Dr. Robb Wilcox (A)
Chief Research Officer
U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command
Soldier Center, Natick, Massachusetts
Robb Wilcox is the U.S. Army DEVCOM Soldier Center’s Chief Scientist. In this role, he is the principal scientific/technical advisor and primary authority for basic and applied research programs at the Soldier Center. He evaluates the quality of research programs and promotes new areas of S&T pursuit based on determined gaps in the research portfolio. He also identifies research opportunities and analyzes advancements in a broad variety of scientific fields to advise on their impact for Soldier programs and objectives. He recommends new initiatives and adjustments in basic and applied research programs to meet current and future Soldier capability needs. He is also an Army lead for the DoD Biotech and Human Systems Communities of Interest.
In his previous role, Dr. Wilcox was the DEVCOM SC’s S&T Lead for Human Systems Performance. In this role, he contributed to the important Soldier Center efforts in Human Systems Performance
by shaping the strategy, research activities and relationships across a breadth of RDT&E efforts. He was previously the Director of the Soldier Performance Optimization Directorate at the DEVCOM SC and was responsible for 120 Soldier performance team leaders, scientists, engineers, and specialists developing new capabilities through research and development to improve Soldier performance.
His expertise covers a breadth of science and engineering of Soldier systems, covering the fields of biotechnology, human sciences and engineering, material science, sensing, AI, M&S and advanced electronic — to name a few.
Prior to positions at the Soldier Center, Dr. Wilcox was the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) – Atlantic. In this role, he served as the principal technical expert in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, the former Soviet Republics as well as Africa for the Army. He advised RDECOM on international S&T collaboration opportunities relevant to U.S. Army research interests and leveraged international S&T into U.S. programs.
Prior to his appointment in 2012 as Chief Scientist, RDECOM —Atlantic, Dr. Wilcox was Associate Director at the Office of Naval Research Global (ONRG), where he was responsible for discovering and fostering S&T partnerships with international researchers, industry, and government organizations with members of the U.S. Naval Research Enterprise. His areas of expertise included many domains of basic and applied S&T to support Expeditionary and Irregular warfare for the U.S. Marine Corps. Prior to becoming Associate Director at ONRG, Dr. Wilcox was the lead Science Advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Strategic Studies Group, where he led revolutionary warfighting concept development with a 30-year futurist perspective.
After 10 years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard as an officer and engineer, Dr. Wilcox joined the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), where he applied engineering, scientific knowledge and military operational experience to R&D projects in defense, space, and homeland security domains. Dr. Wilcox is a risk and reliability modeling expert contributing to system safety, security and performance optimization with many applications including the spacecraft design for JHU/APL’s mission to Pluto and performance assessment of systems. Dr. Wilcox also served as supervisor and supported establishment of the first Human Systems Integration Section at JHU/APL. While at JHU/APL, he also served as an instructor for the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.
Dr. Wilcox is an Honors graduate in Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He received two MS degrees in Engineering from M.I.T. He also received a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Maryland with a research focus on human/systems performance in modeling & simulation. Dr. Wilcox is a licensed Professional Engineer and an alumni of the Harvard Senior Executives Fellows Program.
Dr. Wilcox currently lives in Holliston, Massachusetts, with his wife, Maryann, and has a daughter, Mackenzie, attending university in the UK.
