Ernst Joins 1st Annual Iowa Virtual Human Summit, Discusses Her Effort to Secure Proper-Fitting Body Armor, Equipment for Female Servicemembers

DES MOINES, Iowa—U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, joined the University of Iowa Technology Institute for their 2020 Iowa Virtual Human Summit today focused on “Better Female Personal Protective Equipment.” Ernst applauded the work being done at the Technology Institute and discussed her most recent efforts to ensure body armor and personal protective equipment (PPE) is adequate, properly-fitted, and readily available for female servicemembers.

 

Click here or on the image above to watch Senator Ernst’s remarks.

 

“As an Iowan and a combat veteran, I am incredibly proud of the work being done in our state to support better protection for our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines. My efforts to get our female servicemembers proper-fitting body armor and PPE would not be possible unless we had the technology—developed through the hard work of folks at the University of Iowa Technology Institute—to back it up,” said Senator Ernst, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. “I was glad to join today’s virtual conference and engage with these thoughtful Iowans who plays such a critical role in our national security.”

 

“The University of Iowa Technology Institute (ITI) has significant expertise using human modeling and simulation to address armor design, testing, and evaluation, and an extensive history sharing its capabilities with industry and entities within the Department of Defense. We want to thank Senator Ernst for joining this important discussion today and her continued work on the Senate Armed Services Committee,” said ITI Director Karim Malek, University of Iowa professor of biomedical engineering and world-renowned expert in human modeling and simulation.

 

To watch Senator Ernst’s remarks, click HERE.

 

Background:

After working closely with soldiers and commanders of the U.S. service branches—including meetings in Kuwait and Afghanistan with U.S. troops and military leaders—Senator Ernst put forward a commonsense, bipartisan proposal to correct issues of inadequate and ill-fitting equipment and ensure troop readiness and effectiveness.

 

Ernst successfully included her bill in the annual defense bill, the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which passed the Senate last month.

 

###