Photo By Monica Mccoy | The Unmanned Vehicles and Autonomous System Working Group accepts the NAVSEA Warfare...... read more read more
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division recognized employees for performance and length of service at its quarterly awards ceremony Oct. 20 in West Bethesda, Maryland.
“The opportunity to hand out awards to the employees who do the work for this great institution is, by far, the best thing I get to do as a CO,” said Carderock’s Commanding Officer Capt. Mark Vandroff, who joined Technical Director Dr. Tim Arcano and Carderock’s department heads on stage to present the awards.
The first set of awards were the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Warfare Centers awards, which were established to recognize individuals, teams and activities across the enterprise for their contributions of innovation and improvement in the areas of product quality, change leadership and technical and business development.
The NAVSEA Warfare Centers Collaboration Award was given to the Unmanned Vehicles and Autonomous System Working Group for having made substantial contributions in promoting collaboration across the Warfare Centers. The award went to Reid McAllister, director of the working group and part of the Strategic Planning Branch (Code 00X); Scott Petersen, head of the Systems Design and Integration Branch (Code 832) under the Combatant Craft Division at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story; John Stebe, a naval architect in the Research and Development Programs Branch (Code 812); Dr. Peter Cho, an electrical engineer with the Marine and Aviation Division (Code 88); and Stephen Ebner, division head of Code 88.
“This working group is a collaboration between the surface and undersea warfare centers,” McAllister said, adding that the working group started a little more than a year ago and consists of two representatives from each of the 10 Warfare Centers.
The NAVSEA Warfare Centers Transformation Award was given to the Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) Team, and representing Carderock from that team was Steven Ouimette, the director of operations for the Naval Architecture and Engineering Department (Code 803).
“The Naval Engineering Education Consortium is a program across the Warfare Centers to try to promote Navy research and universities in the hopes of getting students engaged in the research, thus getting the students here on internships and then viable for positions,” Ouimette said.
The NAVSEA Warfare Center Knowledge Sharing Award was given to the Carderock Knowledge Management (KM) Team, consisting of Dr. Paul Shang, department head for the Ship Signatures Department (Code 70); Dr. Judy Conley, a supervisor in the Programs Office under the Structures and Composites Division (Code 6502); Dr. James Roche from the Fleet Systems Branch (Code 732); and Garth Jensen, Carderock’s director of innovation.
“The KM team is for knowledge sharing, for which have been really advocating,” Shang said. The knowledge management team works toward the goal of one of Carderock’s Strategic Plan vectors, modern knowledge transfer, which is to foster effective, ongoing knowledge development and transfer between individuals and between groups. “We want to make sure the knowledge of whoever is retiring is being captured, and we have tools like milSuite available for that.”
The NAVSEA Excellence Awards acknowledge individuals and teams for their contributions. For Carderock, Robert Young, a naval architect in the Future Ship and Submarine Concepts Branch (Code 824), received the award as part of the Amphibious Warfare Program Ship-to-Shore Connector Team; Charles Roe, head of the Physical Metallurgy and Fire Branch (Code 612), received the award as part of the Laser Ablation Coating Removal Non-Nuclear Ships Team; Brian Heidt, head of the Programs and Platforms Division (Code 807), received the Individual Excellence Award from the Engineering and Technical Authority Training Team; and Christopher Fountain, program manager for the Systems and Measurement Branch (Code 752), received the Team Excellence Award for his role on the Advanced Degaussing System Specification Development Team.
The length-of-service awards were given to those employees who have reached 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 years of federal service.
“When you get to that length of service, I have gained a great appreciation, because it is a testament to the fact that folks have dedicated their lives to serving something greater than themselves, and that’s our nation through the United States Navy,” Arcano said.
Two employees at the awards ceremony were given special recognition for their time. Stephen Williams, an engineer in the Vulnerability Assessment Branch (Code 665), has served the federal government for 40 years. Vandroff pointed out that at 40 and 45 years of federal service, the certificate is signed by the secretary of the Navy. Williams has worked on numerous ship and submarine programs performing vulnerabilities assessments during his career.
“We can all be proud of the work we do here at Carderock, and here as an example of what one employee does and the difference it makes when that product finally gets out to the fleet,” Vandroff said. Vandroff singled out one of the ships Williams worked on, USS San Antonio (LPD 17), because he is familiar with the ship having been a program manager for that class of amphibious transport dock. “Those are out there now all around the world protecting freedom, and it is because of the work that starts at this Warfare Center at Carderock.”
For serving the federal government for 45 years, Richard Bishop, a naval architect in the Full Scale Trials Branch (Code 853), sprinted up to the stage to accept his certificate signed by the secretary of the Navy.
Vandroff mentioned that if he stays another five years, Bishop will get a certificate signed by the president. “I’m looking forward to coming back and watching the next CO present that certificate to Richard,” Vandroff said.
Bishop has spent his entire career working in ship performance and surface ship dynamics. As for what Bishop thinks of his many years of service, “It has been a job, more like an adventure. Go Navy!” he told the audience.
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.27.2017 14:28 |
| Story ID: | 225056 |
| Location: | WEST BETHESDA, MD, US |
| Web Views: | 345 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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