DAHLGREN, Va.—Eighty-two individuals and 18 groups were honored with 21 different Navy and Dahlgren Division awards as the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) held its annual honor awards ceremony on May 7, 2014.
"We are recognizing individuals and groups who share a commitment to excellence in executing the important work we do in support of NSWC Dahlgren Division, the Navy and our community," NSWCDD Commander Capt. Brian Durant told more than 220 military and civilian personnel at the University of Mary Washington Dahlgren campus. "What you are going to hear in the sound bites reflects a lot of hard work and accomplishments over the past year. This is why I am honored to be the commander of NSWC Dahlgren Division."
Dr. James E. Colvard - Technical Director of the Naval Weapons Laboratory from 1973 to 1974 and the Naval Surface Weapons Center from 1974 to 1980 - recounted the command's history during his keynote speech.
NSWCDD evolved to become "the intellectual heart blood of the surface navy" since it fired the first shot over the Potomac River Test Range to test a seven-inch 45 caliber tractor mounted artillery gun in 1918, he said.
In attendance were scientists and engineers who develop and test guns - including the electromagnetic railgun and laser weapon systems - over the same test range 96 years later.
"It's important to recognize the institutional history you are a part of," Colvard told the audience. "Your accomplishments have added to the heritage here at Dahlgren - a long and distinguished heritage. You should be proud of being part of the organization and this special recognition."
Families and co-workers watched as awardees were honored at the morning individual awards and afternoon group awards sessions.
"It is also important to recognize our awardees' families and co-workers, who are partners in the career successes we celebrated today," said Durant in the program provided to all in attendance. "To the spouses, children, parents, and friends - thank you for your patience and understanding when long hours and extended travel were necessary."
John Adolphus Dahlgren Award
Durant presented the John Adolphus Dahlgren Award, the command's highest award, to Jack Bernardes and Michael Pompeii.
The Dahlgren Award is named for Rear Adm. John A. Dahlgren - who is considered the "Father of Modern Naval Ordnance" - and honors individuals with significant achievement in science, engineering or management.
Bernardes - honored for his leadership and technical work supporting the Navy's Railgun Program - led the efforts to establish a world-class electromagnetic launch laboratory capable of firing projectiles at muzzle energies exceeding 32 mega joules. Pompeii was recognized for shaping Dahlgren's Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defense capabilities which have expanded NSWCDD's enduring capabilities to research, develop and field revolutionary systems of systems to the Sailor, Department of Defense and the nation.
C.J. Rorie Award
Information Systems Technician First Class Daniel Heidbreder and Operations Specialist Master Chief John Appleton received the C.J. Rorie Award, established to recognize military personnel assigned to NSWCDD whose excellence in the performance of their duties contributed significantly to the effectiveness of the Division's military operation.
Heidbreder - cited for his leadership as the command's military training officer - increased systems' efficiencies, cost savings, and military readiness. Appleton's technical expertise in supporting the battle management organization-human machine interface working group for dual band radar development and implementation aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), resulted in improved coordination, visual interaction and responsiveness by the Sailor.
Bernard Smith Award
Two Dahlgren employees were recognized with the Bernard Smith Award, established to recognize individuals with exceptional, significant and technical contributions in engineering or science, especially those made in the face of unusual odds or significant opposition.
Craig Phillips was honored for his dedication to NSWC Dahlgren Division's leadership in missile and guided munition engineering and integration. Howard Woodard's technical and programmatic leadership relating to Aegis combat system capability upgrades will enable the government to introduce designs to increase commonality that will reduce lifecycle costs over time.
Dr. James E. Colvard Award
Three employees - Patricia Fetter, Alan Tolley and Robert Band - received an award named in honor of the guest speaker. The Dr. James E. Colvard Award recognizes individuals who, through their leadership, have made substantial contributions to the development of NSWCDD as a technical institution.
Fetter's contributions in mission planning, targeting and development of software intensive systems enhanced NSWC's leadership and technical excellence of strategic weapons systems and served to strengthen the overall integrity and standing of the warfare center.
Tolley was honored for his systems engineering leadership in the development of critical radar systems including the dual band radar and the air missile defense radar.
Robert Band's multi-year leadership and vision in support of the Hydra Hunter Program enabled NSWCDD to rapidly develop multiple unique electro-mechanical designs and field thousands of systems. The team he developed and led provided capabilities that resulted in countless American and coalition lives saved and enabled U.S. forces to deny and degrade the warfighting capabilities of terrorists and insurgents in multiple theaters.
