Dr. Michelle Zbylut is the Director, Department of Air Force Integrated Resilience Office at the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. She is responsible for program implementation, strategic planning, and research and development of the Air Force’s resilience program, which is comprised of primary prevention, suicide prevention, and sexual assault prevention and response.
Dr. Zbylut has served for more than 20 years in the federal government and was first assigned to the Air Force as Acting Director, Integrated Resilience in March 2025. She was formally assigned as Director, Integrated Resilience in May 2025.
Prior to her arrival at the Air Force, Dr. Zbylut was a senior Army leader and psychologist who held multiple executive roles, including Director of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Research and Technology). She led major Army science and technology initiatives focused on talent management, leader development, and personnel readiness, and previously served as ARI’s first Senior Research Scientist. In 2023, she was appointed as a Deputy Assistant Secretary to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) to provide strategic oversight of the Army’s civilian and military equal opportunity programs. There, she directed one of the federal government’s most comprehensive EEO compliance and adjudication operations. Dr. Zbylut holds a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Houston.
EDUCATION
1994 Bachelor of Science, Psychology, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas
1999 Master of Arts, Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
2002 Ph.D., Industrial and Organizational Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
CAREER CHRONOLOGY
1. December 2002–October 2008, Research Psychologist, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Leader Development Research Unit, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
2. October 2008–March 2013, Team Leader / Research Psychologist, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
3. March 2013–March 2015, Chief, Programs, Budget and Strategies Office, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral & Social Sciences, Fort Belvoir, Va.
4. March 2015–April 2018, Senior Research Scientist (Systems Science/Human Science), U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Fort Belvoir, Va.
5. April 2018–September 2023, Director, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Fort Belvoir, Va.
6. April 2023–September 2023, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Research and Technology) (Detail), the Pentagon, Arlington, Va.
7. September 2023–March 2025, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army, Fort Belvoir, Va.
8. March 2025–May 2025, Acting Director, Air Force Integrated Resilience Office, the Pentagon, Arlington, Va.
9. May 2025–present, Director, Air Force Integrated Resilience Office, the Pentagon, Arlington, Va.
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Meritorious Civilian Service Award (2025)
Superior Civilian Service Award (2015, 2013)
Army Research and Development Achievement Award (2008)
PUBLICATIONS
Robie, C., Curtin, P. J., Foster, T. C., Phillips, H. L., Zbylut, M., & Tetrick, L. E. (2000). The effect of coaching on the utility of response latencies in detecting fakers on a personality measure. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 32, 226-23
Zbylut, M. L., & Ward, J. N. (2004). Think like a commander: Excellence in leadership. ARI Research Product 2004 01.
Fallesen, J. J., French, M. R., Goodwin, G. F., Halpin, S. M., Laffitte, L., & Zbylut, M. L. (2005). Competency modeling in military education. Parameters, 35(1), 109–112.
Metcalf, K. A., & Zbylut, M. L. (2007). Army Excellence in Leadership (AXL): Educating Army leaders with the Tripwire film. ARI Research Product 2007 03.
Zbylut, M. L., Brunner, J. M., Vowels, C. L, & Kim, J. M. (2007). Case method instruction: 25 minutes of discussion can make a difference. (ARI Technical Report 1203). Arlington, Va.: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences.
Zbylut, M. L., Metcalf, K. A., Kim, J. M., Hill, R. W., Rocher, S., & Vowels, C. (2007). Army Excellence in Leadership (AXL): A multimedia approach to building tacit knowledge and cultural reasoning. ARI Technical Report 1194.
Hill, R. W., Kim, J. M., Zbylut, M. R., Gordon, A. S., Ward, J. N., & Vowels, C. L. (2008). Learning the lessons of leadership: Case method teaching with interactive, computer-based tools and film-based cases. ARI Technical Report 1226
Zbylut, M. R., Metcalf, K. A., McGowan, B., Beemer, M., Brunner, J. M., & Vowels, C. L. (2009). The human dimension of advising: An analysis of interpersonal, linguistic, cultural, and advisory aspects of the advisor role. (ARI Technical Report No. 1248). Arlington, Va.: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences.
Phelps, C. E., Zbylut, M. R., & Brunner, J. (2009, March). Selecting and training U.S. advisors: Interpersonal skills and the advisor-counterpart relationship. Marine Corps Gazette, 51-54.
Zbylut, M. R., Wisecarver, M., Foldes, H., & Schneider, R. (2010). Advisor influence strategies: 10 cross-cultural scenarios for self-assessment and reflection. ARI Research Product 2011 01.
Strong, B. E., Babin Brooks, L., Zbylut, M. R., & Roan, L. (Eds.). (2013). Sociocultural systems: The next step in Army cultural capability. ARI Research Product 2013 02.
Zbylut, M. R. (2013). Cross-cultural influence and the advising mission: Empirical findings and the way ahead. In R. Greene Sands and A. Greene-Sands (Eds.), Cross-cultural competence for a twenty-first-century military: Culture, the flipside of COIN (pp. 211-230). Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.
(Current as of June 2026)