Sherrill Lingel

Sherrill Lingel is a Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy and serves as Director of the Force Modernization and Employment Program at RAND Project Air Force. She is also a Senior Engineer at RAND Corporation. Her work focuses on military technology, command-and-control systems, and great-power competition strategies. Recently, she led the Next Generation Air Lift (NGAL) Capabilities Based Assessment for Air Mobility Command and conducted research on JADC2 applications for Agile Combat Employment in contested environments.

Educationally, she holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington, an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from the same institution, and a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Her research expertise includes complexity in warfare, multi-domain operations, AI-driven command systems, and ISR capabilities for highly contested environments. She has led projects for Air Combat Command (ACC) on AI applications for JADC2 and assessed the alignment of Department of the Air Force's ISR flight plan with national defense strategy.

Her recent work emphasizes Arctic military capabilities, leveraging data science for defense modernization, and framing strategic complexity through complex adaptive systems theory. She previously worked at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research before joining RAND.