Dr. Charles J. Cohen Science and Technology Excellence Award
Five employees received the Dr. Charles J. Cohen Science and Technology Excellence Award for fundamentally impacting science or technology with work that also measurably impacted capability.
William Roberts was honored for his efforts in leading the Spectral Mitigation Project to evaluate and improve the abilities of naval materials (paints, pigments, weapons and uniforms) to provide effective camouflage across the optical spectrum.
Dr. Kevin Adams was recognized for his work in the area of secured workstation framework. With the increasing concern of cyber threats, Dr. Adams identified, developed and configured hardware, firmware and software mechanisms allowing for the establishment, isolation, and separation of multiple partitions within a system.
Dr. Kevin Boulais - cited for his contribution in developing next generation electromagnetic materials geared toward Navy applications - led numerous initiatives to progress optically controlled, broadly tunable electromagnetic components.
Dr. Michael Hamilton's innovative contributions advanced the state of the art in human-device interaction principles for the warfighter. His research helped pave the way for delivering new, more effective interaction modalities to the warfighter, with the potential to greatly increase the combat effectiveness of current and future naval warfare systems.
Dr. Derrell McPherson established new lines of research in spore physiology and biology. These lines have generated a unique national capability at NSWCDD, promoting greater fidelity in evaluating candidate biological detection technologies by providing more relevant challenges to the systems under test.
Helen Springer Award
Three employees received the Helen Springer Award, newly established to recognize individuals who have made a notable and significant impact to business operations at NSWCDD. The award was named in honor of Helen Springer, a former NSWCDD Deputy Human Resources Director who was instrumental in transforming business operations at Dahlgren from a paper-based system to an electronic environment.
Kathy Clark was honored for her leadership in NSWCDD's transformation of financial processes due to the transition from the Defense Industrial Financial Management System to the Navy Enterprise Resources Program.
Michael Simulcik's contribution to NSWCDD's safety posture ensures command personnel are trained, equipped, and aware of the safety and environmental impacts of the tasks required for mission accomplishment.
Tia Ward's was recognized for her exceptional performance and multiple contributions to business operations and processes across NSWCDD.
Walter T. Lewis Acquisition Award
The newly established Walter T. Lewis Acquisition Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated the key tenets of teamwork, integrity and accountability in the achievement of acquisition excellence in support of the NSWCDD Mission. This award is named in honor of Walter T. Lewis who was the command's first civilian contracting officer with unlimited contracting officer authority, the first small business specialist, the first competition advocate, and the first deputy for procurement serving as the NSWCDD acquisition expert.
James Sherman - honored for his contributions as the NSWCDD Engagement Systems Department acquisition coordination lead managing a 400 million dollar contracts portfolio - developed strategic sourcing solutions for his customer base, resulting in on-time, quality, affordable products and services.
Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award
Eleven NSWCDD employees were presented with the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award.
Tara Roane - honored for promoting equal employment opportunity (EEO) and diversity programs as NSWCDD deputy EEO officer - led the organization in its core strategic objectives and efforts to value and leverage diversity and inclusion.
Kenneth Clements and James Wills were both recognized for innovation and diligence in developing and implementing new missile system integration approaches for the benefit of the Navy.
David Jennings was honored for his technical contributions to the Strategic and Weapon Control Systems Department and to the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Program.
Tammye Thornton was recognized for leadership that will result in significant improvements to the Navy's ability to consistently develop and deliver secure and high quality software systems on schedule and within budget.
Theresa Gennaro was cited for her leadership in the design, development, integration and deployment of the Navy Laser Weapon System.
Robert Headley's leadership enabled many critical developments and significant growth in the next generation of surface electronic warfare systems, improving the Navy's operational effectiveness today and in the future.
Gair Brown's was honored for his technical and leadership contributions to the Zumwalt Class Destroyer program.
Jamie Patteson directly contributed to critical Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program successes, including the certification of two major capability upgrade developments, the conduct of five successful Aegis BMD flight tests, and the successful standup and integration of the Aegis ashore facility in Hawaii.
Matthew Hornbaker's leadership, management, and mentoring skills shaped the command's capability to effectively develop and field solutions for the Navy's future needs in the areas of combat systems, human systems performance, and chemical, biological and radiological defense.
