The best of the best in Navy and Marine Corps engineering and scientific were recognized July 24, at the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN [RDA]) Dr. Delores M. Etter Top Scientists and Engineers Awards Ceremony, held at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division in Bethesda, Maryland.
“These awards are a testament to our number one asset, our people,” said James F. Geurts, ASN (RDA). “These awardees today have made amazing accomplishments; they represent thousands and thousands in our workforce. They represent a workforce that is relevant, mission focused, adaptive and world class. I could not be more proud; awardees today are the best of the best.”
The award is named after former ASN (RDA) Delores M. Etter, who participated virtually, hosted by Geurts. This year's ceremony saw a mix of in-person attendees from local commands and virtual attendees. Geurts personally recognized 54 top scientists and engineers from across the Department of the Navy (DON).
Geurts and Etter both highlighted during their remarks the great accomplishment of these individuals and teams that represented the organic DON scientific and engineering community. Comments from both speakers complimented the contributions to mission and national security, and highlighted the importance of the science and engineering that goes into the technology delivered to the services.
Etter in her remarks emphasized the need to encourage the next generations of engineers and scientists for Department of Navy positions. “We must each do something to encourage young people to consider STEM careers – those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
To that end, she announced a STEM scholarship program for children, grandchildren and spouses of the 2020 awardees, with five $10,000 scholarships to be awarded in the spring 2021 semester. These scholarships honor the outstanding contributions of to national security by this year's awardees.
About 54 awardees were responsible for complex and in some cases quantum leaps in advancing the Navy's technological edge. From digital twins, to robots to lasers, a number of citations highlighted how Navy’s organic workforce of engineers and scientists are allowing the Navy to adapt and flex to today’s emerging operational challenges.
Both civilian and military scientists and engineers in the DON were eligible for these annual awards. All nominations were reviewed and scored by an executive panel. Awardees were in the categories of Emergent Engineers (no more than 10 years of cumulative experience), Emergent Scientists, Individual Engineers, Individual Scientists, Group of Scientists and/or Engineers from a single command, and Group of Scientist and/or Engineers collaborating across the Naval Research and Development Establishment (NR&DE) to include DoD.
Awardees were:
EMERGENT ENGINEERS
ALI OLINGER (MCSC/PEO LS)
ISAAC SLEDGE (NSWC Panama City)
EMERGENT SCIENTIST INVESTIGATORS
MARK BILINSKI (NIWC PACIFIC)
KATE RAINEY (NIWC PACIFIC)
C NIELS H. OLSON (Naval Hospital, Guam)
BRANDON REDDING (NRL)
INDIVIDUAL ENGINEERS
DANIEL CURTIS (NIWC PACIFIC)
JOEL GALLES (NUWC KEYPORT)
GARY KING (NIWC PACIFIC)
MATTHEW LEHR (NSWC DAHLGREN)
MICHAEL LIBEAU (NSWC DAHLGREN)
CRAIG MADDEN (NSWC CARDEROCK)
MATTHEW RAMBO (PEO C4I)
MICHELE SUITE (NRL)
EDWARD TERSINE (NSWC INDIAN HEAD EOD TECH DIV)
INDIVIDUAL SCIENTISTS
TIMOTHY BOLE (NSWC CARDEROCK)
BENJAMIN GOULD (NRL)
YOON HWANG (NAMRU-SA)
GROUP
AN/BYG-1 COMBAT CONTROL SYSTEM VIRTUAL TWIN TEAM
NUWC Newport Teammates:
Anthony Soscia
Christopher Plezia
Scott Aubuchon
Edgardo Ramos
Richmond Huot
Vathana Chan
Phong Tran
EXPERIMENTAL HULL TREATMENT (XHT) TECHNOLOGY TEAM
NAVSEA Teammates:
Joseph Hellman
David Owen
William Soublo
David Ciscon
Michael Shimko
NON-GPS AIDED POSITIONING AND TIMING FOR SURFACE SHIPS FUTURE NAVAL CAPABILITY (FNC) TEAM
Teammates:
Jacob Bencke (NIWC PACIFIC)
Kyle Swanson (NIWC PACIFIC)
Chad Pinkelman (NIWC PACIFIC)
Kevin Dea (NIWC PACIFIC)
Aaron Nascimento (PEO C4I)
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY (00T) TEAM
NSWC Port Hueneme Teammates:
Greg DeVogel
Socrates Frangis
Danny Clark
Matt Ward
HYPERVELOCITY GUN WEAPON SYSTEM (HGWS) SENSOR INTEGRATED PRODUCT TEAM (IPT)
NSWC DAHLGREN Teammates:
Kathleen Llacuna
Terry Foreman
Nicholas Reynolds
Madeline Jackson
Neil Jablonski
RAPID RESPONSE AND INTEGRATION (R21) TEAM
NIWC PACIFIC Teammates
Brian Visser
Jimmy Linh
Ling Finan
Henry Houle
Emily Nguyen
GROUP COLLABORATING ACROSS THE NR&DE
MARITIME TEST BED (MTB) Teammates
Kevin Conowitch (NAVSEA PMS 485)
CWO5 Saunte Allen (NAVSEA PMS 485)
David Mendoza (NAVSEA PMS 485)
Jeffrey Lloyd (NIWC PACIFIC)
Joshua Henson (NAVFAC EXWC)