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RESEARCH INTERESTS

Agentic AI governance frameworks and orchestration architectures for enterprise and public-sector environments; responsible AI deployment in resource-constrained federal agencies; explainability, fairness, and bias mitigation in large language models and NLP systems; AI/ML applications in cybersecurity, information governance, and digital transformation; applied deep learning and transformer-based architectures for real-world operational problems.

EDUCATION

Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng.) – Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Expected August 2027
George Washington University, School of Engineering & Applied Science, Washington, DC

  • Praxis: “A Human-centered XAI Evaluation Framework for Federal Decision Augmentation” (in progress)
  • Coursework: Computer Vision & Generative AI, Deep Learning & NLP, Data Engineering for AI, Applied ML Intelligence & Reinforcement Learning, Analytical Methods for Machine Learning
  • Research: BERT-based deep learning with Self-Attention for mental health textual analytics; PyTorch on GCP GPU clusters

Master of Business Administration (MBA) – Information Systems & Corporate Finance 2008
George Washington University, Washington, DC

Bachelor of Arts, Communication | Bachelor of Arts, French 2004
College of Charleston, Charleston, SC

Executive Program: Artificial Intelligence for Business Strategy 2019
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA

TEACHING INTERESTS

Courses I am prepared to develop and teach at the graduate level:

  • AI Governance, Ethics & Policy in the Public Sector
  • Agentic AI Systems: Design, Orchestration & Oversight
  • Applied Machine Learning & Deep Learning
  • Federal Enterprise IT Strategy & Digital Transformation
  • Cybersecurity Leadership: Zero Trust and Beyond
  • Data Engineering for AI Systems
  • Technology Leadership for the Public Sector CIO

ACADEMIC & APPLIED RESEARCH PROJECTS

Mental Health Analysis via Textual Analytics 2025
Research Project — George Washington University | GCP GPU Clusters

  • Designed and trained BERT-based deep learning neural network with Self-Attention for mental health classification from text
  • Addressed algorithmic bias, explainability, and fairness using PyTorch on Google Cloud GPU infrastructure
  • Applied transformer architectures to clinical and social text corpora; benchmarked against baseline NLP models

Tsunami Prediction System — ML Pipeline & Flask Web Application 2026
Independent Applied ML Project | github.com/jtunnessen/tsunami-prediction-system | Azure App Service

  • Designed and deployed an end-to-end ML application predicting tsunami likelihood from seismic activity data (magnitude, depth, intensity) using a Decision Tree Classifier optimized via GridSearchCV
  • Achieved 89.83% accuracy and 89% tsunami recall (catch rate); best parameters: max_depth=10, criterion=’gini’
  • Built automated preprocessing pipeline using Scikit-Learn Pipelines with StandardScaler, OneHotEncoder, and missing value imputation; serialized via Joblib for production inference
  • Wrapped model in a Flask web application with interactive HTML/CSS interface for real-time earthquake parameter input and prediction; deployed to Azure App Service via CLI
  • Demonstrates full ML lifecycle: data ingestion, preprocessing, hyperparameter tuning, model serialization, web integration, and cloud deployment
  • Tech stack: Python 3.9, Scikit-Learn, Pandas, Flask, Seaborn/Matplotlib, Gunicorn, Azure App Service

Cybersecurity Analysis & Documentation AI Agent 2026
National Endowment for the Arts | NEA Production Deployment

  • Designed and deployed a purpose-built agentic AI system integrating NIST 800-53 rev 5, OWASP Top 10 for 2025, MITRE ATT&CK, MITRE CVEs, and CISA KEV
  • First production deployment of an agentic compliance automation system at a federal cultural agency
  • Anchors published research on purpose-built vs. large-scale model thesis (Forbes Technology Council, 2026)

GitHub README Generator — Purpose-Built Agentic System 2026
National Endowment for the Arts | NEA Production Deployment

  • Deployed small, task-specific LLM agent for automated developer documentation generation
  • Demonstrated applied thesis: purpose-built models outperform generalist LLMs on constrained, high-frequency tasks

