Mr. Billy J. Short, Jr., SSTM

Mr. Billy Short entered civil service in June 2014 after retiring from the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served as a combat engineer officer, acquisition professional and ordnance systems engineer. He was promoted to Senior Scientific Technical Manager (SSTM) in June, 2022 and assumed the duties as the Expeditionary Portfolio Director, Office of Naval Research.

Prior to joining ONR as a civilian, Mr. Short served two separate military tours at ONR, from 2004-2007 and 2009-2012, as a Project Officer and as the Deputy Director, Hybrid Warfare Division where he successfully led over a hundred innovative research projects. These projects included explosive detection and neutralization efforts, development of new armors for the individual Marine and USMC vehicles, high powered microwaves, ground tactical vehicles advancements and unmanned ground vehicle systems.

Mr. Short also held the additional duty as the USMC Representative to the High Energy Laser – Joint Technology Office for six years, where he led high energy laser programs and supported Marine Corps priorities.

In his civilian capacity as an ONR Project Officer from 2014-2019, he led research into autonomous unmanned logistics systems, expeditionary power and energy, advanced manufacturing and maintenance technologies and logistics decision support tools.

From 2019-2022, Mr. Short served as the ONR Global Science Advisor to First Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), Camp Pendleton, CA where he served as a bridge between the fleet and technical community to inject technology into the fleet and to initiate new S&T programs responsive to Fleet Marine Force needs.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Towson University, a Master of Science in Analytical Chemistry from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a Master of Science in Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School. During his academics, Mr. Short has served as a scientific researcher at the National Institutes of Health, Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is DAWIA Level III certified in Engineering and Technical Management.

Mr. Short was awarded the Navy League’s Admiral William S. Parsons Award for Scientific and Technical Progress and several military and civilian personal awards.