The Honorable Dr. Douglas C. Schmidt

The Honorable Dr. Douglas C. Schmidt was sworn in as Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) on April 8, 2024. A Presidential appointee confirmed by the United States Senate, he serves as the senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense on operational and live fire test and evaluation of Department of Defense weapon systems.

Prior to DOT&E Dr. Schmidt served as the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering in Computer Science, the Associate Chair of Computer Science, and a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. From 2010 to 2014 Dr. Schmidt was a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (AF SAB), where he served as Vice Chair of a study on Cyber Situational Awareness for Air Force mission operations, as well as a study on sustaining hardware and software for US aircraft. He also served on the advisory board for the joint Navy/Army Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) initiative. From 2000 to 2003 Dr. Schmidt served as a Program Manager in the DARPA Information Exploitation Office (IXO) and Information Technology Office (ITO).