Moats, Hill honored with A&M System Regents Fellow Awards

COLLEGE STATION — Dr. Jason Moats and Lesa Hill of the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) have received the
prestigious Regents Fellow Service Award, which is the highest honor given by The Texas A&M University System Board of
Regents. The award recognizes
employees who have made exemplary contributions to their university or agency
and to the people of Texas. 

Dr. Jason Moats

Moats was recognized for his dedication to ensuring the safety of our citizens and to advancing the
knowledge and skills of professionals and first responders in homeland security
and incident management and response. As Associate Division
Director with the TEEX Emergency Services Training Institute, Moats oversees
the training of approximately 35,000 responders from across the nation annually
through the DHS/FEMA Homeland Security National Training Program cooperative
agreement.

Moats
is a firm believer in using technology to enhance and improve emergency
management and response training.  He was
the lead subject matter expert on incident command and response during the development
of the Emergency Management * Exercise System (EM*ES) simulation software, a
successful, custom training tool that has been used to train thousands of
responders in incident management and unified command.

During
the recent Ebola crisis, Moats spearheaded a collaborative effort by TEEX, the
Texas A&M Health Science Center, the International Medical Corps and the
Bush School of Government to develop and pilot a new course aimed at combating
the spread of the virus.  His experience
in emergency response and his skills as a facilitator and educator were crucial
to the success of this project, which has helped build the expertise needed to
prevent the international spread of infectious diseases. He also is a member of
a Texas A&M group on Global Health Security Initiatives, which has had a
strategic impact on the field of public health and medical preparedness.

Drawing on his
experience as a volunteer firefighter and his service in the U.S. Navy, Moats
is dedicated to improving emergency response, protecting citizens and saving lives. A
graduate of Southern Illinois University, Moats joined TEEX in 2002, and advanced
from instructor to training coordinator to program director to Associate
Division Director while earning master’s and doctorate degrees from Texas
A&M University. He serves as a lecturer in both the Dwight Look College of
Engineering and the Bush School of Government and Public Service, as well as
lecturing in the College of Education and Human Development and for Adelphi
University.  

Lesa Hill

Hill was honored Award for expanding the scope of TEEX training and technical assistance,
spurring economic development across Texas and advancing eLearning technologies
to reach a worldwide audience. Her leadership of the
Knowledge Engineering Division has had an impact on TEEX’s ability to serve the
citizens of Texas and beyond through advanced manufacturing skills and lean
manufacturing training, cybersecurity technical assistance and the Texas
Manufacturing Assistance Center for East Central Texas and the Gulf Coast
area.  Her division also conducts
cybersecurity training nationwide under the Homeland Security Cooperative
Training Agreement.

Hill joined TEEX in
1993 after working in the Technology Licensing Office at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station for two years and
has been at the forefront of emerging technology in training software, product
commercialization and market intelligence. She was instrumental in establishing
the Knowledge Engineering Center to focus on eLearning and software tools. Her
vision for the future of interactive training over the internet in the 1990s
ensured TEEX kept pace with the eLearning revolution. 

She continues to
embrace new training and delivery methods, such as new mobile training vehicles,
which allow welding training to be delivered at a company’s location. With funding
from the Governor’s office, the Division has also offered four cybersecurity
summer camps at no charge to participants with two more being offered in 2017,
to encourage high school students to consider STEM careers.

Through economic
development programs and technical assistance, Hill has helped spur economic
prosperity and job creation in small and rural Texas communities. In
conjunction with the Texas Economic Development Council, she coordinates the
Basic Economic Development Course, which is recognized as the best basic
economic development training course in the country. 

Hill holds a
bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree
from Texas A&M University.