A Team Player, Across the Board
Kelly Gerschefske
April 2011
 |
Kelly Gerschefske's analytic mind has proven to be valuable across the board at MITRE, where her software and computer engineering knowledge has been a key ingredient to an array of MITRE teams providing solutions to sponsors. |
|
|
Kelly Gerschefske, who is based at MITRE's Colorado Springs location, is known as a go-to engineer for a wide variety of project services. "I don't work on just one project or assist a single sponsor," she explains. "I provide software and computer engineering support across the corporation to engineering teams who need additional technical help."
Gerschefske, a software applications development engineer, functions as a versatile contributor within MITRE's Centers of Technical Excellence. The centers are corporate resources for work programs and sponsors. "We can respond rapidly to provide technical expertise for both long- and short-term program needs," she says.
Since she arrived at MITRE six years ago, Gerschefske has been involved with a number of initiatives, including ones in the intelligence arena and for the Department of Defense.
One of her earliest experiences was helping to devise Graphical Information Systems (GIS) for a tool designed to collect anthropological data in the battle theater. "This was a counter-insurgency measure that aimed to define human factors involved in insurgent activities," she says. "I really put my computer engineering skills to use, and as the program evolved, I became the GIS lead." The technology, which helps to raise cultural situational awareness among commanders and military leaders, was field tested in 2007, and subsequently put to use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A couple of years ago, Gerschefske was involved with a demonstration between coalition partners, assisting the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. "I traveled to a NATO-sponsored event in the Netherlands, and my role was to test machine-to-machine data exchange in missile defense planning documents between the U.S. and NATO counterparts," she says. This particular enhancement to the planning system helped save many hours of work for personnel who previously had to manually enter complex information.
More recently, Gerschefske and another MITRE engineer brought technical prototypes to California for an exercise called Operation Golden Phoenix. The event simulated a catastrophe—a bomb exploding in a Los Angeles subway station—to test methods for improving first responder operations. She and her partner devised simple yet powerful applications of data interoperability standards that connected Los Angeles City Fire Department systems to other agencies and vendor systems during the exercise. Their Web-based tools make it easier to quickly share and visualize data for local first responders.
"Our goal was to influence standards of emergency data, and the visualization of those standards," explains Gerschefske. While her partner's work involved gathering, routing, and tying data together, Gerschefske led the team that built the software to provide the technical mechanism to easily display data, along with additional sources and tools.
"We used knowledge and tools from other projects we've worked on, so we didn't have to reinvent the wheel," she says. "These approaches can also be used by other government agencies."
New Beginnings
Gerschefske first came to MITRE at the recommendation of a college friend who already worked at the company. "My friend was very happy with his work at MITRE, and he encouraged me to submit my resume," she recalls. Gerschefske joined the company's Colorado Springs site in 2005.
Gerschefske's college friend still works at MITRE—and he is now her husband. "Mike is a software systems engineer, and we have been married two years," she says.
Gerschefske attended the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs where she earned a bachelor of science in computer engineering. After joining MITRE, she was accepted into MITRE's accelerated graduate degree program, which grants employees a time-off allowance to earn a work-related degree at a swifter pace. "I was able to complete a master's degree in computer science at my alma mater," she says. "It was a terrific opportunity, and I'm grateful I was able to finish my master's in just two years."
When not at the office or traveling for work, Gerschefske enjoys baking—which takes on a whole new twist in the heights of Colorado.
"With our elevation, it's a bit more challenging," she points out. "The high altitude causes baked goods to rise fast and fall quickly.
She says the way around this baker's dilemma is to bake at a higher temperature and increase the liquids as stated in a recipe. "That means raising the wet ingredients like eggs and vegetable oil, and decreasing leavening agents like baking soda. It also helps to use a bit less sugar."
Gerschefske's analytical mind has proven to be valuable across the board—whether at home in the kitchen, or in the workplace, where her software and computer engineering expertise has made her a critical part of an array of MITRE teams providing solutions to sponsors.
And Gershefske says her progression at MITRE has been a rewarding one. "I enjoy the variety of work I do, and that I can lend my knowledge and expertise to a wide range of sponsors, carrying lessons from one project over to the next," she concludes.
—by Cheryl Scaparrotta
Related Information
Articles and News
Technical Papers and Presentations
Websites
|
