My Year as the First Military Fellow at NREL

I am completing a one-year tour as the first Military Fellow at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). During this year I have had time to reflect on strategic opportunities for the Department
of Defense to leverage “energy enabled” emerging technologies and systems. After considering various approaches, I saw a need and became a “Mobility Guy” despite having no experience in mobility or transportation prior to my arrival at NREL. The year has resulted in my becoming the Chair of the Marine Corps’ Mobility Transformation Working Group, where I lead the Mobility Transformation Strategy. Within the context of this strategy, I now oversee the introduction of Lyft and GM Maven’s carsharing on Marine Corps Installations. Additionally, I am creating autonomous vehicle (AV) efforts in San Diego and Northern Virginia, in collaboration with the respective state and local governments. Did I mention, I have no mobility experience? In fact, a year ago, I had never taken a Lyft or Uber ride. I had utilized Zipcar, but certainly had never sat in an AV. In the Corps, my specialty is Communications (think telecommunications, not marketing). Additionally, I am an electrical engineer with expertise in energy on the battlefield, which I detail in my next article. So how did I end up becoming a Fellow at NREL and subsequently becoming a “Mobility Guy” when neither existed prior to? Innovation, imagination, and self-confidence!
The Pitch
In November of 2016, I had a call with the Honorable Dennis McGinn, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment. If you are in the renewable energy world, you probably know retired Vice Admiral McGinn, as he was also the President of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) before accepting the Assistant Secretary nomination. I scheduled a meeting with him to pitch the idea of creating a fellowship for the purposes of exploiting my energy expertise. I pitched three fellowship opportunities; NREL, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and Tesla. He loved the concept and requested that Headquarters Marine Corps find a way to create a fellowship for me. Obviously NREL was where I ended up, although I have spent time at RMI over this past year as well.
Anyone in the service knows that the idea of a random Major getting an audience with an Assistant Secretary is ludicrous. The thought of actually convincing him or her to create a unique position for you is simply insane. I had no shortage of fellow Marines who had that exact view of me; insane. Thankfully, I have never been one to allow skepticism and cynicism from others to stop me. You see, I knew about Assistant Secretary McGinn’s background. I knew of his desire for energy innovation on installations and the battlefield. I knew he had a lot of respect for the organizations I presented as options. I knew he had previously served on the board of the Center for Naval Analysis, where he was one of the lead presenters of a study recommending liaison officer positions at the Department of Energy laboratories, including NREL. I knew he had once been a Senior International Fellow at RMI.
I also knew that I had already done everything the Marine Corps expected of me. When I was selected on this board by the Marine Corps, it dictated that I would either be sent to a school to earn a masters, attend a “career-level school” to study warfighting, or attend a fellowship. I had already attended Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California earning my Masters in Electrical Engineering, so the first choice wasn’t a good option. Additionally, I already had credit for the career-level school, which we call Command and Staff, having completed it via non-resident school. That left me with a fellowship as the best option. The process works where Majors selected on this board can submit their top five options. As I looked at the fellowship opportunities, such as FEDEX, Penn State University, Tufts, Cyber Security, and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, I thought the Marine Corps and the Navy would benefit much more by leveraging my energy experience, which is why I pitched unique fellowship ideas. To the surprise of everyone, except me, I found myself at NREL as the first Military Fellow.
Becoming a Mobility Guy

When I arrived at NREL in August of 2016, I was unsure what I should focus on. I could support NREL in all of their current DOD related efforts or I could work on concepts that no one else was thinking of. I decided the latter had the potential to serve the Marine Corps and Department of Defense to the greatest extent. I worked on ideas in three different areas; a) Operational Energy, b) Installation Energy, and c) Energy Diplomacy. For Operational Energy, I developed concepts such as an Autonomous Logistics Vehicle and a Self-Sufficient Suit. For Installation Energy, I developed concepts such as bases acting as “anchor tenants” for large renewable energy projects in addition to writing about the Future of Mobility for Military Installations. For Energy Diplomacy, I advocated that Combatant Commands (COCOMs), such as Pacific Command and Africa Command, should partner with and leverage State Department and USAID efforts on energy in their regions to meet some of their diplomatic objectives.

