AFRL Inspire 2023

Anissa Lumpkin, an operations research analyst and acting mission area lead for the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL’s, Customer Engagement Directorate, delivers her speech titled “The Power of Influence” at the seventh annual AFRL Inspire event at the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Kenney Hall, Oct. 26, 2023. Lumpkin shared her experience using the power of influence to impact positive change and close the diversity gap. While managing AFRL’s Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, and Small Business Technology Transfer, or STTR, programs, Lumpkin noticed there were no Historically Black Colleges or Universities, or HBCUs, partnered with those programs and resolved to find out why. Lumpkin went on to establish the Department of the Air Force’s HBCU outreach initiative. “It's so important to take a hard look at your tables and figure out who is missing,” Lumpkin said. “Then use the power of influence to fill those chairs.” (U.S. Air Force photo / Cherie Cullen)