Kathrina Urann's dedication and work ethic positively affected NSWCDD's ability to acquire goods and services, specifically acquisition requirements across the Asymmetric Systems Department.
Award of Excellence for Analysis
The NSWCDD Award of Excellence for Analysis is newly established to recognize individuals who have made a notable and significant impact to NSWCDD through their outstanding performance in analysis - warfare, design, engineering, modeling and simulation.
Five employees - Dr. Carl Sisemore, Jeff Hughes, Gregory Pilson, David Clawson and Larry Ground - received this award for performance or achievements that are exceptional in nature and have resulted in a significant organizational contribution.
Sisemore was honored for his efforts in the development and use of engineering analysis codes for Navy programs.
Hughes was recognized for his leadership and technical contributions to strategic targeting analysis for the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Strategic Weapon System.
Pilson's technical leadership impacted the development of a SPY-1 radar analysis tool suite, providing the Navy with a capability to process tactically recorded data.
Clawson's contributions to warfare analysis set an institutional foundation for Dahlgren's technical excellence in warfare analysis and enabled the command to expand its analysis capability.
Ground's leadership and analytical capabilities resulted in a better posture to minimize mission risks and significantly improve mission assurance for numerous DoD installations.
Award of Excellence for Software Engineering and Integration
The NSWCDD Award of Excellence for Software Engineering and Integration was established to recognize individuals who have made a notable and significant impact to NSWCDD through their outstanding performance in Software Engineering & Integration.
Six employees received this award which targets individuals with performance or achievements that are exceptional in nature and have resulted in a significant organizational contribution.
Ashton Engledow was honored for his software engineering leadership contributions to the development and delivery of a Battle Management System baseline to the warfighter.
Kimberly Gudyka was recognized for her leadership and technical contributions to the development of complex computational and graphical software for the Ballistic Missile Submarine Fire Control System and the U.S. Strategic Command Mission Planning System.
Roger Brown's leadership and personal achievements in software engineering significantly contributed to the success of the Tomahawk program.
Scott Ruff was cited for his dedication as the Littoral Combat Ship Surface Warfare Mission Package command and control cost account manager and as Mission Package application software command and control lead.
Mike Wiseman - posthumously honored for his leadership and technical contributions to the Automated Test and Re-Test (ATRT) and Virtual Test Bed (VTB) projects - designed and implemented the first phase of VTB for non-AEGIS ships and served as co-lead for the VTB Demo initiative. Wiseman's wife accepted the award on his behalf to a standing ovation.
David Morad was recognized for his contribution to key chemical, biological and radiological defense software engineering and integration in support of modeling and simulation efforts.
Award of Excellence for Systems Engineering and Integration
The Award of Excellence for Systems Engineering and Integration was established to recognize individuals who have made a notable and significant impact to NSWCDD through their outstanding performance in systems engineering and integration. This award targets individuals whose performance or achievements are exceptional in nature and have resulted in a significant organizational contribution. There were five recipients this year.
Brian Eaddy was honored for his contribution to the Fire Scout Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Control Segment Technical Refresh Activity.
Annette Helm was recognized for her technical leadership and expertise for all Aegis Weapons Control System engineering activities in the NSWCDD Maritime Warfare Control Systems Division, including the development, management and approval activities.
Ryan Mead was cited for implementing critical system and integration across two highly visible counter-improvised explosive device projects.
Ashby Hall - honored for her systems engineering leadership on Aegis Advanced Capability Build 2016 - impacted the development and eventual fielding of future Aegis capabilities for the Navy.
Anthony Harris was recognized for his dedication to meeting asymmetric rapid response integration demands.
Award of Excellence for Test and Evaluation
The NSWCDD Award of Excellence for Test & Evaluation was established to recognize individuals who have made a notable and significant impact to NSWCDD through their outstanding performance in Test and Evaluation, the collection, analysis, and assessment of data to characterize and/or measure the performance of a component, system, platform, or mission.
Six employees received this award which targets individuals with performance or achievements that are exceptional in nature and have resulted in a significant organizational contribution.
William Houchins helped establish NSWCDD as a recognized leader in the area of test and evaluation of explosive ordnance to assess system safety, compliance with insensitive munitions requirements, and performance.
Lee Adler was honored for his contribution in leading the Patrol Coastal Griffin Missile Test program.
Jon Posch was recognized for his leadership and dedication in implementing automated testing of the ballistic missile submarine and guided missile submarine fire control software delivered to the fleet.
