College of William and Mary and a Bachelor of Arts in American History from the University of Texas at Austin.

 

 

Danni Dressel:

Danni Dressel is the Administrative Officer for CTL's Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division. She is responsible for providing efficient administrative support and financial management to the Leaders of PSCR. Danni supports CTL's Admin Leadership philosophy of keeping engineers and scientists doing research to the max extent possible by removing as much of the administrative burden requested of them as possible. Danni began working for NIST in 2007 and began working for PSCR August 2014.

 

 

Amanda Hyman

Amanda Hyman is the Division Office Manager for the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) division of the Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL).  She is responsible for providing efficient and effective administrative support services for PSCR’s scientific staff. Amanda aims to keep her researchers in the lab to the max extent possible by removing as much of the administrative burden requested of them as possible.  
Amanda is an Air Force veteran who came to NIST from a great start as a DoD civilian in Abilene, Texas. During her active duty time in the Air Force, Amanda reached the level of M-16 marksman and deployed twice under Operation Enduring Freedom supporting the B-1 Lancer Bomber mission in Southwest Asia.  Over her four years, she was awarded four Air Force Achievement Medals.  As a DoD civilian, Amanda supported a Civil Engineering Squadron of over 300 engineers and 80 civilians between 2009 and 2013.  
Amanda has been with NIST since 2013 where she started as a Group Office Manager in the Materials Management Laboratory with the Applied Chemicals and Materials Division. She has been with PSCR since 2014 shortly after finishing her bachelor’s degree in Health Care Administration.  Amanda enjoys working and playing in her home state of Colorado.  She can be found in her tent in the mountains on summer weekends and playing with her son and husband in the snow during the winter.

 

 

Eric Anderson:

Eric Anderson is a Senior Scientist for Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) at NIST. Dr. Anderson is developing the division's advanced research programs and funded extramural research. From 2013 to 2016, he was a System Scientist in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, working in vehicular networking, radio propagation and channels, network architecture, and measurement infrastructure. Eric also served as consulting faculty for the Institute for Software Research eBusiness Technology program. He was a one of the inventors of the adaptive sensor network/IoT MAC protocol X-MAC, and developed signal quality pricing as a cross-layer optimization mechanism. Eric's current research interests are at the intersection of networks, wireless, and public policy. Dr. Anderson completed a post-doc in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science and interdisciplinary certificate in Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado.

 

 

Jeb Benson:

Jeb Benson has 10 years of experience as an RF Engineer and Engineering Manager with the Department of Defense researching, developing, and fielding products and systems for ISR applications. Prior to that he worked for five years as a Research Biologist in Alaska. Jeb has a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and a BS in Environmental Science from Oregon State University. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer and a DAWIA certified Level 2 Science and Technology Manager.

 

 

Roger Blalock:

Roger Blalock is the Senior Systems Engineer for Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division within NIST. He works with engineers in the PSCR’s Advance Communications Research Group to deploy new vendor equipment for test projects in the network. He also works to integrate and troubleshoot third party testing tools, as well as develop and maintain tools that allow easier ongoing maintenance of the lab. Roger joined PSCR with over 15 years’ experience in the telecommunication industry. Initially, he worked with system test and test automation for 2G and 3G cellular networks, but also spent time doing new feature deployment in overseas markets. Roger spent the last several years working on both lab design and operations as well as the 4G IMS core. His education includes a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering.

