Lara Schmidt

Biography

Lara Schmidt, a senior statistician at the RAND Corporation, serves as associate director of RAND Project AIR FORCE. Her research focuses on the analysis of warfighter use of technology, especially space and cyber systems. Her study of space systems includes satellite communication systems, intelligence systems, and the global positioning system (GPS). Her recent work includes assessments of space vulnerability and dependence; space risk; weapon system use of space systems; operational level command and control; the military need for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT); concepts of operation for employment of U.S. Department of Defense space systems in hostile environments; analyses of space control capabilities; and space command and control. She pursues the application of statistical methodologies including probabilistic and quantitative risk analyses, with an emphasis on the development of rigorous study methodologies.

Schmidt is the RAND Project AIR FORCE liaison to Air Force Space Command. She also serves as a referee for several technical journals and has held several leadership positions with the American Statistical Association, including within the ASA Section on Statistics in Defense and National Security. Prior to joining RAND, she spent eight years as a government civilian working with GPS and atomic timekeeping.