Dave Smallwood

Dave Smallwood currently serves as the undersea chief mission architect for the Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC).  In this role Dr. Smallwood is responsible for setting technical strategy, defining investment and partnership priorities to advance undersea capabilities aligned to customer mission gaps and priorities globally.

Dr. Smallwood has held a variety of positions since joining NGC in 2005.  Prior to his current role, he served as the manager of a business area focused on advanced undersea warfare.  This included leading program capture and execution, focusing on emerging capabilities working with the overall US Government undersea S&T community as well as with academic and industry partners.  Beyond this Dr. Smallwood has held a variety of technical leadership positions within NGC including serving as an Internal Research & Development portfolio manager, an Integrated Product Team lead, and manager of a rapid capability development and demonstration facility.

In addition to his capture, execution, and strategy focus, Dr. Smallwood has supported the innovative culture at NGC through lead roles with the Intellectual Property committee and SPARK innovation ecosystem, and actively serving as a mentor.

He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering focused on undersea robotics from the John Hopkins University in 2003, MS in Mechanical Engineering from the John Hopkins University in 1999, and BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Miami in 1997.  Dr. Smallwood is also serving as an Adjunct Research Scientist at the Johns Hopkins University, and was recently elected to the NDIA Undersea Warfare Division Executive Board.