Jac Cook

Jac Cook serves as a secondary procurement liaison within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Advanced Aerospace Systems Division, supporting the Department of the Air Force’s mission to develop next-generation autonomous and AI-enabled aerospace capabilities. While not the primary contracting officer, Cook plays a critical role in facilitating acquisition planning, requirements validation, and contract administration for research and development initiatives focused on explainable artificial intelligence, mission-critical simulation frameworks, and digital design methodologies for air and space platforms. Their work ensures alignment between technical objectives and federal procurement protocols, bridging the gap between laboratory researchers and industry partners to deliver operationally relevant technologies under extreme environmental conditions. Cook collaborates with a broad spectrum of defense contractors and research institutions engaged in aerospace innovation, including systems integrators, software developers specializing in autonomous decision-making algorithms, and firms providing high-fidelity modeling and simulation tools. Working relationships are typically project-based and collaborative, emphasizing technical agility and rapid prototyping cycles. While no single contractor dominates the portfolio, Cook consistently engages with vendors possessing deep expertise in defense-grade AI, real-time data fusion, and secure cloud-native architectures tailored for mission-critical aerospace applications. There is no preference for socioeconomic set-asides; all acquisitions are conducted under full and open competition, reflecting the agency’s need for specialized technical capabilities that are not yet widely available among small or disadvantaged businesses. This reflects a strategic focus on mission readiness over socioeconomic quotas, prioritizing technical merit and operational suitability above all other criteria. The primary NAICS code for Cook’s portfolio is 541715, encompassing research and development in physical, engineering, and life sciences. Procurements center on advanced AI/ML systems, autonomous control architectures, digital twin development, and validation environments for high-stakes aerospace operations. Technical expertise spans machine learning interpretability, adversarial robustness testing, and integrated simulation ecosystems designed to accelerate the transition from lab to field.