Woburn, Mass.—March 28, 2007 – Aptima, Inc., a leader in human-centered engineering, announced today that it is collaborating with Boston College on a Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) contract for the application of social network science to counter-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Under the three-year project, the BC-Aptima team will develop a framework for how social network science can support efforts to detect, identify and disrupt adversarial networks that pose the threat of using nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Social network analysis (SNA) is viewed as a critical tool in combating the use of unconventional materials and methods by helping visualize or model the ‘pipelines’ through which funds, weapons and technical knowledge flow amongst trans-national terrorists, smugglers, criminals, and rogue WMD elements around the world. The team will be led by Dr. Stephen Borgatti of Boston College, a leading expert in social networks.

The defense and intelligence communities are increasingly tasked with predicting and anticipating the motivations and actions of hidden, shadowy networks.  They are challenged, however, to build predictive scenarios which can require analyzing millions of pieces of disparate information.  SNA tools can establish links and relationships among loosely connected webs of individuals, groups and cells, creating visual representations that illuminate the make-up of these adversarial networks.

The BC-Aptima team will perform two key tasks that simultaneously address both dimensions of the WMD problem:  creating a unified framework for how social network science can support defense threat reduction and; creating WMD-specific strategies that apply social network analysis. 

In the first phase, the team will create an integrated theoretical framework for social networks that consolidates and unifies advances in the field so they can be applied to the WMD/military domain. Social network science is an emerging discipline with its roots in academia, that draws on concepts from social psychology, anthropology, sociology, mathematics, and physics.

In a parallel phase, the team will construct an architecture for applying social network science to understanding and controlling WMD scenarios.  Using generic goals, such as identifying targets whose removal will disrupt enemy networks, this phase will determine how social network science can support the military decision making that leads to effective courses of action.

John Shaw, CEO of Aptima, stated, “This is a new era, where threats are arising from hard-to-identify cells and obscure network elements using unconventional tactics and organizations.  Countering these adversaries requires not only new modes of thought but also advanced tools that mesh technology with a deep understanding of social networks. Aptima is honored to be working on such a challenging and critical project.”

Woburn, Mass. – February 14, 2007 – Aptima, Inc., a leader in human-centered engineering, today announced the promotion of Dr. Michael J. Paley to Senior Vice President, Business Development. Previously the Vice President for Government Programs, Dr. Paley will join the company”s Executive Management Team, overseeing the development and implementation of Aptima’s business development strategy.

Dr. Paley joined Aptima in 1998 as a Human Factors Psychologist. An expert in improving individual and team performance, Dr. Paley has directed a number of innovative programs at Aptima ranging from Air Force Command and Control Systems, to Stability and Support Operations (SASO) in Bosnia, and Navy Aegis Cruiser staffing design. This work has focused on methods to improve individual and organizational performance through the application of decision aids, training and process re-engineering. Prior to joining Aptima, Dr. Paley was a Staff Member at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he was responsible for human factors assessment of the AWACS operator workstations.

“Mike’s success and experience as a scientist together with his entrepreneurial talent make him ideally qualified for this important new position,” said Daniel Serfaty, Aptima’s Principal Founder and President. “His research on training, organizational modeling and human-system design within the military give him the insight into our customers’ needs that is essential for business development.”

December 20, 2006 — Aptima, Inc., a leader in human-centered engineering, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School are collaborating on the design and testing of a computer system that will help patients living with chronic pain, such as migraines, back conditions and osteoarthritis, to better manage their health treatments and interactions with health care providers. Aptima and UMass Medical School are teaming on an 18-month $300,000 grant, as one of nine teams nationwide selected to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) program “HealthDesign: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Records,” a $4.4 million initiative.

Dr. Roger S. Luckmann, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Family Medicine & Community Health at UMass Medical School, will lead the six-person team, which includes four employees of Aptima. The system will include a handheld computer that will allow those with chronic pain to have a way to manage their personal health activities and information, such as reminders of medication schedules, prompts and guidance for exercise regimens, and a way to track and monitor the impact of various therapies on their psychological well-being. The system will allow patients to combine that information with their electronic medical records from their various health care providers, tying together disparate medical information and providing a complete picture of their personal health records.

Aptima was recruited to the team given its expertise in interaction design and usability assessment. Aptima will design the user interface for the handheld device, drawing upon focus groups of patients living with chronic pain. They will then test the resulting prototype device with actual patients to validate its ultimate usefulness.

