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Like a hero in a movie, there are a few individuals that go above and beyond in their lives to make a difference in the profession they love and the world in which they live. Dr. Michael Rosene is one of these people.
Rosene began his career as a chemist with the Calgon Carbon Corporation, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based company focused on purifying air and water through the use of carbon technology, later transitioning his professional skills to a career that held more personal meaning. His influential work at Calgon led to several patents in an era of environmental research and development ensuring consumers have cleaner air and water. And now, as a key member of the Intelligence Community (IC) for nearly 32 years, he has infused his keen interest in chemistry and science with protecting our Nation.
Born and raised in the small town of Chardon, Ohio, Rosene’s modest beginnings served to influence his character, work ethic and commitment to excel at every task by seeking underlying truth first, he said.
“My motto in life is ‘the truth will guide you’,” Rosene said. “In all of my life’s work and personal relationships I strive for truth – that’s the character my parents instilled in me at a young age and I carry that with me always.”
Rosene’s parents were both teachers who valued education and learning and were always encouraging as he pursued his education, he said.
“We lived in an 8’ by 20’ trailer until I was about 5-years-old when my parents moved into a rambling old home in Chardon Village,” Rosene said. “I walked nearly a mile to and from school each day in all types of weather believing education would be the key to a better life.”
Also sparking his interest and forever changing the direction of his life was a young girl that worked on the junior high school newspaper staff.
Connie was a year ahead of Rosene in school and they first met when she stopped him for a ‘man-on-the-street’ interview. They met again during band camp and one thing led to another and on Jan. 18, 1968, Rosene a freshman asked Connie, a sophomore, to be his steady girl.
“I gave her my ID bracelet to wear which she accepted on one condition,” Rosene said. “She said, ‘let’s give it three months and see where it goes from there’ and we’ve been together ever since.”
It was in high school when Rosene decided to become a chemist because of the difference his high school chemistry teacher made in his life, he said.
“I thought enough of the guiding influence of my chemistry teacher David Yanchunas, to acknowledge him in the forward of my doctoral dissertation,” Rosene said. “His devotion to his students and the passion he had for chemistry left an indelible mark in my life and served to fuel my interest in the field.”
Rosene graduated from high school, immediately started night school at Kent State University and married his high school sweetheart - all within 14 months of graduation. Initially commuting the 120-mile round trip to class and home, Rosene’s grades were marginal, yet he remained optimistic. When he qualified for married student housing the couple moved on the main campus and lived amongst academia eliminating the commute. It was no surprise when Rosene’s educational achievement took off. He met his graduate advisor, Dr. Milton Manes and under his expert tutelage completed his dissertation research work in only three years and graduated with a Ph.D. in chemistry only six years after completing high school.
Accepting a job offer in 1977 with Calgon Carbon Corporation, the couple moved to Pittsburgh where Rosene worked for 8 1/2 years in the research and development department.
“Calgon valued my contributions and it was a positive environment for conducting research,” Rosene said. “Then in the mid-1980s, after a leveraged buy-out, the emphasis shifted to near term customer engagement and scientists were required to travel with the sales team and explain the product benefits to the consumer.”
During one of these road trips in Dimmitt, Texas, where there are ten cows to every one person, Rosene had an epiphany.
“I’d been traveling with the team, spending long hours away from home conducting experimental research for the corporation when I realized it was time for a change,” he said. “I evaluated my priorities and wanted to do something more meaningful with my education and career while incorporating our love for the beach.”
Traveling to the Outer Banks became a tradition when he and Connie were married and they were always looking for opportunities to spend time at the beach.
“Our family would pack up the car and drive the eight or ten hours to the beach at every opportunity,” Rosene said. “In the spring of 1985 we decided to move down South to avoid the northern winters, but we didn’t know where for sure.”
Perhaps it was good fortune or serendipity, Rosene and Connie ran across an article in Money Magazine touting Charlottesville, Virginia as one of the best places to live.
They began looking for employment in the area researching Merck Pharmaceuticals in Elkton, Virgina and thumbed through the Charlottesville phone book to see what industry was located in the region. That’s when the Foreign Science and Technology Center (FSTC) came into view with only one phone number representing the organization that would play a life-altering role in Rosene and Connie’s life.
“It was a happy coincidence that at the time FSTC was looking for a chemist with a background in defense against chemical and biological warfare, and I had spent time working on gas mask filters” Rosene said. “After an interview at the downtown Charlottesville offices of FSTC I was offered the job at a $5,000 pay cut from what I was earning and made the leap to start as a GS12 Step 7.”
After months of preparation, selling homes, purchasing a home in Virginia and successfully undergoing a security background check, Rosene began his first day of federal service on Jan. 6, 1986. Soon thereafter Rosene and Connie’s extended family migrated to Central Virginia where they currently live. Rosene’s legacy continued on from the days of FSTC when it merged to form the National Ground Intelligence Center in 1994.
“Accepting the position at FSTC was more than a job for me,” Rosene said. “It was my patriotic contribution and service to our country.”
While at FSTC and later NGIC, Rosene’s work ethics solidified his commitment to excellence and doing something that was meaningful, he said.
“I learned the value of doing things right and it was always the expectation that you would perform to the standards and not take shortcuts,” Rosene said.
With the help of great supervisors and mentors like Vicki Dibbern, his first branch chief, and Ralph Edwards, the division chief that encouraged and supported him to expand his horizons, Rosene leveraged his industry experience and worked his way up the ranks in civil service to GG15 as the NGIC strategic planner. Based on his broad experience and recognized achievements in the DoD and the Intelligence Community from Desert Storm to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Rosene applied for and was accepted into the Senior Executive Service in February 2012. He applied himself to the role of chief scientist with the expert guidance of his boss and mentor Daniel Morris, NGIC executive director. For the last five years he has advanced the interests of the Science and Technology cadre at the NGIC and across the Army and the IC blazing new trails and setting higher standards along the way.
Building on the work of previous chief scientists, Rosene, championed the effort to develop a cadre of senior intelligence officers (SIO) who are charged with representing the NGIC and the Army across an assigned portfolio of intelligence missions.
Creating the SIO structure and establishing billets at the Center for Scientific and Technical Intelligence (S&TI) ensuring an enduring legacy of mission success is what makes Rosene’s most proud.
“These SIOs lead teams that work various aspects of intelligence missions,” Rosene said. “They are subject matter experts who typically have the experience and depth of knowledge regarding their area of expertise serving as a cohesive link across the Center and the intelligence community.”
“Meaningful work is done in collaboration and support with others,” Rosene said. He couldn’t have accomplished the milestones in his life without his wife, Connie, by his side or the mentors who inspired him along the way, he added.
Rosene plans to retire in early summer of 2017, but his memory and legacy lives on in the lives he has touched along the way, but most importantly, the life that touched his heart so many years ago.
“Throughout my career, Connie is and has been a great sounding board. She possesses immense insight in helping me understand personalities and focusing on other’s strengths,” he said. “All of my accomplishments wouldn’t have happened without her and together we came to the decision to retire. I’m looking forward to spending more time with the woman I love and do all of those things we’ve always talked and dreamed about doing.”
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| Date Taken: | 09.04.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.21.2017 14:58 |
| Story ID: | 259267 |
| Location: | CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 88 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, A Life Built on Memorable Mentorships, by Rita McIntosh, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
