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John Matsumura is a senior engineer at RAND with over 30 years of experience leading research on innovation and technology. At RAND, Matsumura has served in key research management positions, including director of the Joint Warfare Simulation and Analysis Center and associate director for research for RAND's Pittsburgh Office. His current research involves force protection capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous robotic systems, renewable energy technologies, and advanced modeling and simulation (M&S) methods. He has taught courses for both RAND and CMU School of Engineering on M&S in support of technology and policy decisions, coauthored several U.S. Department of Defense and Army reports, written numerous RAND monographs focusing on technology's impact on the status quo, and authored a book on advanced technologies' potential to make U.S. combat forces less vulnerable and more capable.
Matsumura has served on federal advisory boards, including the Defense Science Board task force on power projection, the Office of the Secretary of Defense task force on defense architecture, and the Army Science Board, where he chaired many panels and studies. For this service, Matsumura received the Commander's award for outstanding civilian service in 2011 and the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal in 2021. In 2022 he served as a committee member for a National Academy of Science panel on artificial intelligence. Recently, the USPTO granted Matsumura a patent (#10,890,459) for his research in the area of improving energy efficiency for vehicles, and he has a continuation patent that was provisionally approved in 2023.
Ph.D. in engineering and public policy, Carnegie Mellon University; M.S. in engineering mechanics, Pennsylvania State University; B.S. in aerospace engineering, Pennsylvania State University
