Luncheon with Melissa Ho, Silicon Valley Office, S&T, DHS

13 Oct Luncheon with Melissa Ho, Silicon Valley Office, S&T, DHS

Join WHS for its October Luncheon featuring Melissa Ho, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Office, Science & Technology Directorate, US Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Ho will discuss the office and its mission and her integral role there.

Ms. Ho is the Managing Director for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) Silicon Valley operations. She is responsible for engaging entrepreneurs and innovators to help them better understand DHS’s mission and widen the pipeline of technologies addressing our most difficult homeland security challenges. Ms. Ho has been at S&T since September 2004 serving in several positions, including as the S&T Cyber Security Division Business Operations Manager, S&T Borders & Maritime Security Division Business and Finance Manager, Program Manager for several cargo security projects, and Program Support Contractor. Prior to joining S&T, Ms. Ho served as a project engineer in the Research, Development & Evaluation Branch of the DHS Customs & Border Protection’s Applied Technology Division. Ms. Ho holds a B.S. in Cognitive Science, specializing in Neuroscience, from the University of California at San Diego and a M.S. in Systems Engineering from George Washington University.

DHS established the Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) to keep pace with the innovation community and tackle the hardest problems faced by DHS’s operational missions. The SVIP is expanding DHS’s reach to find new technologies that strengthen national security with the goal of reshaping how government, entrepreneurs and industry work together to find cutting-edge solutions. DHS is reaching out to Silicon Valley and all of the innovation communities across the nation to harness the commercial R&D ecosystem for government applications, co-invest in ideas and accelerate transition-to-market.