 

 

Donald Bradshaw:

Don Bradshaw is the team lead for PSCR’s FirstNet projects, and has been at NIST since March 2015. Prior to joining PSCR, Don spent 12 years with the Department of Defense performing research and analysis of current and emerging communications technologies.  Don received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

 

 

Abraham Campbell

Abraham has worked as a software engineer for nearly 30 years in diverse fields such as embedded avionics in a jet fighter, medical software, scientific software, computer games, graphics drivers, and a massively distributed automated test ecosystem employing web-based client/server technologies.  In his spare time, Abraham has become fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), earned a degree in gemology, and has raised two dogs for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

 

 

Jon Cook:

Jonathan Cook is an Electronics Engineer in the Communications Technology Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  Jonathan has been with PSCR for five years where he has been developing and performing tests on Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment including both small cells and macro cells.  His latest focus is in testing Quality of Service (QoS), priority and preemption capabilities with respect to public safety needs.  He has been working with 2G, 3G and 4G telecommunications equipment for the past 18 years and he has over 30 years of experience in radio frequency testing and development.

 

 

Chris Dennis

Christopher Dennis is an Electronics Technician for the Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) and joined NIST  in the start of March 2015. Christopher spent 5 years in the United States Marine Corps as an Arabic Cryptologic Linguist in the field of Signals Intelligence.  Following his time with the Core, he spent 2.5 years on a U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Services contract where he was a Tactical Commander on a Protective Security Detail for the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.  Additionally, he spent 4 years on a U.S. Air Force contract as an Electronic Warfare operator in support of military training exercises.  Furthermore, Chris was a Federal employee with the U.S. Air Force for 2.5 years under the U.S. Strategic Command where he was an Exercise Planner for Electronic Warfare/Signals Intelligence operations.  In 2014, Chris received his Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering Technology from Grantham University.

 

 

Jesse Frey

Jesse Frey is an electrical engineer for the Public Safety Communications Research Division at NIST’s Communication Technology Laboratory, and has held that position since June 2016. Prior to working at NIST, Jesse completed a Masters of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 

 

Donald Harriss: 

Donald Harriss is the Senior Network Engineer for the Communication Technology Laboratory (CTL), Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division within NIST.  Donald works within the network operations team and is the primary architect of the PSCR Core demonstration network.  He ensures that network best practices are implemented, documented and adhere to security and industry standards.  As part of this role, he performs research on core networking models and technologies used in Public Safety and carrier enterprise networks. Donald also serves as top tier network support to PSCR project engineers and stakeholders. Donald received his Bachelors of Science in Telecommunications Systems Management with a focus study in Network Security and Network Communications.  His is an expert with “last mile” technologies such as Fiber To The Curb (FTTC,) traditional Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) such as T1 or T3 and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL.)  Donald also has career certifications in packet switching and routing technologies as well as career experience involving deployable defense systems and global satellite surveillance data networks.

 

 

Vihang Jani:    

Joining PSCR in 2015, Vihang is involved in R&D efforts at Advanced Communications Research Group within PSCR and is currently focused on Location Based services for Public Safety. Vihang has 15+ years of experience in cellular interoperability, and holds a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Texas in Arlington (UTA). During his career in Cellular Networks research and development, Vihang has been recognized with Ace of Heart Award in interoperability. Vihang has extensive experience in Inter-Vendor Verification and interoperability. He also has worked with IMS/VoLTE and architecting IoT solutions in the Rail Road industry.

 

 

Bob Johnk:

Bob Johnk is currently an electronics engineer at the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (NTIA/ITS) where he is engaged in public safety radio communications research and mobile channel propagation research. Prior to joining NTIA/ITS in 2007, he was with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado for 17 years where he was the leader of the time-domain electromagnetic fields project. Bob has received best paper awards from the IEEE EMC Society, NIST, and NTIA. In 2015, he received a Silver Medal award from the Secretary of Commerce for his in-building public safety LTE research.  Bob also received a U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal award in 2015 for the development of a precision radio propagation system that is used to facilitate robust spectrum sharing. Bob Johnk received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado in 1990, where he specialized in electromagnetics, propagation, and antennas.  Bob enjoys spending time with his wife, Loan (married for 38 years :-)),  and his sons, Kevin and Ben. Bob's favorite activity is taking walks with his wife in the beautiful Colorado sunshine.

