Delores M. Etter
Encyclopedia
Delores Maria Etterwas United States
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology from 1998 to 2001 and Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions)
from 2005 to 2007.
and the University of Texas at Arlington
before going on to receive two degrees from Wright State University
(B.S. in Mathematics
, 1970; M.S. in Mathematics, 1972). She attended grad school at the University of New Mexico
, receiving her Ph.D.
in Electrical Engineering
in 1979.
Upon receiving her Ph.D., Etter joined the faculty of the University of New Mexico's Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
. As a professor, Etter's research interests focused on adaptive signal processing
; speech recognition
; digital filter
design; and software engineering
. She would ultimately author several well-known textbooks on software engineering and computer languages
. While a faculty member at the University of New Mexico, she served as Associate Chair of her department 1987-89, and as the university's Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1989. She also spent two summers working at Sandia National Laboratories
(where her work focused on seismic signal processing
) and was the National Science Foundation
Visiting Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Stanford University
for the 1983-84 academic year. A member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
, Etter served as President of the IEEE Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing Society from 1988-1989, and was Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing from 1993-1995.
In 1990, Etter left New Mexico to become Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder
. In 1991, while still a professor at the University of Colorado, Etter became a member of the Naval Research Advisory Committee
, and would go on to chair that committee 1995-97.
Etter left the University of Colorado at Bolder in 1991 after President of the United States
Bill Clinton
nominated her as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology, a post she held from June 1998 through July 2001. In this capacity, she was responsible for American Defense Science and Technology strategic planning, budget allocation, and program execution and evaluation for the United States Department of Defense
Science and Technology Program. She was the principal U.S. representative to the NATO Research and Technology Organisation
's Research and Technology Board and also oversaw the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office
, the High Performance Computing Modernization Office, the Software Engineering Institute
, and the Department of Defense's high-energy laser
research program.
Upon leaving office, Etter joined the Electrical Engineering faculty of the United States Naval Academy
. There, she became the first ever Office of Naval Research
Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology.
President George W. Bush
nominated Etter as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions)
on September 6, 2005, and she subsequently held this office from November 7, 2005 until November 15, 2007. In this capacity, she was senior acquisition executive for the United States Navy
and the United States Marine Corps
and the Navy's representative for joint acquisitions with other branches of the United States Armed Forces
(for example: the F-35 Lightning II
and the MRAP
). She was responsible for the Navy and Marine Corps' acquisition of ships, aircraft
, vehicles, and information technology
.
In June 2008, Etter joined Southern Methodist University
in a joint appointment between the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
departments. At Southern Methodist, she became the Texas Instruments
Distinguished Chair in Engineering Education; Director of the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education; and a Senior Fellow of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology from 1998 to 2001 and Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions)
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions)
The Assistant Secretary of the Navy is a civilian office of the United States Department of the Navy...
from 2005 to 2007.
Biography
Delores M. Etter attended the Oklahoma State University–StillwaterOklahoma State University–Stillwater
Oklahoma State University–Stillwater is a land-grant, sun-grant, coeducational public research university located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. OSU was founded in 1890 under the Morrill Act...
and the University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington is a public research university located in Arlington, Texas, United States. The campus is situated southwest of downtown Arlington, and is located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. The university was founded in 1895 and served primarily a military...
before going on to receive two degrees from Wright State University
Wright State University
Wright State University is a comprehensive public university with strong doctoral, research, and undergraduate programs, rated among the 260 Best National Universities listed in the annual "America's Best Colleges" rankings by U.S. News and World Report. Wright State is located in Fairborn, Ohio,...
(B.S. in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, 1970; M.S. in Mathematics, 1972). She attended grad school at the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
, receiving her Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
in 1979.
Upon receiving her Ph.D., Etter joined the faculty of the University of New Mexico's Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Computer engineering
Computer engineering, also called computer systems engineering, is a discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering, software design, and...
. As a professor, Etter's research interests focused on adaptive signal processing
Signal processing
Signal processing is an area of systems engineering, electrical engineering and applied mathematics that deals with operations on or analysis of signals, in either discrete or continuous time...
; speech recognition
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
; digital filter
Digital filter
In electronics, computer science and mathematics, a digital filter is a system that performs mathematical operations on a sampled, discrete-time signal to reduce or enhance certain aspects of that signal. This is in contrast to the other major type of electronic filter, the analog filter, which is...
design; and software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
. She would ultimately author several well-known textbooks on software engineering and computer languages
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
. While a faculty member at the University of New Mexico, she served as Associate Chair of her department 1987-89, and as the university's Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1989. She also spent two summers working at Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories
The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
(where her work focused on seismic signal processing
Signal processing
Signal processing is an area of systems engineering, electrical engineering and applied mathematics that deals with operations on or analysis of signals, in either discrete or continuous time...
) and was the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
Visiting Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
for the 1983-84 academic year. A member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
, Etter served as President of the IEEE Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing Society from 1988-1989, and was Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing from 1993-1995.
In 1990, Etter left New Mexico to become Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
. In 1991, while still a professor at the University of Colorado, Etter became a member of the Naval Research Advisory Committee
Naval Research Advisory Committee
The Naval Research Advisory Committee is a civilian advisory committee to the United States Navy.The committee was established in 1946 by Public Law 588, which also created the Office of Naval Research...
, and would go on to chair that committee 1995-97.
Etter left the University of Colorado at Bolder in 1991 after President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
nominated her as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology, a post she held from June 1998 through July 2001. In this capacity, she was responsible for American Defense Science and Technology strategic planning, budget allocation, and program execution and evaluation for the United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
Science and Technology Program. She was the principal U.S. representative to the NATO Research and Technology Organisation
NATO Research and Technology Organisation
The NATO Research and Technology Organisation promotes and conducts co-operative scientific research and exchange of technical information amongst 26 NATO nations and 38 NATO partners...
's Research and Technology Board and also oversaw the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office
Defense Modeling and Simulation Office
The Defense Modeling and Simulation Office is "the catalyst organization for Department of Defense modeling and simulation and ensures that modeling and simulation technology development is consistent with other related initiatives."...
, the High Performance Computing Modernization Office, the Software Engineering Institute
Software Engineering Institute
The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. SEI also has offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI operates...
, and the Department of Defense's high-energy laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
research program.
Upon leaving office, Etter joined the Electrical Engineering faculty of the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
. There, she became the first ever Office of Naval Research
Office of Naval Research
The Office of Naval Research , headquartered in Arlington, Virginia , is the office within the United States Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S...
Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology.
President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
nominated Etter as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions)
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions)
The Assistant Secretary of the Navy is a civilian office of the United States Department of the Navy...
on September 6, 2005, and she subsequently held this office from November 7, 2005 until November 15, 2007. In this capacity, she was senior acquisition executive for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
and the Navy's representative for joint acquisitions with other branches of the United States Armed Forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
(for example: the F-35 Lightning II
F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability...
and the MRAP
MRAP (armored vehicle)
A Mine Resistant Ambush Protected is a family of armored fighting vehicles design led by the United States Marine Corps in use by the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, and Special Operations Forces with the goal of surviving IED attacks and ambushes - prompted by US deaths in Iraq...
). She was responsible for the Navy and Marine Corps' acquisition of ships, aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
, vehicles, and information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
.
In June 2008, Etter joined Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
in a joint appointment between the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
departments. At Southern Methodist, she became the Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
Distinguished Chair in Engineering Education; Director of the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education; and a Senior Fellow of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies.