Mark Sapp, a welding and materials engineer within FRCE’s Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) Engineering Department, was inducted as a NAVAIR Fellow during a March 23 ceremony in California, Maryland.
Sapp has catalogued an extensive list of accomplishments during his 28-year career at the depot. He was inducted into the NAVAIR Fellows Program in 2011 as an Associate Fellow. Being made a Fellow, the first from FRCE, represents the culmination of excellence demonstrated throughout Sapp’s career, said MRO Engineering Department Head Stuart Clayton.
“Mark’s accomplishments go far beyond FRC East, with the ultimate benefactor being the warfighter,” Clayton said. “His career has proven that technical excellence is more than utilizing engineering rigor to achieve greater repair capability or cost savings; it highlights the importance of staying curious and passionate in one’s discipline, pursuing what is in the best interest of the warfighter, and setting standards that have widespread and long-lasting impacts.”
The NAVAIR Fellows program, which was established in 2000, features three tiers: Associate Fellow, Fellow and Esteemed Fellow. Associate Fellows represent the top 3% of NAVAIR scientists and engineers, while Fellows represent the top 0.75%. The title Esteemed Fellow is reserved for just the top 0.25%. The program is national in scope and is open to all NAVAIR engineers and scientists. Nominees must have a well-established history of significant technical contributions and accomplishments within naval aviation.
As a result of his work within NAVAIR and with other branches of service, equipment manufacturers, professional organizations and mentees, Sapp’s influence in the aviation welding community spans the globe, said Materials Engineering Division Director Robert Mehring. He nominated Sapp for the recognition, and said he felt Sapp’s credentials spoke for themselves.
“Mark is regarded as the absolute authority within NAVAIR for resolving welding and material joining challenges,” Mehring said. “His expertise is sought after by many across the Naval Aviation Enterprise, and his engineering services are constantly in demand by NAVAIR, the Air Force and the Coast Guard. Mark’s technical contributions have made impacts at all levels of maintenance and acquisition, both within and outside the Department of Defense.”
Sapp began his Navy civilian career as a welding engineer at Charleston Navy Shipyard shortly after graduating from the Ohio State University. He moved to FRCE after the shipyard closed a few years later and, since then, has gone on to set the standard for technical knowledge in the field of aviation welding engineering. Sapp serves as a voting member on committees that write welding and brazing standards for the American Welding Society and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). He is one of just 12 American members of the ISO’s welding working group, and the only Department of Defense representative. He also serves as the technical point of contact for several collaborative projects with academia, industry and other Defense Department organizations.
Despite his depth of experience, Sapp said he never imagined he’d earn such high praise and recognition. However, he’s not in it for the accolades – Sapp, who retired from the Navy Reserve as a chief petty officer, is first and foremost interested in supporting the Fleet.
“Of course I’m appreciative that NAVAIR is recognizing my work, but it goes a little deeper than that,” Sapp said. “The military has been with me since ’76 and, when I think of what I’m doing, I’m thinking of the guy that’s having the mortar thrown at him, and how I can make his life more comfortable. I can’t stop the mortar from being thrown at him, but I can keep him from having to fix something or give him the means to fix it right then and there, if he needs to.
“I never thought I would ever reach Fellow. To me, that’s where all the PhD’s and the higher grade engineers at NAVAIR headquarters work,” he continued. “But I looked at the nomination form and they wanted me to explain what I’ve done since I made Associate Fellow that has helped NAVAIR, and I realized I could do that. If it’s in NAVAIR and it has the word weld in it, you’re going to find my name somewhere very close, maybe even at the top of it.”
In addition to his focus on the Fleet, Sapp also places great importance on mentorship in his day-to-day operations. He has served as a mentor for an estimated 100 engineers from FRCE, FRC Southeast and FRC Southwest, along with several other Naval Commands and other facilities. Sapp’s colored pencil illustrations of welding repairs have become a coveted collectable among those who’ve sought his guidance in making repairs that aren’t covered in the technical manuals.
“I just enjoy teaching. My door is always open,” he said. “I don’t care who you are, which platform or program you’re assigned to; I don’t even care if the problem you’re trying to solve isn’t related to welding. If you want to come in, we’ll sit down and root through how to make repairs that aren’t in the technical manual.
“I basically teach them to think. That’s what I do,” Sapp continued. “We all had the same physics classes, we all had the same math classes – even after 40 years, we’re still using the same mechanical engineering textbook. So I teach them how to think, and when someone approaches me for help, I don’t write anything down. I don’t tell them how to make a repair, but I do pull out my colored pencils and I’ll draw the repair and even make a storyboard out of it so they can see, step by step, what I’m talking about.”
For someone who lives and breathes welding – Sapp even has a website dedicated to welding history, and is working on a book covering the same subject – being recognized as an authority in his area of expertise and helping mold the future of the occupation within the command has been extremely gratifying.
“I never thought I would be as successful as I have been, but it’s been a joy,” Sapp said.
FRCE is North Carolina's largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.