 

 

Alison Kahn:

Alison Kahn is an electronics engineer with NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research Group (PSCR).  Alison acts as the device liaison, working with vendors to ensure that public safety features are addressed in impending releases
allowing PSCR to research and test cutting edge technology for the future of public safety. Additionally, she works with the lab operations team to ensure that devices released onto the PSCR lab network meet security standards. Alison has 14 years of experience in the telecommunications industry.  Before joining PSCR in 2016, she worked on end to end device interoperability programs for companies such as Motorola and Nokia.  She also worked with commercial carriers to develop and implement customized test plans, used to ensure that device vendors could meet both customer required and industry standard interoperability with the company’s network equipment.  Alison’s education includes a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science from the Colorado School of Mines.

 

 

Jason Kahn:

Jason Kahn has 19 years of experience working in the wireless telecommunication industry. Prior to joining NIST in 2015, Jason worked on device interoperability with commercial companies such as Motorola and Nokia.  His main area of expertise is in device interoperability, process management, and advanced LTE feature performance.  Jason earned degrees from The University of Texas and SMU.

 

 

Scott Ledgerwood:

Scott Ledgerwood is an IT Security Specialist for Communication Technology Laboratory (CTL), Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division.  Scott works with various stakeholders to ensure security is addressed at all stages of the PSCR research.  He works closely with John Beltz to identify and implement security controls in the PSCR demonstration network to protect against cybersecurity threats. Scott joined NIST after 8 years at U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the Department of Homeland Security.  He was the FISMA Compliance and Security Authorization Team Lead responsible for CBP’s 80+ information systems.  He worked closely with the Information Security community to ensure systems are adequately secured.  Scott was the CBP SME for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Task Order 2A procurement to ramp up continuous monitoring activities.  He managed multiple security teams responsible for IT Security Risk Assessments, FISMA and Privacy Compliance, and Authorization and Accreditation.  Scott was also responsible for presenting the information security posture of all CBP systems to the CBP CIO and executive management on a regular basis.  Prior to his federal career, he performed similar services as a consultant with CACI. Scott holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Information Technology from George Mason University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Bellevue University.  He is currently working towards a Master’s in Telecommunications with a focus on Network Security at Colorado University.  Scott also has multiple security and project management certifications including CISSP, PMP, and an Associate’s Certificate in IT Project Management from The George Washington University. Scott moved from the Washington, D.C. area to join NIST in 2015.  He is thoroughly enjoying the beautiful scenery with his wife and their golden doodle, Winston.  Scott is an avid triathlete, mountain biker, and an occasional participant in the Scottish Highland Games.

 

 

Hien Nguyen:

Hien Nguyen is an Electronics Engineer in the Communications Technology Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  Before joining NIST in 2015, Mr. Nguyen worked as an avionics system engineer for eight years and has been working in the telecommunications industry for the last 20 years, particularly in the GSM, WCDMA and LTE R&D environments.  He is currently working in deployable systems project, assessing state of the industry and investigating different and unique aspects of the systems in relation to public safety.

 

 

Ben Posthuma:

Ben Posthuma started his career in the United States Marine Corps in the field of tactical airborne communications systems. Following that, he worked for a major defense contractor specializing in the field of airborne based communications extension and provision, particularly focusing the extension and continuation of communications to degraded environments. Ben held several positions there including flight test director, principal investigator of R&D efforts, and technical strategist. Ben was involved in the development and deployment of multiple significant airborne communications platforms and was instrumental in the strategy and development of technologically advanced techniques for the rapid re-establishment of communications in diverse environments. Ben joined PSCR in 2016 to continue supporting the development of communications technology for public safety.

 

 

Sam Ray:

Sam Ray is an Electronics Engineer with the Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) at NIST’s Communication Technology Laboratory.  In that role, he manages PSCR's work on projects sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, supervises a team of engineers working on research projects in the lab and in the field, and oversees the engagement of students in PSCR's mission through NIST student programs.  Prior to his arrival at NIST in 2016, Mr. Ray spent 20 years in various system test, deployment and engineering management roles in cellular/LTE infrastructure and device teams for Motorola and Nokia.  Sam earned his BA from Hardin-Simmons University and BSEE from Texas Tech University and studied Systems Engineering at University of Texas at Arlington.

