Voices
INSIDE TRACK
Patrolling the Skies
Col. Reid Vander
Schaaf, PhD, sen-
sors development
project manager,
U.S. Department
of Defense,
Huntsville,
Alabama, USA
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from the U.S. Air Force’s Air War College. He later
got his doctorate in system-of-systems engineering
from Purdue University.
In addition to his long military career and many
project manager roles, Vander Schaaf has taught at
West Point. As a professor, he learned how to tell
stories, which served him well as a project manager. “That’s how you communicate with people,”
he says.
Which kinds of radar does your office handle?
There are three kinds. The first two are homeland
defense radars: a ground-based radar developed
in the mid-’90s and the Sea-Based X-band (SBX)
radar. After the events of September 11th, there was
In June 2013, Col. Reid Vander Schaaf began
leading the office. He brings a wealth of expertise
to the project manager role. After graduating from
the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he earned
three master’s degrees: structural engineering and
construction engineering management degrees from
Stanford University and a strategic studies degree
