Photo By Jhon Parsons | Wayne Shaw, systems engineer at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division...... read more read more
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At the quarterly Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) All Hands and Awards Ceremony on March 27, one unassuming awardee received more applause than anyone else.
Wayne Shaw, systems engineer, got a warm standing ovation, honoring his 50 years of civilian service, spent mostly at NSWC PHD.
Leadership also surprised Shaw with an additional honor: the Navy Civilian Service Commendation Medal, given to civilians who distinguish themselves by performing far above expectations and grade.
What garners such appreciation other than simply five decades on the job? Stephen Isbell, a lead engineer, said Shaw cares about people and it shows.
“You can’t fake that,” Isbell said.
And it showed in Shaw’s comments at the award ceremony. He used his moment on stage not to talk about his accomplishments, but to acknowledge audience members he had worked with over the years. He also shared four questions he said the group might find useful when considering retirement.
His questions: Do you still consider your work important? Do you find it interesting? Do you like the people you work for? And do you like the people you work with?
He said if the answer is “yes,” then maybe put off retirement to a future day. Shaw’s presence indicated his answer to the questions remains, at least for now, “yes.”
“It’s 10:10. I guess it’s time for me to start my next 50 years,” he said as the audience laughed.
Later, Shaw explained that he wanted to use his moment in the spotlight to give his colleagues some helpful tidbits, a habit familiar to the many people who know him as a mentor.
Shaw’s drive to share knowledge is legendary at the command. According to the nomination for his Navy Civilian Service Commendation Medal, he has mentored more than 100 NSWC PHD engineers. He remains highly regarded as a resident expert, not just on the systems he works on, but in the overall field of systems engineering, the nomination said.
Engineering family
Shaw’s connection to naval engineering and teaching runs in the family. Born in Kansas, his parents moved to Oxnard when he was less than a year old. His father, a civil engineer, worked in a naval civil engineering lab at Naval Base Ventura County in another command, and his mother was a teacher. Shaw attended Hueneme High School, then headed to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering.
He chose engineering because he excelled at math and science, he said, plus engineering appealed to his eye for detail.
In 1975, he entered the job market during an economic slump and said he felt lucky to get two offers. One came from a company in the San Fernando Valley and one from the Point Mugu naval base. He chose Point Mugu because the position involved computer programming, which he had long enjoyed, he said. He added that it enabled him to live in Oxnard instead of the San Fernando Valley.
Two years later an opportunity came up at NSWC PHD, Shaw said. He made the jump and has remained with the command ever since.
In his first years on the job, tools and office arrangements reflected the times. Engineers used slide rules, personal computers didn’t exist at work, and programming still involved computer cards, he said. Engineers worked four to an office, sharing one telephone between them, he said.
After a few years, his office phone system made a leap forward: Each engineer got their own desk phone, although four engineers still shared one phone number, he said.
But the systems Shaw worked on are recognizable today. From 1977 to 1980 he worked on the NATO Seasparrow Missile System. He then moved to a system just ramping up in the Navy back then: the Target Acquisition System (TAS) Operational Computer Program (OCP), precursor to today’s Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS).
Becoming a nationwide expert
For the next 32 years, Shaw worked on TAS OCP full time, first as a software engineer and then as lead engineer for the design team.
His eye for detail helped him master every aspect of the system. In addition to software and engineering, he handled budgeting and planning, wrote test documents, made presentations, trained other engineers, and worked with sailors in the fleet. He met with equipment manufacturers and did whatever else was needed to strengthen the system, according to the nomination.
Shaw’s expertise on TAS OCP eventually established him as a nationally recognized expert on the system. He took that as direction to continually pass on knowledge to other engineers and ensure that sailors could do their job with confidence, he said.
His dedication made an impact. The nomination said that Shaw’s work on the TAS OCP reshaped the future of the fleet and transformed it to what it is today.
“His exceptional leadership proved indispensable through the entire TAS OCP life cycle,” the nomination said.
Shaw so completely became the system’s knowledge base that in 2024 when TAS OCP was eventually removed from the last ship using it, Shaw was the sole remaining subject matter expert (SME), and had kept the system operational for that ship, he said.
In 2012, his work shifted to TAS’s replacement system when Shaw became an SSDS senior systems engineer. In that role, Shaw worked as a generalist rather than an SME, providing expertise on combat system conceptualization, development and related matters.
But while his title and system changed, his drive to help others remained.
Dedication to mentoring
Rob Huffman, a test and evaluation lead who has worked with Shaw for 20 years, described himself as a beneficiary of Shaw’s expertise since before they even met.
In the 1980s, Huffman was a sailor aboard U.S. Navy ships. Years later when he met Shaw, Huffman said he realized Shaw had been “that guy” who supported his shipboard TAS OCP system back in the day.
Huffman said Shaw not only passes on his expertise, but also edits Huffman’s reports and gives feedback.
“He’s always been that guy I can lean on for advice and he’s always very detail oriented and very smart,” Huffman said. “He would look at my brief and say, ‘Hey Rob, you said that differently on slide 40 than you did on slide three.’”
Isbell, who has known Shaw for 10 years, has similar experiences. He said from the first time they met, he found Shaw very approachable. Shaw took Isbell under his wing and went out of his way to help him learn, Isbell said.
“Even if it was outside of his scope, he would do whatever he could to help me,” Isbell said. “I always feel I can ask him anything and he would be there to help me.”
What about the work has changed over the years, other than phones and slide rules? Shaw said he’s pleased that today’s engineers come from a wider range of backgrounds than when he started. He added that new engineers enter the role already familiar with many tools and programs and generally how to do things.
He said what he finds most interesting is what has not changed in 50 years: dedication to the work.
“The fleet is important to us now; it was important to us 50 years ago,” he said. “That was why we worked.”
When he’s not working, Shaw enjoys ballroom dancing, traveling, hiking and playing the piano. He’s visited all 50 states and four continents, although he has yet to visit Australia, South America and Antarctica.
He’ll do that when he retires, he said. When will that be? After a moment of thought he said he’ll retire in the next year — maybe.
“Right now, I’m still answering ‘yes’ to my four questions,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 05.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2025 15:41 |
| Story ID: | 498730 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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