NEWPORT, R.I. –
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport Underwater Sound Reference Division (USRD) team from the Sensors and Sonar Systems Department recently won the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) V.B. “Kisan” Pandit Metrology and Calibration Innovation Award, which recognizes individuals and teams whose contributions have significantly enhanced the NAVSEA mission by enriching the profession and promoting innovative ideas that have resulted in substantial and quantifiable benefits to the Navy. This is the first time Division Newport has won the award.
Team members include, Dr. Victor Évora, team lead and head, Underwater Sound Reference Division, Michael Bergeron, Cameron Castillo, Hannah “Ryann” Cournoyer, Brian Duarte and Joseph Duarte, Matthew Eires, Miguel Vega Eires, Kurt Eyster, Caitlin Kean, Franklin Laslo II, David Pineault, William Slater, Nicholas Soares, Michael St. Pierre, Troy Vanscoy and Robin Wemmer. The team received their award during a ceremony held at NAVSEA Headquarters at the Washington Navy Yard in D.C. on May 16.
The annual award was established in 2017 in honor of Pandit, who previously served as the NAVSEA metrology and calibration program manager and technical warrant holder, who was one of 12 employees that died during a shooting at NAVSEA Headquarters at the Washington Navy Yard in D.C., on Sept. 16, 2013.
Division Newport’s USRD laboratory provides acoustic metrology services to customers in the U.S. Navy, private industry and academia. It also calibrates, maintains and disseminates national underwater acoustic standards to those same customers, ensuring traceability of those measurements to a single reference point. The USRD accomplishes this by operating four measurement facilities that work in unison: the Acoustic Pressure Tank Facility (APTF), the Low Frequency Facility, the Open Tank Facility and the Leesburg Facility in Virginia and its supporting Transducer Standards Facility.
In 2023, the Leesburg Facility performed more than 80 acoustic calibration events on submarine towed array systems to address normal and urgent fleet needs. The APTF calibrated and verified the operation of nearly 40 submarine critical self-protect systems, ensuring that they met fleet requirements prior to installation. All of the facilities directly supported metrology and calibration needs of numerous fleet products in 2023, such as U.S. submarine towed array calibrations, submarine critical self-protect systems performance measurements, torpedo sonar measurements, and sample panel material measurements. The APTF performed 18 acoustic panel measurement events.
USRD maintains its appointment as a National Institute of Standards and Technology Designated Institute for Sound in Water in the United States. As such, USRD is responsible for maintaining an inventory of nearly 800 standard/reference transducers used for making calibrated measurements of other transducers.
For more information on the USRD, visit https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/What-We-Do/Detachments/Underwater-Sound-Reference-Division/
NUWC Division Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.
Join our team! NUWC Division Newport, one of the 20 largest employers in Rhode Island, employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts who wish to be at the forefront of undersea research and development. Please connect with NUWC Division Newport Recruiting at this site- https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/Career-Opportunities/ and follow us on LinkedIn @NUWC-Newport and on Facebook @NUWCNewport