DAHLGREN, Va. – Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) leaders honored a team of computer scientists and engineers in a virtual awards ceremony for developing software to safely enable the operation of multiple lasers.
NSWCDD Commanding Officer Capt. Casey Plew and NSWCDD Technical Director John Fiore recognized the command’s Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) Agnostic Software team with the Award of Merit for Group Achievement in a video presentation released to the workforce on July 27. U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman joined Plew and Fiore in the video broadcast to congratulate individual and group awardees, including the GFE Agnostic Software team for their work to deliver quality software products for use in laser weapon systems.
“Faced with technical issues and tight delivery schedules, the team rose to every challenge they faced with unwavering dedication to the delivery and deployment of the first-of-its-kind laser weapon system capabilities for the Navy,” according to the award citation.
The team focuses on software that can be reused across laser weapons, reducing the overall risk in laser operations while saving the Navy money and training time. “We started with the idea to reuse console software for multiple lasers. The idea has since been expanded to reuse other software components across systems,” said Chris Meyer, the project’s technical lead.
The GFE Agnostic Software Team consists of 20 NSWCDD employees in four different departments and is one of 39 teams being honored in this year’s honorary awards program.
Team members include Teresa Berra, James Bohannon, Taylor Evelyn, David Fedorchak, Jr., Donald Fogler, Mark Glass, Kaela Gosdzinski, John Jahn, Thomas Lackert, Jr., James Latourell, Van Le, Jean Levy, Chris Meyer, Melissa Olson-Phipps, David Pritchett, Barry Ross, Eric Schroeder, Zachary Sherrod, Yong Shin, and Elliott Sperlazza.
Check the NSWCDD website for updates: https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Dahlgren/