Photo By Ryan Smith | Rear Adm. Keith Hash, NAWCWD commander, presents the 2025 Department of Defense SMART...... read more read more
Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division operates with one mission: to give American warfighters the weapons to win.
But weapons don't design themselves. Electronic warfare systems don't develop on their own to counter new threats. Testing capabilities for hypersonic systems don't just appear out of nowhere.
They come from people. The right people. With the right skills. At the right time.
And every August, Catherine Kreidt makes sure NAWCWD gets them.
The Department of Defense Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation Scholarship-for-Service program, known as SMART, runs from Aug. 1 to July 31 each year.
For 10 years, she's been NAWCWD's SMART talent architect.
Information sessions for current employees. Visits to Sherman E. Burroughs High School's engineering and computer science students. This year, something new: outreach at the Techgrid to reach civilians who've never considered defense work. Meanwhile, NAWCWD managers hunt through applications for candidates to fill critical gaps.
This is how NAWCWD builds its future workforce. And the Pentagon just took notice.
On Aug. 11, NAWCWD leaders presented Kreidt with the 2025 SMART Scholarship Program Naval Sponsoring Facility Lead of the Year award on behalf of DOD.
"SMART is definitely my favorite part of my job," Kreidt said. "So it's exciting to get recognized for the awesome work we do here."
The team behind the success
Kreidt knows she didn't achieve this recognition alone.
Behind her stands the Skills Management, Advanced Education, Student Employment & STEM Outreach Office: six people who drive massive STEM outreach while managing multiple student programs. Scott Hawkins runs the department with a leadership style that makes it, according to Kreidt, "the best place to work on base."
"I couldn't have done this without them," Kreidt said. "We all work together to get student talent into NAWCWD and grow that talent through academic programs."
She saved her highest praise for the national team.
"The people who run the SMART program nationally for DOD are some of the most helpful, caring, inspiring people I've ever had the pleasure of working with," Kreidt said. "They believe in this program, and you can see that by how much it's growing year after year."
From 32 awards in 2006 to nearly 500 today, SMART has become DOD's premier pipeline for technical talent. But Kreidt's path to becoming one of NAWCWD's STEM champions started far from defense work.
Desert daughter
Ridgecrest, California. A desert town where weapons work runs through bloodlines.
Kreidt was three years old when her father brought her here, first as a Sailor and then as a civilian who retired from NAWCWD. Every morning, he'd drive through the gates. Every evening, young Catherine would watch him return.
The base was in her blood before she knew what it meant.
After graduating from the University of California, Riverside, with a psychology degree in 2005, she returned home and spent a year substitute teaching. In April 2007, she joined NAWCWD through the Naval Acquisition Development Program.
As a human resources specialist, she managed multiple programs, including those under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act.
In 2015, SMART became hers. It demands a quarter of her time but all of her heart.
"I see how important the work we do here is to the fleet," Kreidt said. "I get to encourage the next generation."
A hometown job had become a national mission.
Powering the pipeline
The SMART program works two ways at NAWCWD.
Most scholars are college students pursuing bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees who've never worked for DOD. They receive full tuition, annual stipends up to $46,000, summer internships at NAWCWD and guaranteed jobs after graduation. And yes, a few high school students have received full funding for a bachelor's degree.
Current NAWCWD employees also use SMART to pursue graduate degrees. Some technicians earn engineering degrees to switch career paths. Others pursue specialized doctorates when managers identify knowledge gaps.
"We have departments that ask their current employees, 'Would you be willing to get an advanced degree to fill this need?'" Kreidt said. "They go back to school, get higher education in that specific field, then bring that expertise back to us."
Remember those weapons that don't design themselves? Kreidt found the minds who will. Nearly 100 scholars have come through the SMART program at NAWCWD since 2016.
Season of selection
The competition is fierce. Last year, 6,300 students applied nationwide for 499 SMART scholarships across 161 DOD facilities.
And it's Kreidt's job to make sure NAWCWD gets the minds it needs most.
NAWCWD managers get portal access to hunt for the scholars they need. They review applications, interview candidates by phone and match research to mission gaps.
Then comes March Madness.
Six senior managers gather around a conference table. They look at the command as a whole and NAWCWD's strategic focus areas. The committee scores. Debates. Ranks. By day's end, they've prioritized every candidate. Then SMART headquarters receives the list.
