The Dixie Crow Chapter (Middle Georgia) of the Association of Old Crows (AOC) celebrated the 50th anniversary of its annual Symposium in late March.

GTRI has been a key partner with AOC and the chapter for much of that time, and showed its support during the 50th Anniversary celebration, held at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia, on March 22-26.

The Symposium has grown in size and stature over the years. This year, it was announced that some 1,200 attendees visited the Symposium and its 65 exhibitors.

It was held in the same location as, and simultaneous to, the EWA Technical Conference, sponsored by the Electronic Warfare and Avionics System program office (AFLCMC/ESY), a unit of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Robins AFB, Georgia, which manages the lifecycle of electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) and avionics systems. Robins AFB and GTRI’s Warner Robins Field Office are frequent collaborators.

The Warner Robins Field Office, led by Field Office Director Lee Evans, hosted a booth during the week. GTRI showcased some of our capabilities, including the Red Kitten variant of its Angry Kitten advanced electronic warfare (EW) pod and GTRI's improvements to the SFF and ALE-47 countermeasure dispenser system, which is a project of GTRI’s Open System Development Branch.

“This is a way we work with our community,” said Evans. “We aren’t really looking for new business as much. We want to talk to our sponsors. It’s a way to reconnect.

“A lot of the people who come up to our booth already know me personally,” he added. “It’s because we’ve been out here for so many years.”

Evans was joined in the GTRI booth by GTRI personnel from the Warner Robins office, notably Sara Blevins, a research associate in the Contract Support Office (CSO); and H. Douglas Nation, a Retired-But-Working (RBW) Principal Research Engineer who has been one of the leading authorities on EW for decades.

AOC is the leading organization specializing in electronic warfare (EW). EW is a top U.S. national security priority, with a focus on achieving electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) superiority. GTRI is further positioning itself as the tip of the spear in advancing these important technologies. The Dixie Crow Symposium celebrates the many military personnel and civilians who are making it happen.

A team of researchers from GTRI was among those recognized prominently at the Dixie Crow Chapter of the Association of Old Crows’ 50th Anniversary celebration.

One of the event’s notable honors went to a team helping stand up an important new Air Force capability. The “AOC Project Team of the Year” Award was presented to the 950th Spectrum Warfare Group contractor team, recognizing work that reached far beyond routine support and into the foundational architecture of a new operational mission.

The GTRI contingent of the 950th SWG contract team was led by Zachary Schindler, a senior research engineer in the ELSYS lab.

At the awards ceremony, it was said that “transcended their support role to become the chief architects and engineers of a vital new Air Force capability.” The citation described a team confronted with the challenge of activating three squadrons without established processes, infrastructure, or operational guidance, then responding by building innovative processes, technical frameworks, and tactical methodologies. From enterprise-level project management to hands-on engineering and tactical development, the team was credited with helping build a cohesive, mission-focused organization and creating blueprints for future capabilities.

Schindler said the recognition was especially meaningful because it highlighted the team’s role in building something new from the ground up.

“We won the ‘Project Team of the Year’ award together as the 950 Spectrum Warfare Group contractor team,” Schindler said.

“The 950th Spectrum Warfare Group was recently created at Robins Air Force Base, and we have been supporting them since October of 2024, helping them define their mission and work toward their initial operating capability,” he said.

Schindler said the team’s work has ranged from facility and infrastructure planning to helping operational units establish the methods they will use to conduct future assessments.

“GTRI is helping at the engineering level to develop requirements and CAD layouts for the lab spaces in the building that the 950th is renovating at Robins AFB, in addition to assisting with the network infrastructure development for the building,” said Schindler. “The team is also supporting the 81 EWS and 501 EWS as they develop their initial assessment capabilities.”

He added that those efforts are ultimately aimed at helping the Air Force validate both readiness and effectiveness across a range of scenarios.

“These assessments will be used to verify the USAF is both ready and effective as they prepare to use these capabilities as needed,” Schindler said.