 

 

Ellen Ryan - Group Lead:

Ellen Ryan is the Operations Manager for the Communication Technology Laboratory (CTL), Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division within NIST. She leads the network operations team and ensures all aspects of the PSCR demonstration network are adequately planned, deployed and maintained in a safe and secure manner. Additionally, she develops best-practice operational processes for the PSCR division in other areas such as deployment, safety and security practices. Ellen’s background is in system verification and testing, with over 20 years of industry experience in telecommunications research and new product development. Her technical areas of expertise include electronic switching systems, digital cross connect systems and optical backhaul networks. Ellen’s education includes a Master’s of Science degree in Computer Science and two Bachelors’ of Science degrees, one each in Computer Science and Geography.

 

 

Sanjeev Sharma:

Sanjeev Sharma is a Electronics Engineer at the Public Safety Communications Research Division of NIST’s Communication Technology Laboratory, since May 2015. In that role, he conducts the research sponsored by NIST, FirstNet, Department of Homeland Security, and public safety to accelerate the adoption and implementation of the most critical public safety communication standards and technologies. Prior to working at NIST, Mr. Sharma served as a Sr. Principal Engineer at Broadcom Corporation. Mr. Sharma joined Broadcom in 2007 and was responsible for the design, implementation, test and optimization of 3GPP modem firmware. Prior to that, Mr. Sharma served seven years at InterDigital Communications Corporation, three years at Hughes Software Systems and two years at Fujitsu India Telecom Limited. Mr. Sharma received a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Villanova University, PA; a Masters in Computer Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; and a Bachelors in Electronics & Electrical Communications Engineering from Panjab University, India.

 

Lisa Soucy:

Lisa Soucy is the Chief Technologist for the Advance Communication Research Group (ACRG) within the Communication Technology Laboratory (CTL), Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division within NIST. She works very closely with the Operations team to plan and deploy new technology within the PSCR demonstration network as well as resolve day to day lab issues.  Additionally, she works as a Principal Investigator for various PSCR projects including Quality of Service (QoS), Priority and Preemption. Lisa’s background is in interoperability end-to-end system integration, verification and validation, with over 20 years of industry experience in telecommunications research and new product development. Her technical areas of expertise include 2G, 3G and 4G cellular networks.  She is proficient on many features including handoffs, Short Message Service (SMS) and packet data features, as well as Wireless Priority Service (WPS) and Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS).  She has worked with many 3rd party vendors throughout her career to verify functionality according to the 3GPP specifications.  Lisa’s education includes a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Montana Tech.

 

 

Wyatt Suess:

Wyatt is a Network Engineer for Communication Technology Laboratory (CTL), Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division.  He is a member of the lab operations team that manages the PSCR demonstration network. Wyatt’s background is in network engineering and spent his most recent role managing the network, Windows servers, wireless, Active Directory, and supporting software and hardware for a large school district in Iowa. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Iowa. He currently holds a Cisco Certified Network Associate certification, and is working toward a Cisco Certified Network Professional certification. Wyatt moved from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to join NIST in 2015. He enjoys playing golf, hiking, skiing, basketball, and cheering for the Iowa football team.

 

 

Chris Walton:

Christopher Walton transitioned to PSCR from private industry in December of 2014.  After completing a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering (1989) from the University of Texas at Arlington, Chris was a civilian employee of the United States Army Information Systems Engineering Command (USAISEC), where he designed and deployed RF systems.  Chris left USAISEC to return to UTA where he completed a Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1996.  Working for international telecom vendors, he gained experience testing 2G cellular technologies while working with system test teams.  In the later portion of his industry experience, he led the deployments of 3G and LTE wireless technologies in both domestic and international markets.  After joining PSCR, Chris’s research focus has been in the areas of local control and quality of service, priority and preemption on LTE broadband networks.