“Aptima is thrilled to be working on this innovative project,” stated John Shaw, CEO of Aptima. “Our goal is to help put the power of the patient’s personal health records in their own hands, giving them more control over their well-being. We believe we can design this tool to be as intuitive and easy-to-use as today’s most widely-deployed handheld consumer devices.”

Dr. Luckman of UMass Medical School added, “By allowing patients to keep information from all their health care providers—including practitioners of complementary medicine—in one place and to record important information about themselves, electronic patient health records promise to dramatically improve communication between patients and providers and among providers. I believe improved communication will translate into significant improvements in the quality of care,” said Dr. Luckmann.

Teams were chosen from a pool of more than 165 applicants and each has been selected to receive an 18-month, $300,000 award. Primary funding for Project HealthDesign is provided by RWJF’s Pioneer Portfolio, which supports innovative projects that may lead to breakthrough improvements in health and health care. RWJF is pleased to collaborate with The California HealthCare Foundation, which contributed an additional $900,000 to the initiative.

Over the first six months of Project Health Design, teams will participate in a structured process to design user-centered personal health applications that address specific health challenges faced by individuals and caregivers. In the subsequent 12-month phase, prototypes of these personal health tools will be tested with target populations.

Program activities will launch immediately with an initial design workshop involving all grantees, where they will further define the needs and preferences of the intended users of the PHR applications. For further details about UMass Medical School, visit www.umassmed.edu. More information about Project Health Design, including a listing of the other program grantees, is available at www.projecthealthdesign.org.

December 1, 2006 — Aptima, Inc., New England’s premier provider of human-centered engineering products and services, has been recognized by Military Training Technology (MT2) as one of the Top 100 Training Companies for 2006. Aptima was selected for having “made a significant impact in the military training industry this fiscal year.” Aptima will be recognized by MT2 at I/ITSEC 2006 with an award that will be displayed in the Aptima booth (Booth 143).

Woburn, Mass. – October 9, 2006 – Aptima, Inc., a leader in human-centered engineering, today announced that it has been awarded eight Small Business Innovative Research Technology Transfer (STTR) awards from the Department of Defense. The Phase I contracts, totaling in excess of $550,000, will explore the feasibility of cutting-edge ideas and technologies, which will be applied towards commercial application in later phases.

Overseen by the US Small Business Administration, the STTR program partners small businesses with university-based research institutions, combining the strengths of entrepreneurial innovation with the support and resources of theoretical research. Aptima will be joint-venturing with the MIT Media Lab, the Naval Postgraduate School, George Mason University, Texas A&M, and other premier institutions to develop technologies that enhance the human performance of America’s warfighters.

The eight contracts fall within the following three broad categories:

• ‘Turning gaming into training’ – harnessing the latest gaming and simulation technologies for improved training.
• ‘Human-machine interfaces’ – optimizing the design of information displays for technical equipment, including the use of 3-D displays.
• ‘Self-forming networks’ – helping people with common interests find each other and collaborate in information-rich organizations.

“Aptima is thrilled to be recognized for the potential of these visionary concepts and to be partnered with these premier institutions,” stated Aptima CEO, John Shaw. “These developments will further reinforce our commitment to optimizing human performance in mission critical environments.”

September 22, 2006 — Aptima, Inc. announced today that human factors engineer and product manager Emily Wiese has been recognized by Mass High Tech as one the People to Watch Under 30. In its September 22 Special Report, MHT named Ms. Wiese as one of six technology innovators that “show that the future of the New England innovation economy is in some strong hands.” Ms. Wiese was noted for her contributions in the areas of training and performance measurement, and for her leadership skills.

June 21, 2006 — Aptima, Inc. announced today that the OR-Dashboard co-designed by Aptima and LiveData, Inc. has been deployed in 21 new operating rooms at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).

LiveData engaged Aptima for its expertise in man-to-machine user interface design, and its track record in modeling complex environments to streamline workflow. Together, the companies created a highly intuitive, workflow-driven visual design, providing a common operational view for the entire perioperative team.

The OR-Dashboard presents a continuously updated view of all relevant patient information on a large, wall-mounted display, enabling everyone in the OR to instantly view, understand, and act upon crucial patient information. The end result is improved team communication and situation awareness that leads to enhanced patient safety.

For more detailed information, visit the full-length Featured Case Study.