That recognition reflects the scale of the work underway at Robins Air Force Base, where the 950th Spectrum Warfare Group was recently established to assess Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations for the Air Force. As part of that effort, GTRI has been supporting the group since October 2024, helping define its mission and move it toward initial operating capability. The work spans both physical and technical infrastructure, including requirements development, CAD layouts for renovated lab spaces, and support for network infrastructure in the group’s building.

The effort also reaches directly into mission execution. The group’s four squadrons each support a distinct assessment function: the 17th Electronic Warfare Squadron for real-world operations assessments, the 81st for long-range kill chain assessments, the 87th for EW system assessments on aircraft, and the 501st for model, simulation, and analysis-based assessments at the mission and engagement levels. Within that larger framework, GTRI has been helping the 81st and 501st develop their initial capabilities, including assessment planning, simulation-based analysis, and systems engineering approaches that can help Air Force personnel define, execute, and understand complex operational scenarios.

The award serves as both recognition and reminder: even at a milestone event honoring a half-century of contributions in electronic warfare and spectrum operations, today’s work remains focused on building the next generation of capability.

The Institute, as one of the world's leading engineering universities, continuously helps build the next generation. Tommer Ender, Ph.D., made the drive from Atlanta to Warner Robins and accepted a $12,000 check on behalf of the Institute to support scholarships for students from the 11-county Middle Georgia region. It was announced that the Dixie Crow Chapter has contributed more than $1.5 million in scholarships over the years.

Ender, the Deputy Director for Research for the Electronics, Systems, and Optics Directorate (EOSD), also honed his technical acumen by attending several technical sessions at the EWA Technical Conference.

Ender also had a bit of unbridled fun, being front and center to cheer on the entertainment during the Tuesday session of the Symposium. Adam McCorkle worked under Ender as Associate Lab Director of the ELSYS lab until he retired in December 2025. In an unusual post-retirement career change, McCorkle now tours as lead guitarist and singer in a band. At the Symposium, McCorkle treated the assembled crowd to renditions of classic rock and country hits such as “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” ”Margaritaville,” and “Won’t Back Down.”

Scott Ward, director of the Electronic Systems (ELSYS) Laboratory, also made the more than 100-mile trek from Atlanta to the Museum of Aviation. Ward helped man the GTRI booth and spoke with visitors about GTRI’s capabilities and programs. Ward, who spent more than seven years in the U.S. Air Force, was right at home at the Symposium.

Electronic Warfare (EW) is a top U.S. national security priority, focusing on achieving electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) superiority to disrupt adversary communications, radar, and systems. It is only fitting that GTRI be heavily involved with the leading organization “specializing in electronic warfare, tactical information operations, and associated disciplines”: the Association of Old Crows (AOC).

One GTRI researcher has been involved with AOC and EW for around 50 years.

Douglas Nation, now Retired-But-Working (RBW), has had an auspicious career dating back as far as 1968. His connections to the Institute began, he said, with the sage advice of an uncle who told the then-teenaged Doug, of Perry, Georgia, “Do these things: Go to Georgia Tech, and major in electrical engineering.” That uncle, Will Adkins, was a founding member of the Dixie Crow Chapter of AOC.

Doug Nation is now a leading expert on EW. He said he has seen some EW technologies go from mere theory to prototyping to actual implementation. He added that he is now even seeing a push for modern replacements for those technologies.

The Dixie Crow Chapter is located in Warner Robins, Georgia, and takes pride in its professional presence within the community. The Chapter was chartered in 1968 with approximately 15 members. Today, more than 350 military, Department of Defense/War civilian service, industry, and academia representatives comprise the membership roll. The Dixie Crow Chapter has also grown in recognition by the national AOC for its membership retention, scholarship program, community awareness, social functions, and technical information awareness meetings.

Writer: Christopher Weems
Photographer: Christopher J. Moore
GTRI Communications
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

About the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)
The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 3,000 employees, supporting eight laboratories across more than 20 locations nationwide and performing more than $919 million in problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.