FITC Department Head Receives Copernicus Award

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- A Fleet Intelligence Training Center (FITC) civilian was awarded the 2013 Copernicus Award during the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) national conference in San Diego, Jan. 29-31.

The AFCEA met to discuss advances in their field and honor those who have made particular strides in innovation.

Among the conference honorees was Frank Watson, department head for the Systems department within the FITC.

Responsible for all operations, acquisition, installation, integration, and maintenance of technical training equipment (TTE) at FITC, Watson was recognized for his hard work by being awarded the 2013 Copernicus Award.

AFCEA is dedicated to increasing knowledge through the exploration of issues relevant to its members in information technology, communications, and electronics for the defense, homeland security and intelligence communities.

In fulfilling that mission, AFCEA and the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) established the Copernicus Award in 1997 to recognize individuals, based on their sustained superior performance and contributions, to naval warfare in Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I), information systems, and information warfare.

Nominees must have made specific, demonstrable contributions of a technical nature which should involve exceptional initiative, leadership and insight within the nominee's area of expertise. All Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, personnel (including joint/NATO) commands, afloat and ashore and civil service were eligible for nomination.

The selections are made each year by Navy judges who review applications from the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, including active duty and civilians.

It was Watson's work on and implementation of a virtual desktop environment (VDE) which secured him the national recognition.

In addition, VDE implementation at FITC initiated a larger effort to update the training network structure across the entire Naval Education and Training Command domain.

VDE is envisioned to enable forward-based training elements, ashore and afloat, to access training applications hosted at a single location and remains one of the best options to improve fleet training while realizing numerous cost efficiencies.

Extending VDE implementation could be one of the best possibilities moving forward to upgrade school house systems while taking advantage of the decreased manpower used to keep the system up and working.

"Mr. Watson's efforts in leading the virtualization push from FITC made him a great candidate for the Copernicus recognition," FITC Executive Officer Lt. Cmdr. Lance Taylor said. "I am glad the AFCEA community wanted to recognize him for his work."

For more information about the Fleet Intelligence Training Center, visit the FITC information page on CANTRAC or through NETC, https://app.prod.cetars.training.navy.mil/cantrac/pages/rpt_vol1.html?uic=43662.
https://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/ceninfodom/fitc/CommandInfo.aspx?ID=0.