Heather Dussault, Ph.D.

Heather Dussault’s extensive engineering and research experience includes several years of service as a volunteer in the position of emeritus engineer for the United States Air Force. In that role, she assisted the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in a variety of research capacities, including mission assurance, nuclear command, control and communications, and high frequency (HF) communications.

During her 35-year career, Dr. Dussault served as the leader of AFRL‘s nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) research efforts for two years. She worked as an electronics engineer, program manager, and division technical advisor to the Information Systems Division of the AFRL Information Directorate at (RI). Her research included work in systems and microelectronic reliability, design for testability, test and diagnostic methods, and the design of radiation-hardened electronics. Dr. Dussault also served as a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program manager in the Electronics Technology Office. Early in her career Dr. Dussault worked on the design of naval reactors at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. She has taught and conducted research in both computer science and electrical engineering at the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome (SUNYIT).

Dr. Dussault has co-authored numerous technical papers and reports, is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and holds a doctorate in nuclear engineering and science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

In addition to her role as a member of the NYSTEC Board of Directors, Dr. Dussault serves as a fellow of the National Institute for Deterrence Studies, a 501 (c)(3) organization that provides national security analysis, policy solutions, and deterrence education.