A Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division engineer will be awarded a U.S. Navy tester award in a ceremony to be held April 20 in Washington, D.C.

Eric Pierce, a certified test director at NSWC PCD, will receive the 2015 Department of the Navy Small Program Outstanding Tester Award.

Pierce's career prepared him for this prestigious technical award during his commitment over a 10-year span helping to develop the test and evaluation methods and standards used by the U.S. Navy to assess the effects of craft motion on human performance and impact injury.

Pierce, who is a founding member of the NSWC PCD Human Systems Integration Team, earned this award specifically for his work as the Principal Investigator for the Effect of High-Deck Accelerations on Surgical Tasks test, in support of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations N81 Assessments Division.

Previously, in support of the Office of Naval Research, Pierce studied the ability of U.S. Navy surgeons and independent duty corpsmen to perform basic life and limb-saving procedures aboard small, fast moving ships.

In this, his most recent accomplishment, Pierce designed and carried out a study that included six surgical teams, comprised of medical professionals, who performed 144 simulated operations under a range of sea state conditions.

After developing a test protocol, Pierce carried out his innovative plan by assembling, mentoring, and leading a multi-disciplinary team that included human factors, biomedical, software, systems, and electrical engineers as well as surgical subject-matter experts.

Pierce also partnered with Rocky Vista University School of Medicine, a special operations medical training facility, and a movie special effects company to acquire and modify synthetic humans with which to perform the operations. By collaborating with various organizations, Pierce was able to execute the study at a significant cost savings to the sponsor.

According to NSWC PCD Test & Evaluation and Prototype Fabrication Division Head Tony Bond, Pierce's test represents a significant technical contribution to the U.S. Navy. Bond nominated Pierce for this U.S. Navy award.

"His validation of life and limb-saving medical procedures under high sea state conditions opens the door to new sea basing concepts and flexibility in humanitarian support," said Bond. "Pierce's contribution will likely result in timelier treatment of IED (improvised explosive device) blast injuries."

Bond also stated throughout Pierce's test preparation, he demonstrated eagerness to contribute above and beyond expectations in the field of T&E.

"Pierce went above and beyond the normal duties of a test engineer," Bond said. "He developed a statistically powerful design of experiment that is innovative and exceeded his sponsor's objectives in terms of project timeliness, cost effectiveness, and in its potential impact to U.S. Navy concept of operations."

During testing, Bond said Pierce demonstrated effective leadership and engineering expertise. He also noted Pierce's exceptional leadership of a multi-disciplinary team, tireless efforts, innovative collaboration and problem solving delivered a deeper understanding of ways in which the U.S. Navy can support sea based operations.

To qualify for this Navy award, Pierce had to demonstrate a willingness to make contributions above and beyond expectations in the field of T&E. Navy Small Program Outstanding Tester Award recipients must also contribute significantly by taking on leadership duties and providing innovative insights to support timely T&E and/or certification of systems for warfighter use.

Furthermore, the nominee's efforts must result in significant achievements addressing requirements, T&E best practices and improvement initiatives resulting in an executable and affordable T&E program. This prestigious award is reserved for T&E workforce members who have dedicated the year to superior achievement.

This is the second time a NSWC PCD awardee has received a prominent T&E award from the DoN. In 2014, Bond nominated NSWC PCD engineer, Amanda Bobe, who was awarded the DoN Aspiring Tester Award for her excellence and dedication to the U.S. Navy's MK 18 program.

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