Jeff Riggleman - cited for coordinating and leading the program level test events for the Tomahawk Weapons System - was instrumental in the testing and fielding of multiple Tomahawk Weapons System baselines.
Mark Giewont was honored for his leadership to identify and resolve significant design, integration, and test issues discovered during test and evaluation of the USS Independence class of Littoral Combat Ship.
Lindsay Sobota's leadership in support for the Hydra Hunter Program resulted in the validation and certification of multiple unique electro-mechanical systems for operational deployment, resulting in the fielding of thousands of systems.
Technology to the Warfighter Award
The Technology to the Warfighter Award recognizes individuals or groups who have had a notable and significant impact on the warfighter by developing needed capability and transitioning it into operations. Three employees received this award which recognizes direct contributions to the warfighter and their operational impact.
James Chisholm was honored for his leadership and his contributions upon the integration of the Griffin Missile System on the U.S. Navy Cyclone-class Patrol Coastal ships.
William Fones was recognized for his contributions to the systems integration efforts associated with the Littoral Combat Ship Surface Warfare Mission Package Application Software Project.
Jennifer Dowell was cited for her efforts - crucial to the success of real-world operations - to develop and fabricate unique intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors for the warfighter.
Independent Applied Research Project of the Year
Dr. Chris Weiland received the Independent Applied Research Project of the Year Award. An individual or group whose research results exhibit outstanding technical or scientific merit relevant to the mission and thrusts of NSWCDD - and will have a positive effect on other command efforts - are eligible for the award.
Weiland was honored for his research project entitled "Adaptive Fire Control using a Visual Targeting Algorithm." Weiland's research represents a paradigm shift in how gunfire data is collected for test and evaluation purposes and has the potential to significantly impact how gunfire corrections are collected and applied for both direct and indirect weapons on the battlefield.
In-house Laboratory Independent Research Excellence Award
Dr. Michael Lowry received the In-house Laboratory Independent Research Excellence Award which is granted to an individual or group whose research results exhibit outstanding technical or scientific merit - relevant to the mission and thrusts of NSWCDD.
Lowry was honored for his research project entitled "Exploring the chemistry and physics of stress-grown carbon nanotubes". Lowry and his colleagues developed methods for growing and characterizing nano-scale materials, and demonstrated the viability of using applied stress as a mechanism for tailoring the structure and properties of carbon nanotubes.
Leadership Award
Five employees were honored with the Leadership Award - established to recognize individuals who have made a notable and significant impact to NSWCDD through their outstanding performance in project leadership, line management or both.
Andy Knott was honored for as a significant contributor in the development of leaders within the Test and Evaluation Division.
Jerome Scott was recognized for his service to NSWCDD and the Navy in the position of acting Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Program director.
Matthew McQuage - serving as the High Power Radio Frequency Area Director for the Directed Energy Warfare Office - developed a fiscal year 2013 portfolio of more than 16 million dollars, including 20 projects that required collaboration with numerous external sponsors and stakeholders.
Dennis White established the Human Systems Integration (HSI) branch as a magnet organization for development of HSI as a discipline within Navy systems engineering. Under his stewardship, the HSI branch became a "provider of choice" for projects across the naval enterprise.
Richard Hodge was cited for his leadership of the NSWCDD Chemical, Biological and Radiological Concepts and Experimentation Branch in growing the branch's expertise, capabilities and resource sponsors.
Paul J. Martini Award
Eleven employees received the Paul J. Martini Award - established to recognize individuals who demonstrated excellence in an administrative or other support function. The award is named in honor of Paul J. Martini, who was head of the Engineering Support Directorate of the Naval Ordnance Laboratory from November 1951 to December 1973.
Kimberly Beswick was honored for her significant contributions to the improvement of various accounting processes internal to the Comptroller Department and for helping all departments to better perform key accounting functions within Enterprise Resource Planning.
Kevin Deal was recognized for his contribution to the University of Mary Washington in the development and execution of a government contracting program.
Christina Good was commended for her commitment to balancing the legality of contracting with the ultimate goal of supporting the warfighter in a timely and effective manner and at a fair, reasonable price.
Catherine Corbin was honored for improving case management operations in the Human Resource system, ultimately ensuring that NSWCDD employees going into harm's way are properly deployed and compensated.
Diana M. Weigel was recognized for her commitment to excellence and exceptional initiative in support of the NSWCDD workforce development program.