Section 508 Analysis & Documentation AI Agent 2026
National Endowment for the Arts | NEA Production Deployment

  • Deployed small, task-specific LLM agent for automated accessibility compliance analysis
  • Demonstrated applied thesis: purpose-built models outperform generalist LLMs on constrained, high-frequency tasks

DevtoDeployment — Multi-Agent Python Application 2026
Gradient Descent LLC | GCP: Cloud Run, Pub/Sub, Firestore, GCS, Secret Manager

  • Architected multi-agent orchestration system using Python 3.12, LangGraph, and Google Cloud Platform
  • Integrated OpenClaw agentic gateway via Telegram; Anthropic Claude API as primary LLM backend

Ipsum NLP Auto-Transcription & Translation Tool 2019
Voice of America | USAGM

  • Designed and deployed NLP tool achieving 10x transcription and translation speed improvement
  • Adopted by four international media organizations; scaled across 20+ language services serving 275M+ weekly viewers

Whole Genome Sequencing Cloud Re-Architecture 2016
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service | Cloud Shared Service with FDA & CDC

  • Led cloud migration and re-engineering of WGS infrastructure, yielding $12M per year in cost savings
  • Established first federal cloud shared service for genomic data spanning USDA, FDA, and CDC

PUBLICATIONS & INTELLECTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Peer-Reviewed & Academic

Tunnessen, J. (2027). Praxis: “A Human-centered XAI Evaluation Framework for Federal Decision Augmentation” George Washington University School of Engineering & Applied Science (in preparation)

Policy & Government Reports

Tunnessen, J. (FY2026). NEA Information & Technology Directive. National Endowment for the Arts (Author)
Tunnessen, J. (FY2026). NEA Information Resources Management Strategic Plan FY2026. National Endowment for the Arts (Author)
Tunnessen, J. (FY2026). NEA Artificial Intelligence Strategic Plan and Procedures FY2025. National Endowment for the Arts (Author)
Tunnessen, J. (FY2022). NEA Information Resources Management Strategic Plan FY2022. National Endowment for the Arts (Author)
Tunnessen, J. et al. (2020). ACT-IAC AI Playbook for the U.S. Federal Government. American Council for Technology–Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) (Contributor)
Tunnessen, J. et al. (2019). AI/ML Primer for Government. American Council for Technology–Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) (Contributor)
Tunnessen, J. (FY2019). USAGM Artificial Intelligence Strategic Plan FY2019. Voice of America (Author)
Tunnessen, J. (FY2018). USAGM Information Resources Management Strategic Plan FY2018. Voice of America (Author)

Practitioner Publications — Forbes Technology Council

Tunnessen, J. (2026). The Agentic Control Plane: Engineering Governance for the Autonomous Enterprise. Forbes Technology Council (Published)
Tunnessen, J. (2026). Escaping Pilot Purgatory: A Framework for Scaling Enterprise IT. Forbes Technology Council (Published)
Tunnessen, J. (2026). 20 Enterprise Risks Lurking Behind Open AI Adoption. Forbes (Published)

Practitioner Publications — ExecutiveTech (Substack)

Tunnessen, J. (2026). Why Identity Governance Is the Key Enabler for Secure AI Innovation ExecutiveTech on Substack (Published)
Tunnessen, J. (2026). Beyond the Pilot: The Architecture of Agentic Government. ExecutiveTech on Substack (Published)
Tunnessen, J. (2025). The Case for Explainable AI: Why “Because the Algorithm Told You So” Won’t Cut It. ExecutiveTech on Substack (Published)
Tunnessen, J. (2026). One Developer. One Week. One Argument. ExecutiveTech on Substack (Published)
Tunnessen, J. (2026). Government Technology Is Not Broken. Government Leadership Is Afraid. ExecutiveTech on Substack — Anchor Essay (Published)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Chief Information Officer & Chief AI Officer (SES) July 2020 – Present
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) | Washington, DC

