Stephen Blanchette, Jr.

Chief Engineer, Army Programs

Key Responsibilities

Stephen Blanchette, Jr. is the Chief Engineer for Army Programs, leveraging the breadth of SEI technology to support US Army customers. A principal member of the technical staff, he collaborates across SEI business units to develop solutions for the Army's acquisition community, headquarters staff, and operational commands.

Professional Background

Prior to joining the SEI, Blanchette was the Deputy Manager of Business Development for Software and Systems Engineering at the Ground Systems Division of United Defense in Santa Clara, California. In this role, he managed the establishment and operation of a satellite office at a customer site. He also developed and executed IR&D programs and reviewed proposals. He joined United Defense in 1996 as the Lead Engineer for command and control software on the Bradley A3 program and rose quickly to the position of Bradley Software Technical Lead, responsible for the schedule, cost, and technical performance of a staff of 40 engineers in the development and integration of software for the entire Bradley family of vehicles. Blanchette received the US Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service for his work on Bradley.

Before joining United Defense, Blanchette worked as a senior engineer for Stanford Telecommunications in Sunnyvale, California, where he led a team on an IR&D effort to develop a soldier-transportable terminal for use with the Milstar satellite communication network. He began his career with McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Company in Mesa, Arizona, where he rose to increasing levels of responsibility and leadership while working on diverse engineering, R&D, and proposal programs, culminating in leadership of a small team that developed software for the Longbow Apache helicopter.

Blanchette has over 24 years of experience developing and managing development of real-time, embedded systems in support of US Army programs. His expertise encompasses program and project management, systems and software engineering, command and control, situational awareness, system diagnostics, satellite telemetry, and process improvement.

Blanchette serves as vice chair for the AIAA Software Systems Technical Committee, as a member of the CrossTalk editorial board, and as a peer reviewer for Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Energy, and several IEEE publications.

Publications (recent or significant)

Beyond Technology Readiness Levels for Software: U.S. Army Workshop Report, CMU/SEI-2010-TR-044, December 2010. With C. Albert and S. Miller.
“The Chief Software Architect in U.S. Army Acquisition,” CrossTalk, vol. 23, no. 6, November/December 2010: 18-23. With J. Bergey.
“A Technique for Evaluating Complex System of Systems Designs.” 7th Annual Acquisition Research Symposium, Monterey, CA, May 2010. With S. Crosson.
Evaluating the Software Design of a Complex System of Systems, CMU/SEI-2009-TR-023, January 2010. With S. Crosson and B. Boehm.
“Software Systems” (year in review article), Aerospace America, vol. 47, no. 11, December 2009: 34.
"The Space-Ground Functionality Tradeoff Revisited.” AIAA Space Conference, AIAA, Pasadena, CA, October 2009. With T. A. Hinners, S. V. Kowalski, and E. Stein.
"Assurance Cases for Design Analysis of Complex System of Systems Software.” AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference and AIAA Unmanned...Unlimited Conference, AIAA, Washington, DC, April 2009.
Impact of Army Architecture Evaluations, CMU/SEI-2009-SR-007, April 2009. With R. Nord, J. Bergey, and M. Klein.
U.S. Army Workshop on Exploring Enterprise, System of Systems, System, and Software Architectures, CMU/SEI-2009-TR-008, March 2009. With J. Bergey, P. Clements, M. Gagliardi, J. Klein, R. Wojcik, and B. Wood.
"An Approach to Training Software Architecture Practices in U.S. Army Acquisition." Defense Acquisition Review Journal, vol. 15, no. 3, December 2008: 260-272. With J. Bergey.
Army Software Architecture Workshop: Reporting on Army Experiences, CMU/SEI-2008-SR-003, February 2008. With J. Bergey, M. Gagliardi, M. Klein, R. Little, T. Morrow, L. Northrop, and W. Wood.
“A Hydrogen Economy and its Impact on the World as We Know It,” Energy Policy, vol. 36, no. 2, February 2008, 522-530.
Progress toward an Organic Software Architecture Capability in the U.S. Army, CMU/SEI- 2007-TR-010, June 2007. With J. Bergey.
“Military Intervention in Iran: Why and How,” The Land Warfare Papers, No. 62W, March 2007.