Lynn Gref (born 1941) is an American technologist and systems engineer, who has done pioneering work in missile systems; command, control and communications (C3) systems; and satellite systems. He and Dr. William Spuck developed the Rapid Development Methodology (RDM) that was employed in the development of a number of C3 systems for the U.S. Department of Defense. RDM is a form of software development classified as iterative and incremental development. A primary distinction of RDM is that the user is left with a usable capability at the end of every iteration. He pioneered the development of C3 systems using the Ada programming language. He has coauthored a number of reports as a member the Army Science Board (ASB) and as a committee member for the Naval Studies Board of the United States National Academy of Sciences.
Early life and education
Gref was born in Salt Lake City and achieved his Eagle Scout as a Boy Scout.
Lynn Gref received all his college degrees in mathematics from the University of California, Riverside (BA ‘63, MA ‘64, and PhD ‘66).
Early career
Dr. Gref began his professional career at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Subsequently, he joined the Applied Mathematics Department of the Aerospace Corporation where he focused on computer-based modeling and simulation. He was the deputy manager for Systems Analysis and Costing when he left Aerospace to join R & D Associates where he continued to work in the areas of modeling, simulation, and systems analysis. An important accomplishment was providing landmark recommendations on the disposition of the ARPANET that eventually led to the Internet as lead investigator of the effort for the Director of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Eventually, Gref became involved in the design and implementation of advanced information systems applied to command and control systems for the Department of Defense.
Career at Jet Propulsion Laboratory
He next joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as Manager of Information Systems where he continued to be involved with the design and implementation of advanced information systems. It was at JPL where he developed the Rapid Development Methodology with Dr. Spuck. While at JPL he served on the U.S. Army's Science Board and supported several study committees of the National Academy of Sciences’ Naval Studies Board. Although he retired from JPL as Manager of JPL's non-NASA government business, he continues today on a part-time relationship.
Other professional activities
Currently he serves on the Board of Advisors of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of California, Riverside and is a trustee of the UC Riverside Foundation. He is the author of “The Rise and Fall of American Technology” published by Algora Publishing. His book has shown extreme success, which increased his desire to advocate for technology awareness and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
References
- “Rapid Development Speeds Command System Delivery” Signal Magazine, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, Page 68, March 1995.
- L. Gref and W. Spuck, "The Rapid Development Methodology Applied to Software Intensive Projects", Eleventh Annual National Conference on Ada Technology
- "Ada and the rapid development lifecycle"; Deforrest, Lloyd; Gref, Lynn; NASA Center: Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1991; Accession Number: 92N22469; Document ID: 19920013226
- AD HOC Study "Knowledge Management" Army Science Board 2001 Nov 2001 Authors: John H. Reese; Christine B. Davis; James R. Fisher; Gary Glaser; Lynn G. Gref; William E. Howard III; David R. Martinez; Edward K. Reedy; Thomas Rogers; Stuart H. Starr; ARMY SCIENCE BOARD WASHINGTON DC
- "Prioritizing Army Space Needs"; Army Science Board Washington DC;
- "Naval Expeditionary Logistics: Enabling Operational Maneuver from the Sea" (1999) Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications (CPSMA); The National Academies Press
- "The Navy and Marine Corps in Regional Conflict in the 21st Century" (1996) Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications (CPSMA); The National Academies Press
- University of California, Riverside CNAS Board of Advisors Archived 2010-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
- Mathematics Genealogy Project;
- R. L.Chase and L. G. Gref, "MIRV Effectiveness Assessment"; Aerospace Technical Report
- G. Aubert and L. G. Gref, "Hard Point Defense System Effectiveness"; Aerospace Technical Report prepared for U.S. Air Force
- “An Assessment of Some Safeguards Evaluation Techniques – Final Report” Gref, L.G., Rosengren, J.W., Prepared for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1997; NUREG 0141
- “Report to the Director of ARPA Concerning Applications of Packet Technology”; 1974; Gref, Lynn G., Kvitky, Joel S., Smith, H. P., Jr.; R&D Associates, RDA-TR-4300-013; Sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
- Kvitky, Wicks, Hoyt and Gref, "C3 For Overlay Defense of Minuteman" RDA Technical Report prepared for Department of Defense
- Contributor, "Computer Program Development Specification for the Distributed Command and Contro1 System, A and B Specifications"; RDA Technical Report prepared for U.S. Army
- Contributor, "Computer Program Development Specification for the Theater Automation Command and Control System -Korea, A and B Specifications"; RDA Technical Report prepared for U.S. Army
- "CNAS: CNAS Board of Advisors". Archived from the original on 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- "Giving to UCR: UCR Foundation Board of Trustees". Archived from the original on 2010-10-21. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- "The Rise and Fall of American Technology"; Lynn G. Gref; Algora Publishing;
- http://www.stopamericasdecline.com Archived 2014-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
