Defense

Former Army acquisition chief tapped to be DOD CTO

Heidi Shyu will be tapped by the president to lead the DOD's research and engineering enterprise, which grants billions of dollars for science and technology.

By Jackson Barnett

April 28, 2021

Heidi Shyu, the assistant secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology), toured a CERDEC lab along with CERDEC Director Henry Muller, CERDEC Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate Director John Willison, and CECOM Deputy Director Gary Martin to learn more about the center’s Hardware/Software Convergence initiative at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., June 16. CERDEC is modernizing and modularizing C4ISR and Electronic Warfare components so that there is a standard interface to better and more quickly facilitate the integration, compatibility and interoperability of new capabilities for the Army’s various platforms. (U.S. Army CERDEC photo by Kristen Kushiyama)

President Joe Biden announced plans to nominate Heidi Shyu — former top acquisition official in the Army — to lead the Department of Defense’s research and engineering enterprise.

As undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, Shyu will essentially be DOD’s chief technology officer, a position to which she brings extensive science and technology experience.

Before rising through the ranks of the Army’s Office of Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, she worked in the defense industry as a senior engineer and executive and her work spanned unmanned, space and electronic warfare technologies.

If confirmed by the Senate, Shyu’s main responsibilities will be focused on delivering advanced technology to the DOD through its massive research and engineering enterprise. There is growing support for dramatically increasing DOD’s the research and development budget to reach technological superiority in key areas, including 5G, hypersonic missiles, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

Shyu is a recipient of the DOD medal for distinguished public service, the Army’s medal for distinguished civilian service and the Air Force’s decoration for exceptional civilian service.