CAPT Shilling joined DARPA as a Program Manager in April 2010. His focus is on information technology-based tools in support of military psychological health and in game-based approaches to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.

CAPT Shilling is an Aerospace Experimental Psychologist in the Navy's Medical Service Corps. He joins DARPA after formerly helping establish the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury as Executive Director - Science & Technology. Since 2007, CAPT Shilling has developed programs with Sesame Street® to help children and families learn to adjust to multiple deployments, injured family members, and the loss of a loved one. To date, more than a million outreach kits have been produced and the programs have been awarded three CINE awards, an Interactive Media Award, and garnered an Emmy nomination. In 2005, he applied his modeling and simulation background to the psychological health arena by creating a program at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to use Virtual Reality for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.   One of the Navy's leading authorities on developing simulations using videogame technologies, he was Sound Designer and a Principle Investigator for the "America's Army" videogame; a recruiting tool with more than seven million registered users.  As part of his Navy R&D work, CAPT Shilling has worked closely with THX®, Lucasfilm Skywalker Sound®, Dolby Interactive®, Creative Labs®, Sesame Workshop® and various videogame developers.  As a personal interest, CAPT Shilling is interested in the application of these same technologies to improving the education and lives of autistic children.

Dr. Shilling received his Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Psychology (Auditory Psychophysics/Neuroscience) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1992 and his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Wake Forest University in 1985. In 1993 he graduated with top honors from Aerospace Experimental Psychologist training - Naval Flight Surgeon Class 93002. In 1996, he served as an Assistant/Associate Professor at the United States Air Force Academy in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. In 2000, he arrived at the Naval Postgraduate School as an Associate Professor in the Operations Research and Systems Engineering departments and became Technical Director for Immersive Technologies in the Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation (MOVES) Institute. His military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal. He is also the recipient of the American Hospital Association's 2009 Executive Award for Excellence.