The Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center's Virtual Operating Room
The Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center (VMASC) specializes in the future — integration of digital technologies into practical uses to support partners in industry and government. Created as a military training resource at the request of the Department of Defense and hosted at Old Dominion University’s Suffolk campus, the 60,000-square-foot multidisciplinary research center carries out modeling and simulation research and development for a variety of markets, including homeland security, transportation, medical training and research, cybersecurity, and data analytics.
Through its own research and its VMASC Industry Association (VIA), the center supports collaborative research partnerships, scholarships, and entrepreneurial contests. The center’s overarching goal is to discover new ways to utilize modeling, simulation, and analysis to solve real-world problems. Currently, the center has about 70 research staff and $100 million in funded research projects and initiatives supported by defense industry giants, including Booz Allen Hamilton, GDIT, Lockheed Martin, MITRE, and SAIC.
The Virginia Institute for Spaceflight and Autonomy (VISA), a VMASC research enterprise on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore, is tasked with growing the Commonwealth’s entrepreneurial ecosystem surrounding space flight and autonomous vehicles. VISA holds periodic competitions to identify promising companies working in those fields and match those companies’ capabilities with local and regional needs.
VISA’s first competition identified three companies using autonomous technology to solve industry issues:
- SCOUT Space in Alexandria, which is developing in-space inspection technology for autonomous satellites
- Universal Solutions International, Inc., in Newport News, which is studying in-flight launching of unmanned aerial vehicles from manned aerial platforms
- Sentinel Robotic Solutions in Accomack County, which is developing an over-the-horizon communications mesh network to enhance data transfer from shore stations to sea-based platforms
A recently closed competition with Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation support was aimed at identifying autonomous solutions to support safety, security, and emergency response at The Port of Virginia.
“It’s grown some legs already,” said John Costulis, VISA’s deputy director. “We have the Department of Homeland Security interested at the federal level. If you can demonstrate a technology to solve some of those challenges, that company could be set up to provide it to any port in the country.”
VMASC’s record of successful collaboration attracts innovation-focused industry partners. “Being an applied research center that is nonprofit also allows us to form great bonds that innovate, rather than compete, with our partners,” said Joe Kosteczko, assistant director of VMASC’s Digital Shipbuilding program.
VMASC also helps solve workforce issues for employers in the Hampton Roads region and across the Commonwealth. The center provides programs that support training of the current and future workforce for local maritime industry partners, including HII, Fairlead Integrated, and QED Systems.
VMASC partnered with Epic Games, developer of the popular Fortnite video game, on the Maritime Career Experience, an immersive virtual reality experience that highlights maritime STEM careers. The center’s annual Modeling, Simulation, and Visualization Student Capstone Conference brings together employers like Newport News Shipbuilding, MI Technical Solutions, Inc., SimIS, Inc., and Simventions to showcase projects and careers in STEM fields. VMASC also coordinates with several local workforce councils to enhance and support various maritime employee training programs.
“VMASC has developed some incredible training aids and technologies,” said Scott Kelley, director of production and workforce development for QED Systems in Virginia Beach. “We have collaborated on several projects, and the VMASC team never fails to impress me with their professionalism and ability to see around corners to figure out the most productive way forward.”