  • Lead Office of Information Technology Management: cybersecurity, application development, AI, data governance, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, IT support, privacy, and COOP
  • Advanced cybersecurity posture from “Ad Hoc” to “Managed & Measurable”; implemented SOC and Zero Trust architecture (Okta, Intune, Zscaler)
  • Designed agentic AI framework with RAG + LLM fine-tuning for financial decision-support; first of kind at a federal cultural agency
  • Designing semantic search with vector embeddings across NEA’s grants management systems
  • Led multi-cloud migration across Azure and AWS; implemented Microsoft Copilot, DocuSign, and Xacta
  • Chair, AI & Data Governance Boards; authored NEA IRM Strategic Plans FY22 and FY26
  • Member, Federal Chief AI Officer (CAIO) Council — interagency body coordinating federal AI strategy, policy, and governance across the executive branch
  • Member, Federal Chief Information Officer Council (ex officio, NEA CIO)
  • Introduced vibe coding and AI-assisted rapid prototyping practices to federal development teams

Founder & Principal Advisor November 2025 – Present
Gradient Descent LLC | Washington, DC Metro Area | gradientdescent.biz

  • AI consulting and advisory practice focused on agentic AI, responsible AI governance, and applied ML for enterprise and public sector clients
  • Forbes Technology Council contributor; published thought leadership on AI governance, agentic systems, and federal AI strategy

CIO & Chief Digital Officer (SES) January 2017 – July 2020
Voice of America (VOA) | USAGM | Washington, DC

  • Managed 250+ staff and $200M+ technology budget serving 275M+ weekly viewers across 47 languages globally
  • Built Ipsum NLP auto-transcription/translation tool achieving 10x speed improvement; adopted by 4 global media organizations
  • Launched VOA+ OTT streaming platform; deployed 20+ language-specific mobile apps with circumvention technology
  • Implemented AI recommendation engine in CMS; migrated 400+ TB to cloud enterprise Data Lake
  • Established and led USAGM CIO Council overseeing technology for 5 international broadcasting organizations; deployed camera robotics, drone program, 360° immersive news, and Alexa Skills for 12 language streams

Chief Technology Officer (GS-15) October 2015 – January 2017
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) | Washington, DC

  • Led $100M+ technology modernization program; introduced Agile/DevOps across FSIS engineering organization
  • Re-engineered Whole Genome Sequencing infrastructure via cloud shared service with FDA & CDC: $12M/yr in cost savings
  • Established and chaired USDA CTO Council, overseeing technology decisions for 18 agencies and directing $1B+ budget

Chief of Digital Innovation & Development (GS-15) April 2013 – October 2015
DHS U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) | Washington, DC

  • Led first federal agency hackathon; built digital innovation program and implemented DevOps creating cross-functional development teams
  • Moved USCIS from traditional data centers to the AWS cloud
  • Introduced human-centered design and agile product development to a 20,000-person federal agency
  • Brought development cycle time down from years to months for new development, and from months to minutes for operations and maintenance

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Chief Instructor, NCO Leadership School 1999 – 2000
United States Marine Corps | Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, Beaufort, SC

  • Designed and delivered leadership curriculum for non-commissioned officer professional military education (PME)
  • Responsible for all school operations, instructor development, course scheduling, and academic quality
  • Taught leadership principles, tactical decision-making, and small unit management to Marines preparing for supervisory command
  • Developed and refined instructional materials; evaluated student performance and provided structured developmental feedback

Guest Lecturer — AI Governance, Federal Technology Leadership 2024 – Present
Various Venues | Washington, DC Metro Area

  • Delivered practitioner lectures on agentic AI governance, federal CIO leadership, and responsible AI deployment to professional and executive audiences
  • Moderated executive panels on AI strategy including SIM Capital Area Chapter sessions with OpenAI and NASA Goddard; GovLoop Executive Roundtables; ATARC Executive Roundtables

