January 2026 Luncheon Speaker Dr. Jesse W. Stephen
February 2, 2026 | By Ed Ryder
Dr. Jesse W. Stephen gave and informative presentation at our January meeting on the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and recent efforts by several University of Arizona Army ROTC Cadets and their Professor of Military Studies (PMS) to recover and identify remains from a World War II B-17G crash site in Poland.
Dr. Stephen is the Chief of Innovation and Research and Deputy Director for Partnerships and Innovation at DPAA. He has served as an archaeologist for DPAA and its predecessor organizations, leading investigation and recovery field activities, and analyzing materials in the laboratory, to resolve cases of missing persons from WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa along with undergraduate degrees from Northern Arizona University.
His presentation included an interesting background and overview of DPAA and their mission to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation. He also covered details of their partnership with U of A and other universities for recovery and identification, focusing on a recent project involving the U of A PMS, Lt Col Rich Ingleby and his cadets working at a crash site in Poland for four months during the summer. Lt Col Ingleby and Dr. Stephen have the vision of establishing a center at the University of Arizona dedicated to the search for and recovery of our nation’s 80,957 Missing in Action. Also, they envision that this center will serve as a nexus for the state’s three universities and other Arizona communities to actively pursue fulfilling our nation’s promise to bring every one of our fallen home.
For more information on the U of A Army ROTC project in Poland visit:
For more information on DPAA visit: