WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Dr. Leah Rowe has been selected as one of the Dayton Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 winners for 2019.
The annual awards recognize the rising leaders in the Dayton area under the age of 40.
According to the DBJ, judges chose the winners based on professional accomplishments, community leadership, awards and other milestones.
Rowe is a science and technology advisor and program manager in the Human Systems Directorate at AFRL and her investments in people are paying dividends for AFRL and the Air Force locally, nationally and globally.
“Rowe is an internationally recognized leader in the training research domain,” said Jack Blackhurst, AFRL Executive Director. “She transforms training within the Department of Defense, industry, and academia. She pioneers and executes lifesaving human systems research to rapidly assess and establish best practices for training and force readiness. Her work advances the state of the art in training and protects and equips our troops that serve in harm’s way.”
“She thinks big, starts small, and scales rapidly. Rowe is a proven innovator, providing rapid training and readiness product transitions that have a real-time impact on critical combat tactics and operational decisions,” he added.
Rowe manages a revolutionary $96.2 million research and transition portfolio and leads 35 military and civilian personnel and over 185 contractors across six multi-faceted teams. Among her more recent accomplishments: managing a $44 million ground breaking rapid acquisition effort fielding 25 simulator suites around the world, delivering a high-fidelity training capability to more than 3,000 Soldiers and Airmen at their home location; establishing the first ever unmanned aerial system simulator training capability at Springfield-Beckley Air National Guard Base; and developing a formal agreement with the University of Toledo and leading the transition of best practices in simulation to expedite the opening of their Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center.
Rowe is also the leader and spokesperson for a first-ever joint applied research agreement partnering the U.S. with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Additionally, she partnered with the Swedish Air Force to demonstrate state-of-the-art training technology at the world’s largest modeling and simulation conference, and later connected simulators from Sweden to live aircraft in Indiana to accomplish the first ever international multi-domain training demonstration.
“The most fulfilling part of my work is the freedom that the Air Force Research Laboratory affords to experiment, innovate, and impact ongoing and future military operations,” said Rowe. “This is science at the speed of operations – I am confident that our training laboratories are one of the only places in the DOD where this is possible. In the last five years, my team under the Adaptive Live Virtual and Constructive Operations for Enhanced Warfighter Readiness program has transitioned more than 800 products to the warfighter, many with direct impact to ongoing combat operations. This rapid and focused business model represents a true transformation in the way science and technology is led and managed.”
A part of that transformation is investing in tomorrow’s leaders in science and technology. Rowe spent 800 hours in 2018 tutoring students ranging from kindergarten to graduate school, mentoring dozens of young students in Dayton area schools, and providing guidance to young professionals in the workforce. Four of her mentees were promoted within their organizations in 2018.
“It is critical to invest in future science and technology leaders. Following the example of my mentors, incentivizing the right behaviors, protecting people who take risks, and challenging the status quo is the only way to reform industry best practices in government S&T. We have to rethink the way we do business, and the foundation of institutional change is hiring and developing the best people our nation has to offer,” Rowe said.
Rowe’s investment in people extends beyond mentorship by providing a positive impact in the local community. She helped found and is the Vice President of a local youth co-ed lacrosse club, leading its social media outreach and recruiting efforts. She has also provided pro bono organizational effectiveness consultation to a Xenia homeless shelter, hosted diverse working groups with the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greene County Schneider House of Hope, and served as a science fair judge at several local school districts and is a local STEM advocate.
But there are limitations, such as only having 24 hours in the day to work with.
“Work life balance can be a real struggle. It is hard to be a professional by day and wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, and volunteer by night,” said Rowe. “The key is to be flexible and to forgive yourself for not always being able to be everything to everyone. It also helps to surround yourself with people who love and support you for who you are. The most important thing to remember is that when you drop the ball, just pick it up and keep going. You have to plan the time. It is important to prioritize your own self-care and say no to things sometimes – no one can do it all, all of the time.”
Despite her work putting cutting-edge technology in the hands of the nation’s warfighters, Rowe views people as the most critical and valuable asset in the technology equation.
“Humans are more important than hardware,” Rowe said. ”We are so used to investing in widgets, or things we can touch, that we forget about the humans who operate them. People are this nation’s greatest asset, and human performance is the cornerstone of the security of the free world. Leaders need to prioritize an investment in training.”