Woburn, Mass. – June 5, 2006 – Aptima, Inc., a leader in human-centered engineering, today announced that it has been awarded five Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II awards totaling $3.74M from the Department of Defense. Aptima was invited to apply for the five Phase II awards by the U.S. Army and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) after successfully demonstrating the scientific, technical, and commercial merit of its work through the preceding Phase I SBIR efforts. The five contracts include:

Simulation of Cultural Identities for Prediction of Reactions – ‘SCIPR’ is a simulation tool to predict the reactions of culturally diverse groups, such as insurgents, political factions, or civilian populations, to U.S.-based events or adversarial actions. By modeling responses and behaviors to ‘what-if’ scenarios such as reconstruction or military intervention, SCIPR helps to gauge the effects of alternative courses of action on the identities and belief systems of friends, foes, and ambivalent groups.

Ersatz Brain Project – A computing architecture based on human neurology, to enable future software applications such as natural language understanding, concept-based internet search, natural human-computer interfaces, cognitively based data-mining, and image analysis. The architecture is based on the future use of massive parallel computing employing approximately a million simple CPUs.

TRACE-SE – A resource to help engineers better design and incorporate ‘cognitive’ capabilities into newly designed systems. By improving the fit between humans and technology, rather than attempting to 'train away' problems downline, TRACE-SE will help create battle systems that better support the warfighter’s ability to understand, react, and make fast-paced combat decisions.

WorkRITE – This research supports the challenge of how to organize the flow of information and the tools used as the military moves to an increasingly network-centric architecture requiring faster response times across distributed environments. WorkRITE will help to ensure that the right people do the right tasks at the right time in changing, real-time workflow collaboration environments.

PERFORM – A predictive tool that helps determine the relationship between simulator design and training effectiveness. It will aid training designers in determining what knowledge and skills can effectively be trained within simulators of varying levels of fidelity, such as modifying the degree of realism and feedback from the simulation technology.

Aptima CEO, John Shaw, offered, “The 100% win rate on five Phase II awards is a validation of Aptima’s unique human-centered approach to solving the complex problems faced by the military today. We have enjoyed a very strong relationship with AFRL over the past 10 years, and look forward to supporting them in these mission-critical areas.

Once proven in the military domain, Aptima will expand these technologies to business, law enforcement, and industrial settings.

March 31, 2006 – Aptima, Inc., New England’s premier provider of human-centered engineering products and services, has been recognized by the Boston Business Journal as one of the 50 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in Massachusetts. The BBJ Fast 50 list ranks private companies based in Massachusetts by revenue growth for fiscal years 2003, 2004 and 2005. Aptima increased revenues during that period by over 140%, and more than doubled its staff.

March 31, 2006 – Aptima congratulates the AFRL/HEA C4ISR Training Research Team located in Mesa, AZ on receiving the 2005 AFRL/HE's* 2005 Scientific/Technical Achievement Award (Team). The Team was recognized for having significantly impacted AOCs worldwide by identifying operational training gaps, constructing robust research programs to bridge those gaps, and collaborating with Warfighters and Acquisition communities to transition advanced training tools and techniques.

The C4ISR Training Research Team directs multi-year command and control-relevant training research programs, coordinates customer, Department of Defense and industry efforts, and develops, demonstrates, evaluates and transitions leading edge technologies and methods to train Warfighters for a broad range of operations in the major AOC divisions, including the Joint Force Air Component Commander (JFACC). They improve mission readiness for AOC operators through competency-based training, improved assessment capabilities and feedback, scenario-based instruction, and end-to-end integrated DMO rehearsal.

Aptima is pleased to support the AFRL/HEA C4ISR Training Research Team with Aptima’s training and performance measurement expertise, assisting in the identification and development of training requirements, training gaps, performance measures, and training programs.

February 1, 2006 – Aptima, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Army to develop a scenario-based assessment tool: the Army Wisdom Assessment and Readiness Development (AWARD) system. AWARD will assess the level of wisdom for enlisted Soldiers, NCOs, and junior officers; diagnose areas for improvement; and identify meaningful developmental experiences.

The Army has recently become engaged in numerous Support and Stability Operations (SASOs) throughout the world. Compared to combat operations, SASOs are considerably more complex and ill-defined. Success requires that Army leaders view problems from a Joint Forces mindset, recognize the long-term implications of their decisions, and make complex value judgments in the absence of clear, correct answers. In short, these missions require wise leadership. The Army recognizes this need, and is searching for an effective way to develop wisdom among junior-level Army leaders.

The AWARD system will be a web-based tool that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to automatically score the users’ responses and provide them with diagnostic feedback for improving their level of wisdom.

