Dr. Mason Rice is the Director of the Cyber Resilience and Intelligence Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In this role, he is responsible for an R&D portfolio focused on advanced intelligent systems and resilient cyber-physical systems, including research into (1) AI for national security, (2) cybersecurity for critical systems, (3) machine-augmented intelligence, (4) vulnerability science, and (5) identity science.
Following retirement from the Army, Dr. Rice joined ORNL in 2017 as the Cyber-Physical R&D Manager and was soon appointed as the first Group Leader for Resilient Cyber-Physical Systems at ORNL. He ultimately grew the group into four focused research groups, at which point he was selected to be the first Section Head of the new Resilient Cyber-Physical Systems Section.
Before joining ORNL, Dr. Rice served in a wide variety of assignments during his 22 years of active-duty military service. His final assignment as an active-duty Army Officer was with the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) as a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Previously, Dr. Rice was handpicked for an assignment with the White House Communications Agency, where he served as the Agency’s chief engineer and as the commander of the Washington Area Communications Command. He commanded 300+ personnel who provided direct and essential communications services to the President, Vice President, First Lady, Secret Service, and other entities. He engaged daily with top White House officials and ensured satisfaction with communications services for the most demanding governmental leaders in the world.
He started his career as a platoon leader in the U.S. Army’s first Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Battalion. In 2000, he was selected as the commander of the 94th Signal Company, 56th Signal Battalion, Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. Following his tenure in command, Dr. Rice was assigned as the operations officer for a joint-service, battalion-sized tactical satellite communications provider within the National Security Agency (NSA), where he earned the Officer of the Year Award. He also served as a senior engineer for the NSA, providing information assurance solutions to critical assets within DoD.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Signal Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Combined Arms and Staff Services School, Functional Area 24 (Telecom Systems Engineering) Course, US Army Command and General Staff College and the Advanced Management Program at the National Defense University. A Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Dr. Rice is honored to be included in the White House Communications Agency Hall of Fame and the Uand.S. Army ROTC Hall of Fame.
Dr. Rice earned a B.S. in electrical engineering with honors from the Florida Institute of Technology; an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida; and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Tulsa. He has over 30 peer-reviewed publications and holds a U. S. patent.