Heidi Shyu
Golden Defense
Heidi Shyu is undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and the Pentagon’s chief technology officer. She is charged with helping the U.S. military maintain its edge by overseeing R&D and prototyping of next-generation capabilities, in partnership with industry, academia and other innovators. As CTO, she has expanded the list of critical technology areas the department is focusing on to address challenges in both the near term and long term. Many of her signature initiatives, such as the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, are intended to facilitate the transition of promising capabilities and get them into the hands of warfighters faster.
