NTSA Bestows Awards For Excellence in Training.

• Position: NDIA News

The National Training and Simulation Association--an affiliate of the National Defense Industrial Association--recently presented a number of awards for excellence.

NTSA presented its annual Modeling & Simulation Awards, as well as the 2018 Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in Modeling & Simulation, at a dinner on Nov. 27. NTSA President retired Rear Adm. James Robb, bestowed awards in the acquisition, education/human performance and training/simulation categories to a diverse group of teams tackling an array of tough problems, ranging from large-scale live-virtual-constructive military training exercises to canine medical simulators to the training of police officers in detecting drunk drivers.

The 2018 Governor's Award was presented to Tony DalSasso, chief engineer of the simulators program office at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

DalSasso has dedicated 37 years of his professional career to the significant evolution of modeling and simulation for war-fighters' training systems. From his early work on visual databases and standards for simulator geospatial data, through the development and management of numerous systems, the story of training system capability advancements cannot be told without mentioning DalSasso's exceptional technical contributions and his leadership in continuously improving the acquisition process. During his time as chief engineer, the simulations program office has grown from around 200 personnel to an organization with over 500 people supporting 50-plus programs.

The M&S Award for acquisition went to the K9 Diesel Design and Fielding Team. The team is recognized for exemplary government-industry collaboration in the rapid development and acquisition of the K9 Diesel Advanced Operational Medical Simulator. Leveraging innovative contracting strategies, imaginative design, cost-saving technologies and singular vision, the team created a high-fidelity, modular canine simulator in less than 18 months that greatly improves veterinary professionals' and first responders' ability to save working dog lives while advancing medical simulation art and science.

The M&S Award for education/human performance went to the Individual Nystagmus Simulated Training Experience, or INSITE, team, which consisted of the University of Texas at...