January 16, 2006 – Aptima, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Army to develop a comprehensive system of empirically-based methods that can be applied to the challenge of measuring and improving the processes through which an Army commander’s intent is formulated, communicated, interpreted, and acted upon.

In any mission involving hierarchical levels of command, a key success factor is the clear communication of intent, as well as a common understanding of the ongoing situation, across echelons. In practice, however, command intent may be distorted as subordinates communicate goals downward through the chain of command. To the extent that command intent is misunderstood by subordinates, inconsistencies will exist, possibly leading to misinterpretations, inappropriate actions, and compromised mission effectiveness. Hence, the challenge of this program is to develop measures to assess shared understanding between echelons, and ultimately, to develop tools to facilitate that understanding in the field.

This SBIR Phase II engagement builds upon Aptima’s Phase I findings, including the development of a deep understanding of the fundamental principles of commander’s intent, the identification of key mitigating factors that can either facilitate or impede shared understanding, and the identification of candidate methods for assessing “sharedness.”

November 1, 2005 – Aptima, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Air Force to develop a team training system for Command and Control (C2) in the Dynamic Targeting Cell (DTC) of the Air and Space Operations Center (AOC). MOST (Model-based Optimal System for Training) is an Intelligent Team Tutoring System (ITTS) that will probe and monitor individual and team performance levels, provide feedback, procedural training, and/or modifications to the training, to build on the trainees’ current skill level.

Current military operations are intensely team-centric. C2 networks provide the infrastructure for communication and coordination between team members, however, human operators must have the communication and coordination skills to exploit this connectivity. The ITTS proof-of-concept, developed during the first phase of the MOST project, will work with a simulator, like the Distributed Dynamic Decision-Making Simulation (DDD), comparing human agent performance to the optimal task performance and adapting the scenarios, feedback, and the training to improve the learning. For instance, if the learner is having no problems allocating resources and planning tasks, MOST will increase the level of difficulty to the appropriate level; if the trainee is having problems with a specific area of the training, it will adapt the scenarios and the feedback to improve on that area.

Aptima is collaborating on MOST with Dr. Wayne Shebilske of the Wright State University Team Training Laboratory. Once validated within the DTC, users will be able to integrate MOST into their current simulation engines, improving training with current delivery systems.

October 1, 2005 – Aptima, Inc., a leading provider of human-centered engineering products and services, today announced that it has been awarded a contract with the Office of Naval Research to develop a software tool to enhance networked military operations. IMAGES (Instrument for Measuring and Advancing of Group and Environmental Situation Awareness) will help ensure that team members in large, dynamic organizations maintain consistent situational awareness in the face of changing conditions, and that team members have a shared interpretation of that information and the inferences drawn from it.

The Department of Defense is using networked collaboration technologies to coordinate its own forces and its coalition partners in wartime operations in Iraq and peace time recovery operations in Indonesia. Future U.S. Navy missions will leverage FORCEnet – a network-centric concept for organizing, connecting, and empowering warfighters. Organizations such as the U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Strike Groups (ESG) are already putting these FORCEnet concepts to use. IMAGES will ensure that teams make better and timelier decisions, that their actions are better synchronized and coordinated, and that the mission effects are powerful and sure. IMAGES will also increase the training impact of large joint and coalition exercises by providing instructors additional insight into organizational performance.

Aptima is collaborating on the IMAGES tool with Dr. Kathleen Carley of Carnegie Mellon University and Dr. Nancy Cooke of the Cognitive Engineering Research Institute. IMAGES will be designed to be capable of integrating with a variety of collaboration applications. Once validated in the military domain, Aptima will expand the IMAGES tool to support networked information systems in business, law enforcement, and industrial settings.

September 21, 2005 – Aptima, Inc. today announced the hiring of John H. Shaw as chief executive officer.

Previously, Mr. Shaw spent seven years at Cisco Systems and served as a member of the leadership team which formulated and executed the company’s Voice over IP (VoIP) strategy in the service provider market. The VoIP area represents one of Cisco’s fastest growing product segments.

Mr. Shaw joined Cisco via the 1998 acquisition of Summa Four, a leader in the programmable switching market, where he was vice president of marketing and business development. He was part of the senior management team that grew Summa Four’s revenues five-fold, brought the company public in 1993 (ranked the #4 high tech Initial Public Offering for the year by the Wall Street Journal), and eventually sold the firm to Cisco.

