Steve Swenson stands next to a plasma screen showing an unmanned air vehicle landing on an unmanned boat while skimming the ocean's surface.
The images are crisp and textured, reminiscent of a video game. He explains that this is one of OceanState Technology Corp.'s first jobs for a commercial client.
Like so many modeling and simulation companies, OceanState gets most of its contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense. But Swenson said he's trying to change that, because he sees the opportunity to leverage DOD investment for the commercial sector.
"And you're seeing that more and more, not just with our company,"
said Swenson, chief technical officer for OceanState, which employs eight people in Providence. Companies that do modeling and simulation, he said, are starting to see big opportunities in other sectors.
The medical industry has huge growth potential as a market for modeling and simulation, as do insurance, finance, pharmaceutical, transportation, aerospace, homeland security and cognitive science, he said.
As a result, Swenson led efforts to incorporate the region's first trade association for the modeling and simulation industry in June last year. It's called the New England Modeling and Simulation Consortium, and its goal is to draw attention to the region's capabilities in that field to attract more funding from federal and commercial entities.
The Department of Defense spends between $5 billion and $10 billion on modeling and simulation per year, said Swenson, who previously was deputy director of DOD's Defense Modeling and Simulation Office in Washington, D.C.
How much of that is coming to New England, he couldn't say. But at a congressional caucus held in Norfolk, Va., last year, attendees noted only three hotbeds of modeling and simulation in the country: Norfolk; Orlando, Fla.; and Huntsville, Ala.
Part of the reason Huntsville gets attention is because it has a consortium like NEMSC, Swenson said. That's what led him to form the local group.
About 40 organizations, including companies and universities, have joined as tentative members of NEMSC since it formed. They are waiting for the consortium to gain nonprofit status before officially joining.
The University of Rhode Island, Dartmouth College, Eastern Connecticut State University, the University of Vermont, and Brown University have all expressed interest in being members of NEMSC.
One of New England's great attributes is its high density of universities, Swenson said.
"That's why one of the [NEMSC's] agenda items is working with local universities to try to introduce programs and curriculum that would help employers in this industry get the people that they need out of college," he said.
NEMSC members recently spoke about modeling and simulation careers to a group of about 80 students at ECSU. Five students expressed interest in joining the consortium.
Modeling and simulation's similarity to the video gaming industry helps spark students' interest in the field as a possible career path, Swenson said.
Still only six universities in the country offer an advanced degree related specifically to simulation and modeling, said Warren Katz, NEMSC member and CEO of MÄK Technologies in Cambridge, Mass.
Besides developing a modeling and simulation work force, Katz said one of the benefits of being part of NEMSC has to do with forming partnerships between companies.
For example, MÄK Technologies is partnering with another modeling and simulation company, Aptima, in Woburn, Mass., to offer packages to potential clients.
Daniel Serfaty, founder and president of Aptima, said his company specializes in developing software that models and simulates the way people think, behave, communicate and make decisions.
As a result, Aptima can develop software that measures human performance in the training simulators that MÄK Technologies develops, deepening the insights the simulator can provide as a learning tool for clients.
In addition, Swenson said, NEMSC will act as a broker for the talent of its members, meaning companies or organizations with modeling and simulation needs or problems could come to the consortium for guidance as to which members could help them.
Another benefit of modeling and simulation is the economic impact on the region.
More federal contracts coming into the area means more money that modeling and simulation companies can invest in adding high-paying, high-skill jobs, said John Riendeau, account manager of the defense industry for the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
College graduates coming into the industry can make between $40,000 and $50,000 and as much as $100,000 depending on their education and skills, Swenson said.
"In addition, the EDC sees tremendous value in leveraging the millions of U.S. defense dollars invested in Rhode Island over the years … to benefit other industries such as health care," Riendeau said.
Aptima, for example, is taking lessons learned through providing modeling and simulation for team training in DOD command centers and applying them to team training in operating rooms for hospitals.
Medicine and health care are the fastest-growing markets for Aptima, which employs 120 people and has $20 million in annual revenue, Serfaty said.
What's driving modeling and simulation in health care and other markets is a confluence of "computing horse power" (or the increased speed at which computers operate) and the popularity of the gaming industry, which has infused more realistic, high-end graphics into modeling and simulation, Swenson said.
"As computers are getting faster, it becomes easier to simulate things that are more complex," said David Laidlaw, a professor of computer science at Brown. "People can simulate more detailed things, things with smaller features [such as] molecules to cells to organs."
In addition to research, Brown and Rhode Island Hospital use modeling and simulation to train medical interns. The hospital's simulation center is equipped with mannequins that simulate sickness and respond to treatment.
"I think there is untapped potential here in New England," Serfaty said. "It is one of the great intellectual reservoirs of our country."
