National Council - Karen Roth

Ms. Karen Roth BS ‘06 is the chief engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Information Directorate in Rome, NY. The Information Directorate leads the discovery, development and integration of affordable warfighting information technologies for air, space and cyberspace forces. It consists of more than 800 military and civilian scientists, engineers, and administrative and support personnel pursuing a wide variety of research and development projects with an annual budget of more than $1.5 billion. Roth serves as the directorate's technical engineering authority. She provides advice and counsel to the entire Directorate on systems engineering and programmatic matters. In addition to her engineering duties, she is the Directorate lead for open innovation and led the creation of the Innovare Advancement Center partnership and elevated the Information Directorate in the areas of partnerships, entrepreneurship, and education.

While at Sikorsky Aircraft, Roth was the security lead for the $1.2 billion engineering, manufacturing and design contract for the Air Force Combat Rescue Helicopter. Her responsibilities included the secure execution of all Information Assurance and Program Protection requirements in pursuit of an Authority to Operate on the aircraft. During her previous tenure with AFRL’s Information Directorate, Ms. Roth served as a systems engineer for several programs throughout the Directorate to include the Selective Cyber Operations Technology Integration (SCOTI) Flagship program.