Susan Broad was cited for her contributions to the Engagement Systems Department engineering services contract and her efforts with implementation of the centralized contracting officer's representative effort across the department.
Robert Hodge was honored for excellence in performing the duties of the designated Information Assurance Officer for the Strike Systems Division.
Walter Marlow was recognized for his leadership in the Tomahawk Guidance Test Set Depot effort over the last 18 years.
Jessica Tolson was commended for exemplary support in her role as division administrative specialist.
Kelley Martin was honored for her leadership in transforming and improving the discipline of business and financial management across NSWCDD.
Robert Kinter was recognized for leading the Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defense Division Engineering Technical Group.
Employee Development Award
The Employee Development Award was established to recognize those individuals who - through their leadership and commitment - have made exemplary contributions to the development of others.
Individuals receiving this award are recognized as role models for creating a positive and supportive work environment for continuous employee development, building employee commitment to the organization and its core values, while fostering employee motivation and overall well-being.
Billie Jo Hynson - honored for her excellent leadership and commitment to employee development - created an effective environment for enhancing and growing individuals' careers using unique approaches to enable continued learning in concert with response to technical work from more than 20 sponsors.
William Coleman - recognized for his dedication in developing some of the best software engineers at NSWCDD - contributed to the success of numerous programs, enhancing the careers of many software engineers.
Carol Lee was cited for her exceptional leadership and dedication in coaching and mentoring members of the Cyber Security Branch Advanced Concepts Group.
Edward Lunney - honored for leadership in developing a high caliber electrical engineering workforce in support of the Hydra Hunter Program - coached and mentored engineers, helping to shape and develop a team capable of tackling extremely challenging technical tasks.
Distinguished Community Service Award
The Distinguished Community Service Award was established to recognize individuals and groups who have made a significant contribution to their communities through volunteer service.
Tiffany Owens was honored for her exceptional commitment to the community through her diverse volunteer services involving education, workplace volunteer activities, youth services and the mobilization of her coworkers for volunteer services in the community.
Donald Jennings was recognized for his long-standing and exemplary commitment to humanitarian mission trips to Haiti. For more than a decade, he served as a team organizer, coordinator, or leader for at least one or two trips to Haiti each year.
Eunice Mercado-Rodriquez was cited for her leadership and contribution to the Hispanic community at NSWCDD and the surrounding area. She led efforts to provide a support community for people of Hispanic descent and spearheaded efforts to educate the Dahlgren workforce and surrounding communities about Hispanic cultures.
Thomas O'Neill was honored for sharing his corporate knowledge with personnel, particularly working to contribute to their overall professional development.
Commander's Diversity and Inclusion Award
The Commander's Diversity and Inclusion Award recognizes the continuing contributions of NSWCDD employees in management and leadership positions who demonstrated commitment to policies and programs that promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the federal workplace.
Jessica Delgado was honored for her promotion of equality and diversity in the federal workplace both within NSWCDD and externally. Delgado served as the command's Hispanic Employment Program Manager where she helped coordinate the Center's participation in the Mexican American Engineers and Scientists Leadership Conference.
Dwayne Nelson was recognized for his significant contributions to the mission and ideals of NSWCDD as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) President. Nelson fostered recruitment and retention of African-American engineering employees while promoting diversity in the workplace through NSBE's programs.
Group Achievement Awards
Eleven groups of NSWCDD employees received the Award of Merit for Group Achievement; seven groups received the Technology to the Warfighter Award; and one group received the Commander's Diversity and Inclusion Award for their accomplishments during 2013. The group awards are intended to promote the spirit of teamwork among employees and recognize group effort where cooperation has contributed to the success of the group.
Awards of Merit for Group Achievement
The Operating Materials and Supplies (OM&S) Wall-to-Wall (W2W) Inventory Team - honored for its successful deployment of OM&S at NSWCDD - developed end-to-end processes for new material procurement and management requirements.
The Combat Direction Systems Activity Cyber T&E/Surface Combat Systems Center Team was recognized for innovative technical and engineering solutions that enhanced maritime cyber readiness.
The MK 60 MOD 0 Griffin Missile System Installation Team was cited for their installation of MK 60 MOD GMS on four Patrol Coastal ships over a five-month period in Bahrain - providing the fleet with an urgently needed capability.
The STANDARD Missile 3 (SM-3) Safety Team was honored for their significant design recommendations to mitigate potential safety risks. The team's efforts culminated in the deployment of the SM-3 Block IB and positioning the SM-3 Block IIA Cooperative Development Project for a successful critical design review.