 

 

Philip Williams:

Philip Williams is a Lab Operations Electronic Technician. Since joining NIST in August of 2014, he supports the Public Safety Communications Research Laboratory by working to develop lab design plans and assist in building, installing, and maintaining laboratory network and test equipment. Philip also provides technical support in component and system installation, integration, testing, and repair of LTE cellular broadband systems and equipment including test equipment. He monitors and maintains a clean, safe and secure laboratory environment, which includes organizing lab equipment and supplies to manufacturer’s specifications, and bundling communications cables per industry standards. Philip has an A.O.S. in Advanced Electronics Technology / Avionics from Redstone College and 12 yrs. electrical mechanical background.

 

 

Nada Golmie - Group Lead:

Nada Golmie received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Maryland at College Park. Since 1993, she has been a research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She is currently the chief of the wireless networks division in the Communications Technology Laboratory. Her research in media access control and protocols for wireless networks led to over 100 technical papers presented at professional conferences, journals, and contributed to international standard organizations and industry led consortia.  She is the author of “Coexistence in Wireless Networks: Challenges and System-level Solutions in the Unlicensed Bands," published by Cambridge University Press (2006). She leads several projects related to the modeling and evaluation of future generation wireless systems and protocols and serves as a co-chair for the 5G mmWave Channel Model Alliance.

 

 

Richard Rouil:

Richard Rouil is a researcher working in the Wireless Networks Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Telecom Bretagne, France (2009) that focused on mobility in heterogeneous networks. His main interests include protocol modeling and simulation of communication networks. His current research focuses on the performance evaluation of LTE to support the deployment of networks used by Public Safety.

 

 

Desire Banse (CTR):

Desire Banse joined PCSR with a main focus in Wireless Innovation and Network Performance. For the past five years, she has worked on evaluations and technology metrology for the Modeling and Simulation program at NIST. Desire has experience designing large-scale multi-purpose online platforms in order to support research in Machine Translation, and Speaker/language Recognition. Desire spends her time working on computer vision, hardware and electronics development, and conducting experimental designs for innovative solutions to problems like robust authentication, security and internet in Africa.

 

 

Andy Thiessen - Group lead   

Andrew Thiessen is the Division Chief for the Systems Engineering and Evaluation Division within the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS), which is part of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. In addition to his role as a Division Chief, Andrew's technical work at ITS is part of a joint effort between ITS and the NIST Communication Technology Laboratory (NIST/CTL) named the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program. Andrew leads the standards development efforts for the PSCR, which includes working in such standards development organizations as 3GPP, ATIS, GMSA, representing public safety’s communications requirements. Andrew is also the Vice-Chair of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) Technology Committee. Andrew has worked as a principal in several small start-ups, as a Senior Systems Engineer for Sun Microsystems, an engineer for MITRE, and an engineer for the National Security Agency. Andrew holds a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering for Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), a Bachelor’s degree in English, also from WPI, a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from Duke University.

John Beltz - Group Lead:

John Beltz is the IT Security Manager for Communication Technology Laboratory (CTL), Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division.  He leads security specific public safety research projects and incorporates security into all aspects of PSCR research.  Additionally, he ensures that adequate security controls are in place to protect the diverse PSCR demonstration network from cybersecurity threats. John’s background is in network security where his most recent role was managing security teams at NIST in completing A&A activities including activities such as project management, security architecture consultation, expert documentation development/review, asset inventory analysis, network and web application vulnerability scanning and analysis, hands-on technical testing, package development and submittal and presentation to executive authorizing officials.  Prior to that he performed similar services as a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton based in McLean, VA. John is a proud veteran of the US Army where he served his country for 6 years.  During his military career he also completed his Bachelor’s Degree at Hawaii Pacific University majoring in Computer Information Systems.  He also completed a Graduate Degree at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Information and Telecommunication Systems.  John is a native of the Washington, DC area, but now lives in Colorado with his wife and his infant son.  He enjoys playing in the Rocky Mountains at his favorite pastimes including mountain biking, backcountry skiing, and hiking.
 

