Professional Affiliation

Colonel, United States Air Force

Expert Bio

Colonel Sterling is a career Civil Engineer Officer. She has commanded twice at the squadron-level: The 341st Civil Engineer Squadron, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana and the 324th Training Squadron (Air Force Basic Military Training), Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. Colonel Sterling entered the Air Force in December 2002 as a distinguished graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon where she earned her Bachelor’s of Civil Engineering degree. She also holds graduate degrees from the University of Southern California (Construction Engineering) and the Marine Corps University (Military Studies) and has served in a variety of civil engineer positions at the installation/garrison, Major Command, and Headquarters Air Force-levels. Colonel Sterling’s contingency experience includes five deployments in support of Air Force, joint, and special operations in the US Central Command and US Indo-Pacific Command areas of responsibility.

Expertise

• Disaster Management
• Security and Defense

Wilson Center Project

Building Human Capital for the Future of National Defense

Project Summary

National leaders must understand both the emerging security landscape and demographic and social shifts of those who will be called to meet the nation's security needs in the next 1-2 decades. This study will look at how we currently recruit, train, and develop, and retain the human capital we need to meet the nation’s security and how we might deliberately shift our approach in each of these areas to ensure a solid foundation for national defense into the future.