Of these, I have had the greatest success on my Future of Mobility concepts, which was originally published here. It all started at 5 am one September morning sitting at my kitchen counter. I was reading The Third Transportation Revolution article by Lyft’s co-founder John Zimmer. Soon after, RMI released their Peak Car Ownership report. Combined, these two articles convinced me that autonomous vehicles could transform mobility on installations, but DOD would miss the boat without a vision that leadership could get behind. I believed I was just the guy to craft that vision. Therefore I started reaching out to industry and mobility experts to further develop my ideas.
My Future of Mobility concept was developed to cast a vision of how mobility services (carsharing and ridehailing) and autonomous vehicles can transform mobility on installations. This plan would result in reduced costs for government non-tactical vehicle fleets, increased financial stability for young enlisted, a reduction in parking space requirements and gate delays. Additionally, installations would present themselves as early adopters of autonomous vehicles, resulting in increased safety and decreased DUIs. The most important concept I promoted in my article was holistically viewing both official and personal mobility demand to create opportunities on installations.

In October, I reached out to Lyft to discuss these concepts and we scheduled a meeting at their headquarters in San Francisco. I showed up with nothing more than ideas I could draw on a dry erase board. Lyft was incredibly helpful in my increased understanding of mobility services and how transportation is changing, but they weren’t the only one. Many companies and government agencies accepted my cold calls and helped me refine my ideas.
At the time, my goal was to write an article that would be published in Fast Company or Wired and hope that the right person read it and put it in front of Generals at the Pentagon. Thankfully, that was unnecessary. When I finished the article, at the beginning of January, I sent it to contacts I had in the Pentagon. One such contact worked for the Marine Corps’ Deputy Commandant (DC) for Installations & Logistics (I&L), Lieutenant General Dana. Surprisingly, the Aide put the article on the General’s desk the next morning. By lunch that day, the DC had placed a number of quotes from my article in an email to the Commanding General of Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM), Major General Broadmeadow, suggesting a proof of principle on my ideas. A week later, I sat down with each General separately at the Pentagon. Major General Broadmeadow told me, “I’m marginally interested in Majors with good ideas. I need Majors that get stuff done.” He then gave me one month to return with a plan of how I could turn my ideas into a reality. At the same time, Lieutenant General Dana submitted a request for me to transfer to San Diego following my fellowship, to run these mobility programs and act as a West Coast representative for his innovation office, NexLog.
I could not believe my fortune. I had been given the opportunity to actually turn ideas into a reality. This helped me develop my philosophy of a) Articulate the Problem, b) Cast a Vision, and c) Create Opportunity. The article effectively covered the first two. Now my challenge was, could I Create Opportunity.
I immediately scheduled a trip to San Diego to engage with installations, municipalities, and industry. The one-month deadline resulted in a list of recommendations concerning both revenue-share and contracted demonstrations on installations, which I presented back to MCICOM. In March, I was asked by MCICOM to become the Chair of the Mobility Transformation Working Group. The Working Group had been established a year prior and was focused strictly on official business mobility. I set out to transform the strategy and way ahead, incorporating my previous recommendations.
As I concluded this year as a Fellow and move to San Diego, our Mobility Transformation Strategy is moving forward. Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) is currently in procurement negotiations with Lyft and GM Maven for revenue-share demonstrations aboard Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar, respectively. Additionally we are in discussions with electric vehicle charging companies concerning a third-party installed, owned, and operated charging demonstration aboard MCAS Miramar. As for autonomous vehicles, we are currently collaborating with states to develop opportunities to use installations as AV proving grounds because of the a) controlled environments, b) low speeds, c) control over policy and d) having a known and trainable populace.
Looking back, it is hard to believe that I have been so fortunate over this year. Starting with nothing more than an idea at 5 am at my kitchen counter, I am now leading mobility transformation across the Marine Corps. I have been able to operate with incredible autonomy to explore and socialize ideas. The Marine Corps recognized the opportunity to capitalize on these ideas and put me in position to succeed. Mostly, I have learned that even in a large bureaucratic organization like the Marine Corps, innovation can be accomplished, as long as the innovator has the confidence and persistence to fight for it.
About the Author: Major Brandon Newell is the Chair of the Marine Corps Mobility Transformation Working Group. He has 16 years as an active duty Marine, specializing in Communications, Energy Systems and now Mobility. He has a M.S and B.S. in Electrical Engineering. You can reach him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-newell-712b6793.