Dr. Alisha M. Ness (Technical Point of Contact)

Dr. Alisha M. Ness serves as a Research Psychologist at the Army Research Institute under the W911NF contract authority, where she acts as the Technical Point of Contact for scientific acquisitions aligned with human performance and behavioral science research. Her role bridges operational Army needs with cutting-edge social science innovation, guiding the procurement of research services that inform human-systems integration, cognitive modeling, and decision-making under stress. She plays a pivotal role in advancing the Army’s modernization priorities by identifying and contracting for high-impact R&D in psychology, human factors, and organizational behavior, ensuring that scientific outcomes directly support soldier readiness and mission effectiveness. Dr. Ness collaborates primarily with academic institutions, think tanks, and specialized research firms with expertise in experimental psychology, behavioral analytics, and human-machine teaming. Her contractor relationships are built on sustained scientific partnerships rather than transactional vendor engagements, often involving long-term cooperative research agreements and university-affiliated laboratories. She prioritizes technical rigor and methodological validity, favoring vendors with proven track records in peer-reviewed research, longitudinal studies, and field-deployed human performance assessments. Dr. Ness’s procurement portfolio reflects a strong preference for open competition, with 100% of her acquisitions designated as “No Set-Aside.” While she does not prioritize socioeconomic set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB programs, her focus remains on scientific merit and technical capability, ensuring that contract awards are driven by research excellence rather than socioeconomic criteria. Her primary NAICS classification is 541720—Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities—encompassing behavioral experiments, survey design, cognitive task analysis, and human-centered AI validation. She procures services in experimental design, data analytics for psychological metrics, and field testing of soldier systems, with deep expertise in human factors engineering, resilience training, and team dynamics under operational stress.