MILITARY SERVICE

Infantry Platoon Sergeant | Honorably Discharged April 1995 – December 2002
United States Marine Corps

  • Combat arms NCO; led infantry units through operational deployments and garrison commands
  • Chief Instructor, NCO Leadership School, MCAS Beaufort (1999–2000) — responsible for curriculum design, school operations, and instructor development
  • Additional assignments: Military Liaison, Parris Island SC; Weapons Platoon Sergeant, C Co, 1/6, 2nd Marine Division

Engineer Officer | Honorably Discharged October 2008 – July 2014
Virginia Army National Guard & U.S. Army Reserve

  • Commissioned Engineer Officer in reserve component; roles included Platoon Leader, Executive Officer, Operations Officer, and IT Process & Policy Chief at Joint Force HQ
  • Approximately 15 years combined military service across active and reserve components

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

Languages & Frameworks: Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, LangGraph, SQL/NoSQL, Rust (developing)
AI/ML Specialties: LLMs, NLP, Transformers, Agentic AI, RAG, Computer Vision, MLOps, GenAIOps, Explainable AI
Platforms & Infrastructure: Azure, AWS, GCP (Cloud Run, Pub/Sub, Firestore, GCS), DataBricks, Spark, Tableau
AI Tools & Ecosystems: HuggingFace, AI Studio, Anthropic Claude API, Gemini API, OpenAI API, MCP
Cybersecurity: Zero Trust, Okta, Intune, Zscaler, NIST SP 800-53 rev 5, AI Governance-as-Code

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS & SERVICE

  • Federal Chief Information Officer Council — Member (ex officio, NEA CIO)
  • Federal Chief AI Officer (CAIO) Council — Member (ex officio, NEA CAIO)
  • Forbes Technology Council — Member & Contributor
  • IEEE Computer Society — Member
  • American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) — Member
  • Society for Information Management (SIM) Capital Area Chapter — Member
  • ACT-IAC (American Council for Technology–Industry Advisory Council) — Contributor
  • Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) — Member
  • Army & Navy Club, Washington, DC — Member

HONORS, AWARDS & RECOGNITION

  • Chairman’s Award for Distinguished Service — National Endowment for the Arts (2022)
  • Award for Work on Agile Contracting Solutions — DHS USCIS CIO’s Award (2015)
  • Lean Agile Innovation Award — DHS USCIS CIO’s Award (2015)
  • First Federal Hackathon — DHS USCIS CIO’s Award (2014)
  • Army Commendation Medal for Leadership — U.S. Army (2009)
  • Leadership Excellence Award — Association of the U.S. Army (2009)
  • Navy Achievement Medal for Leadership — U.S. Marine Corps (2002)
  • Military Excellence Award for Leadership — Non-Commissioned Officers Association (2000)

PRESENTATIONS, SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & MEDIA

Keynotes & Featured Addresses

GITEC Conference: Opening Keynote — The Evolution of the CIO 2025
Government Information Technology Executive Committee Annual Conference | Washington, DC

FCW Briefing: Truly Digital Government: Beyond Better Websites 2019
FCW | Washington, DC

ATARC Federal DevOps Summit: Keynote and Master of Ceremonies 2017
Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC) | Washington, DC

Federal Innovation Summit: Creating Enclaves of Innovation 2016
Federal Innovation Summit | Washington, DC

Red Hat Government Symposium: It Will Take All of Us to Improve Federal IT 2016
Red Hat Government Symposium | Washington, DC

Red Hat Government Symposium: Keynote on Innovation 2015
Red Hat Government Symposium | Washington, DC

Invited Talks & Conference Presentations

Panel: The CIO and Innovation Officer Government/Audience Interchange May 2026
ACT-IAC Emerging Technology and Innovation Conference | Washington, DC

ATARC Executive Roundtable: Driving Mission Outcomes Through Data Relationships and Gen AI March 2026
Advanced Technology Academic Research Center | Washington, DC

ATARC Executive Roundtable: Building a Data Foundation March 2026
Advanced Technology Academic Research Center | Washington, DC

