Nickolas Guertin

Nickolas Guertin

 Senior Research Fellow

Before joining Tech, Guertin was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition (ASN RD&A), having been appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate; he led the Department of the Navy's Research, Development, Acquisition, and Sustainment programs, as well as the contracting community. Before that position, he served as the senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense on operational and live fire test and evaluation of Department of Defense weapon systems. Earlier in his career, he conducted applied research at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute. His work spans both military and civilian roles for business and technical leadership in areas such as submarine operations, ship construction, weapons testing, and defense acquisition.  Guertin has championed organizational transformation, promoted modular open-system approaches, and published extensively on software-reliant system design. Guertin holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and an MBA from Bryant University. As a retired Navy Reserve Engineering Duty Officer, he is a licensed Professional Engineer and has been DAWIA certified in Program Management and Engineering.