AFRL Commander’s Challenge kicks off; 2 teams entrusted to deliver low-cost solutions by year’s end

Dr. Kris Wood, senior associate dean for Innovation and Engagement at the University of Colorado-Denver, co-teaches a design innovation workshop with his longtime colleague and friend Dr. Dan Jensen, a founding faculty member at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., at the 2024 AFRL Commander’s Challenge kickoff event at the Wright Brothers Institute in Dayton, Ohio, May 17, 2024. Wood and Jensen, who have co-led the workshop for Challenge participants since 2002, utilize a problem-solving methodology that examines the impact of products and technologies on end users. This year, they were able to return as instructors for the first time since 2019, following a forced five-year event hiatus due to COVID-19 challenges. “The answer to [innovation] is here, in these amazing, talented individuals who come together as a team and then take their passion and map it into something that’s going to be important and impactful for AFRL,” Wood said. (U.S. Air Force photo illustration / Gail L. Forbes)