Mr. Shaw has been a member of Aptima’s Board of Directors since 2002. “I am delighted that John Shaw has joined the Executive Management team as CEO,” said Daniel Serfaty, Aptima Principal Founder and President. “John’s arrival on Aptima's tenth anniversary ushers the company into its next phase of corporate development by capitalizing on its innovative, science-based technologies as we move into broader markets. John brings with him a wealth of experience. I am sure he will continue to expand the status of Aptima as the leader in its field.”

Aptima, Inc. announced today that it has been selected to provide ongoing usability and web-based design support to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Both the U.S. Government and the public rely on NARA to meet an almost unlimited range of information needs from a variety of record types. To meet its customer service objectives, as well as the President’s E-Government initiative, NARA is working to transition a large majority of its business transactions conducted to the web based systems accessible via the Internet. Aptima will support NARA on its efforts to reengineer its processes for its online services and implement an online ordering system, as well as other related efforts. Aptima will also provide NARA with usability evaluations and design for many of its online processes and Web-based systems, including Order Online! product, the Archives Research Catalog, and the overall NARA website.

June 1, 2005 – Aptima, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a contract with the United States Air Force (USAF) Research Lab in Mesa, Arizona to develop a communications assessment system that generates assessments immediately, for use in After Action Review. The Dynamic Embedded Communication & Action Assessment in Distributed Environments system – DECA2DE – will be a model of knowledge and skills associated with Air-to-Air and AWACS training that can be integrated into a training system such as the DMO.

Assessment of communications in simulation based training suffers from (1) slow pace, (2) a reliance on communications data to the exclusion of behavioral and contextual data, (3) use of a single language model to handle multiple forms of language, and (4) failure to systematically address Mission Essential Competencies. Building on its success under a previous USAF contract, Aptima will combine linguistic and behavioral data as input to an integrated system, and communications context as a cue to choose between several communications models the one with the greatest accuracy. The system will then be applied to assess well-validated, Mission Essential Competencies in Distributed Mission Operations.

October 28, 2005 – Aptima has been awarded a contract by the United States Air Force (USAF) Research Lab in Mesa, Arizona to develop a training tool that supplements on-the-job training for senior leadership positions in the USAF at the operational level. M-PORTAL (Multi-Player Operational Readiness Trainer for Advanced Leadership) will provide a prototype trainer and effectiveness metrics for a single position, the Joint Forces Air and Space Component Commander (JFACC). Formal training for senior leadership positions in the USAF is uncommon. Leaders typically receive little training to perform at the operational level. M-PORTAL will be a multi-player trainer that should enhance and maintain operational readiness for the JFACC. Aptima plans to extend the trainer to other key leadership positions, such as the Air Operation Center (AOC)-Director, Chief of Combat Ops, Chief of Combat Plans, Chief of Strategy, and the Chief of Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance.

Actual experiences in the field – “lessons learned” – constitute the foundation of the M-PORTAL system and will provide the trainees with a contextually rich scenario-based training environment. Additionally, M-PORTAL will be able to train relevant skill sets identified by subject matter experts (SMEs) from the USAF operational community as being essential for readiness. “This project epitomizes the power of the human-centered engineering idea,” said Daniel Serfaty, Aptima’s Founder and President. “Our team of training experts are developing a tool with the capability of integrating current and future lessons learned from the battlefield with scenarios from numerous government and commercial sources and provide essential information in a familiar format for the Senior Officers under training.”

April 4, 2005 – Aptima, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a contract with the United States Air Force (USAF) to develop a software modeling tool specifically to help in strategy development regarding enemy's Courses of Action (COA). The Complex Adaptive System Strategy Interplay Environment – CASSIE – will be designed to provide a collaborative environment to create models of potential enemy strategies and courses of action.

Under a prior USAF contract, Aptima demonstrated the potential for Complex Adaptive Systems theory (CAS) simulation modeling to help in strategy development regarding COAs and discovered that numerical simulation models can be built to represent real-world complex systems using a variety of CAS modeling methodologies. Aptima also identified a number of powerful, highly-featured environments available for simulation modeling of complex adaptive systems, including human decision-making and social systems. Lacking, however, was a software modeling tool specifically for COA strategy development. A tool such as CASSIE has the potential to improve the Joint Force Air Component Commander’s (JFACC) understanding of the enemy and aid in the development of a comprehensive air strategy within for the Aerospace Operations Center (AOC).

CASSIE leverages theoretical work from a number of disciplines, and creates a modeling tool designed to develop semantically-rich qualitative CAS models of the adversary situation, develop them into quantitative simulation models, and produce dynamic output in simulation experiments and in wargaming for COA development or training purposes.