This year, managers recommended 32 candidates.
The awards go out in April. Then Kreidt's real work begins: preparing for the site visits that will seal the deal.
By June, fresh faces flood the two bases for two days that will shape their futures. They see hangars at China Lake and Point Mugu. They tour the sea range control center. They get close looks at targets and aircraft.
Then they see what sets NAWCWD apart.
Kreidt said she tells each group: "We do things here that you literally cannot do anywhere else in the world. We test NASA parachutes on the SNORT track. Our electronic warfare department is a center of excellence. We have scientists who go to sea on aircraft carriers to see our products in action."
She paused. "I mean, we get to blow things up here."
Ten years in, the site visits still energize her.
"I always leave thinking we are such a cool place to work," she said. "If I were one of these scholars, I would be so stoked right now that this is where I get to work when I graduate."
Scholar to mentor
The program's quality shows in its alumni. From national recognition to personal transformation, SMART scholars prove NAWCWD's investment pays dividends.
In 2022, Dr. Patrick Fedick won the national SMART Scholar of the Year award for his contributions to ambient ionization mass spectrometry and threat detection. His mentor, Dr. Benjamin Harvey, shared the honor.
Then there's Dr. Jean Paul Santos.
He earned his master's degree as a recruitment scholar, worked at NAWCWD, then returned to SMART for his doctorate as a retention scholar.
Today, he serves as chief technology officer for the Point Mugu Sea Range Future Capabilities Office. He leads the development of unmanned surface vessel instrumentation for hypersonics and long-range fires testing.
But six years ago at UCLA, Santos was midway through his doctorate when his adviser vanished without warning.
Some mentors teach. Kreidt saves.
"Cat was instrumental in helping me make sure that I finished my Ph.D. on time," Santos said. "She was always attentive with my specific requests and made time for me. SMART was a tremendous blessing for me."
But the real payoff came later.
"Cat made me feel that I had a fantastic workplace at NAWCWD to come back to," Santos added.
Now he sits on the other side of the table. He selects and mentors new scholars at the Point Mugu Sea Range.
One of his scholars handles radio-frequency challenges with software-defined radios. Lab experiment? Not quite.
"His research connects to our department's technical roadmaps, solving problems outlined in NAWCWD's strategic plan," Santos said. "It's a win-win for NAWCWD and the scholar."
This is how NAWCWD builds tomorrow's capabilities today.
"Having been through it himself, he's aware of what it takes and what kind of people they're looking for," Kreidt noted.
Executive buy-in
NAWCWD leadership has made SMART scholars a priority.
It was NAWCWD Executive Director Dan Carreño's idea to bring scholars face-to-face with Senior Executive Service members.
"They talk to our leaders about what it is they want to do with their careers, what their research is on, and how they see that fitting into the bigger NAWCWD mission," Kreidt said.
Scholars feel it immediately.
"Our leadership here is phenomenal. They care about their workforce," Kreidt said.
Summer internships mean real projects, actual test events, research applied to warfighter needs.
"These scholars are developing these big ideas and turning them into a real, tangible product that will eventually support our warfighters," Kreidt said.
The invitation
For Kreidt, it isn't about filling positions. It's about survival.
"These scholars' ideas end up getting tested against real-life adversaries," Kreidt said. "Innovation is necessary if we want to deter bad actors and win."
Ask her why someone should choose NAWCWD, and 18 years of conviction powers every word.
"You can change careers every five years and never have to leave NAWCWD," Kreidt said. "I guarantee you'll feel inspired by our mission and our people, and be proud to work here."
Kreidt said she still doesn't know half of what NAWCWD does. Nobody does. The work is that deep. That classified. That critical.
Every Aug. 1, while America sleeps, Kreidt starts hunting again. She knows that somewhere in the Pacific, on a carrier deck, a warfighter will need a weapon that doesn't exist yet.
A capability that will mean the difference between victory and defeat.
And Kreidt is helping to find the mind that will create it. One scholar at a time.
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2025 11:20 |
| Story ID: | 545616 |
| Location: | CHINA LAKE, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 43 |
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This work, DOD Honors Catherine Kreidt as SMART Program Facility Lead of the Year, by Tim Gantner, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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