 

 

Stephen Voran - Group Lead:

Stephen Voran received the MSEE degree from the University of Colorado in 1989.  He has been with the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences in Boulder, Colorado since 1990.   His research interests include signal processing applications to quality assessment, coding, transmission, and enhancement of speech and audio signals.  He has published numerous technical reports and papers on those topics.

 

 

Andrew Catellier:

Andrew Catellier works as an electronics engineer for the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) in Boulder, Colorado. Andrew has worked for ITS since 2006 and conducts research concerning the delivered quality of audio, video, and multimedia streams, whether assessed by humans or objectively by machines, as well as research concerning speech coding. Andrew is also leading an Internet of Things research directive. He conducts speech intelligibility research for the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program and is working to build a signal processing framework/signal repository. Andrew earned a Bachelor’s of Science and a Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.

 

 

Margaret Pinson:

Margaret Pinson develops improved methods for assessing image and video quality. A growing and crucial area of public safety is the use of images and video for investigation and emergency response. By quantifying opinions of visual quality, we can understand how cameras fail to meet user expectations. This knowledge will enable the development of improved cameras that better meet first responder needs. Mrs. Pinson is a Co-Chair of the Video Quality Experts Group (VQEG), Co-Chair of the VQEG Independent Lab Group (ILG), and an Associate Rapporteur of Questions 2 and 12 in ITU-T Study Group 9. Her contributions and leadership within VQEG and Study Group 9 have played a key role in the approval of ITU-T Rec. P.913 (2014), Methods for the subjective assessment of video quality, audio quality and audiovisual quality of Internet video and distribution quality television in any environment. Mrs. Pinson encourages video quality research and development by administering the Consumer Digital Video Library (CDVL, www.cdvl.org). She has made thousands of high quality royalty-free test videos available on CDVL, including crowd scenes, simulated emergency telemedicine footage, fireground, and portions of the 2010 Mock Prison Riots. Margaret Pinson received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1988 and 1990. From 1989 to 2011, Mrs. Pinson developed metrics that estimate perceived quality by comparing original videos with impaired videos. These algorithms are available free of charge for any commercial or non-commercial use (click here). She is currently developing no-reference or “blind” metrics, which estimate the quality of a video with little or no supplementary information. Since 1993, Mrs. Pinson has participated in national and international committee efforts to independently evaluate metrics that assess video quality. Since 2010, she has been developing improved subjective methods that are suitable for asking people about the quality of new video technologies. Click here for a list of Mrs. Pinson’s publications.
 

 

 

Tammi Marcoullier:

Tammi Marcoullier leads the Prize and Challenge Competition Program at NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Innovation Accelerator. She joined the PSCR team and launched the program in April 2016. Prior to joining NIST, she managed the federal-wide crowdsourcing program, Challenge.gov, for 5 years; earning the Harvard Innovations in American Government Award in 2014 for groundbreaking work building the program across government to engage millions of people in solving scientific, technical and creative problems.Tammi’s expertise in strategy, policy, implementation, and citizen engagement led to work advising foreign governments on policy, technology, and procedures to launch their open innovation programs. She has executive leadership experience  working for technology start-up companies and major media organizations (including USA Today, WashingtonPost.com, and AOL). In 2002 she published a book about the first U.S. women’s Olympic bobsled team. Tammi received her Bachelor of Arts in English, with a concentration in Film and Media Studies from George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, and was a Senior Fellow, Excellence in Government with the Partnership for Public Service 2012-2013, earning the 2015 BAIR Award for Ingenuity and Results.