The Strategic Weapon System Employment Engineering Focus Team was commended for its work to formally establish NSWCDD's role as Navy technical experts in the employment of strategic weapon systems. Through their efforts, a formal product line has been created to sustain the command's employment engineering capability into the future.
The AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR Technical Team was honored for their support to Program Management Office-Ground Based Defense G/ATOR that led to a successful milestone decision in January 2014.
The Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) Test Operations Team was recognized for its test support, enabling test engineers to evaluate and mitigate E3 issues to various military systems. The team ensures that the warfighter can operate military systems safely and reliably while exposed to tactical high-powered radar and communication systems.
The Aegis Combat System Engineering Agent Technical Evaluation and Cost Team was commended for its contributions in selecting the next prime contractor for development of the Aegis Combat System. The team's rigorous technical analysis directly resulted in selection of the best-qualified and best value offer to develop the future capabilities of surface Navy combat systems.
The Technology Insertion for Fiscal Year 16 (TI-16) Design Team was honored for their design and specification of the future Aegis Weapon System computing hardware suite. The team emphasized reducing life-cycle costs, improving maintainability, and decreasing ship space requirements, while reducing overall logistics and system-level costs.
The Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office (CNTPO) Transition Team was recognized for their successful transition of a large and fast-paced program office to the U.S. Air Force. As the CNTPO Program Office transitioned between services, counter-narcotics requirements worldwide continued to be contractually supported in a timely, effective, and efficient manner throughout the process.
The NSWC Dahlgren Division's Pentagon CBR Systems Preventative Maintenance and Repair Team was commended for continuing to ensure the Pentagon remains protected from potential chemical, biological, and radiological threats.
Technology to the Warfighter Award
The Technology to the Warfighter Award recognizes individuals or groups who have had a notable and significant impact on the warfighter by developing needed capability and transitioning it into operations. The intent of this award is to recognize direct contributions to the warfighter and their operational impact.
The Joint Knowledge Online Knowledge Services Team was honored for its contribution in meeting White House-directed training requirements for transitioning service members. The team managed the development and fielding of a 50-hour web-based curriculum that will save DoD millions of dollars by eliminating the need for transitioning service members to attend resident training.
The Battle Management System Baseline 3 Team was recognized for its system and software engineering in a rapid development environment to produce BMS baseline 3 for deployment on the surrogate platforms.
The Radar Data Collection and Analysis Group was commended for their support to more than 20 deployed ships operating in three major fleet concentration areas, resulting in more than 250 successful operations and various Combatant Command-supported fleet and multi-national exercises.
The Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 2 Engineering Team was honored for their technical leadership and expertise in executing the SEWIP Block 2 program requirements. The team helped guide the prime contractor's design and provided systems engineering for the development, test, integration and evaluation of a new surface electronic warfare capability.
The Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) Team was recognized for its contribution to providing a complete NIFC-CA System-of-Systems capability that is ready for fleet implementation.
The Disk-Based Recovery System Innovation Team was commended for its design, development, testing and fielding of the Disk-Based Recovery System for installing and restoring Aegis and Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense computer programs aboard Navy ships.
The CAPE RAY Collective Protection Team was recognized for providing chemical protection systems for the crew and all embarked personnel aboard Navy Merchant Vessel Cape Ray. This U.S. ready reserve ship will perform onboard and at-sea destruction of Syrian chemical warfare agents.
Commander's Diversity and Inclusion Award
The Commander's Diversity and Inclusion Award recognizes the continuing contributions of NSWCDD employees in management and leadership positions who demonstrated commitment to policies and programs that promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the federal workplace.
The Individuals With Targeted Disabilities (IWTD) Advocate Group - honored for their promotion of equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities - doubled the number of talented personnel self-identifying with disabilities and allowed NSWCDD to meet its NAVSEA FY13 IWTD goal early.
"From innovation solutions for strategic weapon systems, systems integration and business operations to expanding community awareness about diversity of cultures, our honorees have reached forward to discover new technological solutions and utilized well-honed skills to create and improve products to support our warfighters and the fleet, all the while persevering within a climate of change and economic challenges," wrote Durant in the event's program. "Always more important to them was their resolve to succeed in meeting the needs of the Navy and the nation. On behalf of the entire NSWC Dahlgren team, thank you for your efforts!"