Emerging Tech Horizons

Warfare is entering a new phase—where innovation happens in real time, and emerging technologies move from concept to deployment at unprecedented speed. At the 2026 Future Force Capabilities Conference, leaders across defense and industry explore what it takes to keep pace. Recorded live at the conference, Mary-Edens McAbee speaks with conference organizers and technology leaders working across mu...

Private capital is playing an increasingly visible role in the defense industrial base, but its impact depends less on the amount of money flowing in than on how effectively government demand shapes investment decisions. The central question for policymakers is not whether capital is available, but whether the system converts that capital into deployable capability.  In this episode, host Dr. Arun...

You can detect radiation in seconds. Understanding what it does to the human body can take far longer. This gap defines a leading challenge of radiation biology, the field that studies how radiation interacts with living systems.  In this episode, Dr. Marc Mendonca, Associate Vice President of Research at the University of Central Florida, joins host Dr. Arun Seraphin to discuss what problems radi...

Two of WHOOP's first 100 paying customers were LeBron James and Michael Phelps. The device built to optimize elite athletic performance is now finding a second calling in national security — and the story of how it got there says as much about military institutions as it does about the technology. Todd Stiefler, VP of Enterprise and Public Sector at WHOOP, joins Dr. Arun Seraphin at Emerging T...

Hackathons are becoming an increasingly important tool in the defense innovation ecosystem. When designed intentionally, hackathons can work for everyone involved in defense innovation. In this episode of Emerging Tech Horizons, Dr. Arun Seraphin is joined by Nick Lanham, Chair of NDIA’s Data Analytics and Enterprise Platforms Division and Senior Data & AI Analyst at Kairos, and Charles Ott, V...

After more than four years of conflict, the war in Ukraine has produced an unprecedented body of data on rapid innovation, emerging technology, and the evolving role of drone warfare and unmanned systems on the modern battlefield. The pressing question for U.S. defense planners is which of those lessons can be translated to the U.S. way of war, and which, if applied too directly, risk misdirecting...

Military bases are no longer guaranteed sanctuaries. As cyberattacks, drones, long-range missiles, and space-based threats expand the battlefield, U.S. installations must be treated as operational assets, not just support infrastructure. In this episode, Brian Stites, ETI Visiting Fellow and Chair of NDIA’s Cyber Warfare Division, speaks with Brig. Gen. Guy Walsh, USAF (Ret.), Executive Vice Presi...

The Department of War manages trillions of dollars in capabilities through an acquisition system that has not kept pace with the technologies it is meant to deliver. As readiness rates decline and supply chains grow more contested, modernizing how the defense enterprise uses data has become a national security imperative, and AI-enabled software is at the center of that effort.    In this episode,...

Start in Elementary School: Building America’s National Security STEM Pipeline YouTube Description: America’s next generation of emerging technology will not be built without the workforce to design, manufacture, operate, and sustain it. Jeremy Anderson, CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), argues that K–12 STEM education is a national security priority, and the pipeline has to...

As Emerging Technology continues to accelerate across domains like Artificial Intelligence (AI) , Biotechnology , & Brain-computer interfaces coverage, humanity may be approaching a threshold that fundamentally redefines what it means to wage war – and what it means to be human. In this episode, host Dr. Arun Seraphin is joined by Dr. Daniel Gerstein, adjunct professor at American University a...

The Department of War (DoW) is moving faster than ever—embracing commercial technology, autonomous systems , and Artificial Intelligence (AI) -enabled capabilities. But this acceleration raises a critical question: what happens to the human in the loop? Recorded at the NDIA Human Systems Conference, Arun Seraphin speaks with four leaders working at the intersection of technology, personnel, and de...

For decades, the U.S. government has tested weapons systems before deployment, but not the policies that govern them. That gap is starting to close through artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced modeling techniques. In this episode, Dr. Arun Seraphin sits down with Dr. David Metcalf and Dr. Doug Buettner to explore how AI, multi-agent systems, and simulation technologies are transforming how de...

Over the past decade, microelectronics and semiconductors have become a cornerstone of U.S. national security and supply chain resilience, moving beyond a purely technical issue to a central focus of economic and defense policy in Washington.  In this episode, host Dr. Arun Seraphin sits down with Grant Meyer, chair of the National Defense Industrial Association Electronics Division, to discuss th...

