An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : Media : News
NEWS | Dec. 3, 2019

Panama City scientist honored with NAVSEA scientist of the year selection

By Katherine Mapp NSWC PCD Public Affairs

A scientist at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) was recently selected as Naval Sea Systems Command’s (NAVSEA) Scientist of the Year for his exceptional service.

Joshua Slaughter, computer scientist at NSWC PCD, currently serves as the lead for Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) software development and integration for the NSWC PCD component of the MK18 unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) program. His role involves transitioning SAS imaging technology into field-applicable, mine-countermeasure capabilities.

 “When I learned of my selection, I was certainly surprised. I know there is a tremendous amount of hard work and world-class expertise across the NAVSEA research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) community, so to be selected for this award is truly an honor.”

In addition to his role at NSWC PCD, Slaughter also provides subject-matter expert support for program RDT&E partners at the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, and close coordination with colleagues in academia including the Applied Research Laboratory Penn State University.

Slaughter and the NSWC PCD SAS team have worked hard to expand the possibilities of SAS imaging technology. He believes their hard work coupled with the support of his leadership contributed to winning this award.

Ed Stewart, technical director at NSWC PCD, said he is proud to learn of Slaughter’s selection to represent the command on the NAVSEA stage.

“I am grateful and delighted to hear one of our scientists was selected for this prestigious honor,” said Stewart. “Slaughter’s selection is a testament to the caliber of excellence, technical rigor, and talented people that comprise our command.”

Slaughter acknowledged that technical rigor can only get you so far and it is relationships that are critical to success.

“Relationships are everything,” said Slaughter. “At a working-level it can be all too easy to overlook the relational aspect of our individual role in the Navy’s RDT&E enterprise and to focus entirely on the “nuts-and-bolts” technical details of our efforts. Building meaningful professional relationships with customers, partners, colleagues, and coworkers in support of the warfighter is probably the most important work we do on a day-to-day basis.”