Researcher Highlights

Dr. Rebecca Medlin, Test Science and Air Warfare Groups
photo, Rebecca Medlin Dr. Rebecca Medlin is a Research Staff Member in the Test Science and Air Warfare Groups in OED. Dr. Medlin began her IDA journey as a graduate student in IDA’s Summer Associate program, while completing her PhD in Statistics from Virginia Tech.
She uses her background in statistics and experimental design to help plan test events for a variety of major weapons systems.

Dr. Elliot Bartis, OED Naval Warfare Group
Dr. Elliot Bartis is a Research Staff Member within the Naval Warfare group of OED. After completing his PhD in Material Sciences from the University of Maryland, Elliot joined IDA to support undersea warfare programs.

At IDA, he uses his background in experimentation and his understanding of signal processing to inform defensible tests of undersea weapons systems.
Mr. Michael Mellor, OED Land Warfare Group
Mr. Michael Mellor is a Research Staff Member within the Land Warfare group of OED. Michael combines an extensive military background in operational testing with a Masters in Operations Research from the Florida Institute of Technology and a Masters of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.

Like several other key RSMs, Mike brings both academic and operational perspectives to his work supporting the full lifecycle of operational testing – planning, design, evaluation, and analysis – for land warfare systems.
Mr. Erick McCroskey, OED Net-Centric Warfare Group
Colonel Erick McCroskey (USAF, retired) is a Research Staff Member within the Net-Centric Warfare group of OED. Erick combines an extensive military background as a pilot, analyst, operational planner, and Joint Staff officer with his Masters in Engineering Applied Science (Physics) from the University of California, Davis (at the Livermore National Laboratory) as a Hertz Foundation Fellow, and a Masters of Military Arts and Science (Operational Level of Warfare) from the US Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies.

He uses his background to inform the full lifecycle of operational testing – planning, design, evaluation, and analysis – as well as to plan, execute, and analyze DoD-wide cybersecurity assessments and to develop new cyber theoretical concepts and innovative practical approaches. Erick is one of several key RSMs in our division who provide both an academic and an operational perspective to the work we do.