National Capital Region DoD Quarterly Historians Training Workshop September 2025
NCR DoD Historians | The Pentagon | Washington, DC

SIM Capital Area Chapter: AI at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center August 2025
Organizer & Moderator — Executive site visit and AI briefing at NASA Goddard | SIMCAC | Greenbelt, MD

SIM Capital Area Chapter: OSCAL — Panel with OpenAI April 2025
Moderator — Executive discussion panel on AI strategy and deployment with OpenAI | SIMCAC | Washington, DC

GovLoop Executive Roundtable: AI and Data in 2025 — The Opportunity and Challenge March 2025
GovLoop | Washington, DC

SIM Capital Area Chapter: AI in Practice — Panel with OpenAI February 2025
Moderator — Executive discussion panel on AI strategy and deployment with OpenAI | SIMCAC | Washington, DC

Amazon Media & Entertainment Conference 2019
Use of Machine Learning to Automate Localization for International Distribution | Amazon

ACT-IAC Emerging Technology Conference 2019
Use of Artificial Intelligence in Media and the Federal Government | ACT-IAC

Acquia Engage: Big Ideas 2019
Acquia Engage Conference | New Orleans, LA

ACT-IAC Executive Leadership Conference 2016
Curing What Ails Us: Imagine an Entirely Agile Government | ACT-IAC

ATARC Federal DevOps Summit: Visionary Panel — Agencies Adopting Agile Approaches 2016
Advanced Technology Academic Research Center | Washington, DC

Government Information Technology Executive Committee Summit 2016
DevOps from Idea to Continuous Improvement | GITEC | Washington, DC

Top Trends & Technologies Driving Mobility in Government 2016
Mobility in Government Conference | Washington, DC

GovLoop Webinar Course: Modernizing Your IT Infrastructure 2016
GovLoop | Virtual

Red Hat Government Symposium: Accelerating Application Delivery 2015
Red Hat Government Symposium | Washington, DC

ATARC Redefining Federal IT Conference 2015
Using Hybrid Cloud for Enhancing Mission Capabilities | ATARC | Washington, DC

ATARC Federal Cloud Computing Summit 2015
DevOps and Automation in the Cloud | ATARC | Washington, DC

USCIS Internal Leadership Forum 2015
DevOps, Open Source, and Kanban for Software Development | DHS USCIS | Washington, DC

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) 2014
Operating with Open Source and DevOps | CFPB | Washington, DC

GSA: Enterprise Social Networks, the New Reality 2012
U.S. General Services Administration | Washington, DC

Podcast, Radio & Media Appearances

Federal News Network: Cloud Exchange 2026
Interview on AI and digital strategy at NEA | Federal News Network

Federal News Network: Ask the CIO 2020
Interview on AI and digital strategy at VOA | Federal News Network

Federal News Network: Artificial Intelligence Helps VOA Translate Broadcasts Worldwide 2020
Podcast | Federal News Network

FedScoop TV: How Open Source Is Winning in Government 2015
Video Interview | FedScoop

Federal News Radio / WTOP 2015
How Citizen Services Can Be Transformed by Software Analytics | Radio Interview | WTOP Washington

Articles & Media Features

20 Enterprise Risks Lurking Behind Open AI Adoption 2026
Article | Forbes

GovLoop Book: Your Guide to DevOps in Government 2016
Featured as one of four government DevOps subject matter experts | GovLoop

FedTech Magazine: DevOps Is Here, and It’s Going to Change Your Agency’s Culture 2016
Article | FedTech Magazine

GovLoop Article: Modernizing Your IT Infrastructure 2016
Article | GovLoop

ModernGov: Accept the Challenge — Modernize Your IT Infrastructure 2016
Article | ModernGov

FEDTECH Magazine: Culture Shock 2017
Interview / Feature Article | FEDTECH Magazine

FCW Magazine: At USCIS, They DID(it) 2014
Feature Article | Federal Computer Week (FCW)