Microelectronics and semiconductor technologies are no longer commodities—they are central to national security and defense innovation. James Chew, President and General Manager of Government Technologies at Intel, explains why this shift is redefining how the semiconductor industry supports defense platforms.  Chew joins Dr. Arun Seraphin to explore how microelectronics has evolved from interchan...

Join host Dr. Arun Seraphin for a conversation with Kate Käufer, President & Founder of KMK Global Strategies, LLC, to break down how the  DoD , Congress, and industry are navigating the FY26 Appropriations Act. The discussion highlights key budget timelines, the evolving role of the  Defense Industrial Base , and emerging priorities including  munitions  production and the  Golden Dome . Kate...

The U.S. military has spent decades optimizing platforms while largely underinvesting in the system that actually operates them: the warfighter. As body-worn technologies mature, that imbalance is becoming harder to justify. In this episode, Sonya Rahmani, Warfighter Performance Lead at Booz Allen, joins Dr. Arun Seraphin to argue that the future of military advantage lies in treating the warfight...

Over 3,000 troops and contractors experienced some form of casualty moving fuel to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. That history explains why military energy thinking has defaulted to fuel logistics for two decades — and why a more serious vulnerability has gone largely unexamined. Today, the U.S. power grid is emerging as a critical infrastructure risk with direct implications for national se...

Join host Dr. Arun Seraphin for a conversation with Dr. Reed Skaggs of Lewis-Burke Associates examining how the Pentagon’s new innovation memo is reshaping the Defense Technology ecosystem. The discussion focuses on the memo’s emphasis on accelerating speed to Capability, strengthening the STEM-focused innovation workforce, and clarifying how service laboratories and research organizations support...

Join Dr. Arun Seraphin for a conversation with Dr. Sridhar Kota and Hal Chrisman of FlexSys exploring how adaptive morphing control surfaces are transforming aerodynamics across the aerospace industry and defense industry. The discussion centers on this engineering breakthrough and its potential to reshape future DoD platforms and missions. Drawing on more than two decades of experience in the aer...

Another cycle of NDAA-driven Acquisition Reform has concluded, beginning with the introduction of the FoRGED Act and SPEED Act and culminating in the enactment of the FY26 NDAA. Join Dr. Arun Seraphin and Moshe Schwartz for a detailed discussion of NDAA acquisition reforms and why this legislation could represent one of the most significant defense acquisition reform packages in decades. Drawing o...

Join Dr. Arun Seraphin and Dr. Jae Yu for a conversation that explores new data on Pentagon senior civilian leadership, illuminating the backgrounds of individuals serving in STEM leadership roles focused on Emerging Technologies. This discussion draws on the NDIA ETI report published by Dr. Yu, “Mapping Government Officials in Emerging Technologies Roles,” which examines how STEM education and pr...

In part two of this conversation, Dr. Arun Seraphin is joined again by HON. David Berteau to examine how  Defense Acquisition  and  Acquisition Reform  in the  Defense Industry  evolved after the end of the Cold War. Berteau reflects on why  Defense Acquisition Reform  has remained a persistent challenge and highlights the need for a balanced approach that weighs both mission success and financial...

Join Dr. Arun Seraphin and David Berteau for a conversation exploring the common threads across major defense acquisition reform efforts since the 1980s. Drawing on decades of experience in both the public and private sectors, David offers a historical perspective on how shifting geopolitical threats have driven repeated efforts to reform the Department of Defense’s acquisition system. The discuss...

Join ETI Associate Research Fellow Anna Kim for a live conversation from the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) with Bob Kleinhample, Director of the National Training and Simulation Association’s Next Big Things Initiative and CEO of Pioneer Sim. Drawing on his experience as an Army officer and longtime leader in modeling, simulation, and training, Bob...

Join host Arun Seraphin for a conversation on U.S.–China technology competition and industrial policy with Randy Shriver and Mike Kuiken of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Drawing from the Commission’s 2025 report, this episode examines how China uses state-directed industrial policy to accelerate innovation across critical sectors such as aerospace, biotechnology, semicond...